On 2nd anniversary of Katrina Gulf Coast needs a "New Deal"

Bernard, 53, showed me his property, located within 50 yards from the point on the Industrial Canal that collapsed the night of Aug. 29, 2005. When it broke, a wall of water smashed everything in its path starting with Bernard’s house.

“The night Katrina hit, I was in Baton Rouge working on a construction project,” he told me. “The storm passed and all seemed well. Then I got a call from my daughter. She told me our house was gone and Mama was missing. My dear wife was washed away along with my home and my entire life.”

Her body was found eight weeks later, Bernard said. She left behind her husband, two sons and a daughter. “The government killed my wife. She and thousands of other people died because of government neglect and indifference. Now I’m determined to help my neighbors come home to the Ninth Ward. They don’t want us to come back.”

A recent report by the Washington-based Brookings Institution verified his charge. Only 25 percent of the 148,000 applications for the federally-funded “Road Home” grants offering up to $150,000 to rebuild homes have been approved. Bernard could not even apply because he did not have the deed and could not prove ownership of the house that has been in his family for six generations.