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Kevin Arceneaux
11-07-2005, 8:28 PM
Yep, still kicking.

I have been working in Newe Orleans for a company under contract to the Corp of Engineers cleaning up a section of New Orleans. It is a never ending cycle as people come home and throw out the house hood things. Now we are starting to get large amount of construction and demo debris.

I have 8 crews working pulling out the Household haz waste, electronics, and other things that cannot go into a C&D landfill. It is an ugly job. The stench can be really bad at times and we find ammo and guns everyday.

Though this is not the worst job. That is "WHITE GOODS." There they take the fridges and freezers that people have put out on the street. These must be emptied of the food in them. These have been sitting for over a month and are really nasty. What they do is set the workers up in tyvek coverall, respirators, rubber gloves and give them a 6 mil plastic bag and a hoe. they drag the putrid waste out and hopefully it ends up in the bag. But it does not all make it. It is really digusting, but it has to be done.

Mike Cutler
11-07-2005, 8:42 PM
Good luck, and keep the faith bro' . That's a unparalleled effort you guys have going on down there.:) :) :)

We'll still be here, so take care of yourself.

Randy Moore
11-07-2005, 8:46 PM
All I can say is a very big THANK YOU

Randy

Dan Gill
11-07-2005, 9:38 PM
I'm with you, Kevin. I went to Slidell (working out of Lafayette) when things were just opening back up a couple of weeks after the hurricane. We cleaned out four houses, and the 'fridges were the worst. We didn't seal them up. We cleaned out the contents and put them in big trash cans and weighted down the lids. Then we took the doors off the 'fridges. I doubt any kid with a sense of smell would have gotten into one, but you never know. One house on the canal had two EXTRA freezers that had washed up on the back deck.

I'm curious, what is the significance of finding guns and ammunition? Just the disposal difficulties?

Kevin Arceneaux
11-07-2005, 9:42 PM
When we find either, we notify the NOPD and have them come and pick it up. We move the crews out of harms way. This city was an armed camp.

BTW, I am getting paid an large amount of money for the work I am doing. I am working as a QC and doing EH&S for the Sector I am assigned to. It is good to do good things and get paid for it.

Joe Pelonio
11-08-2005, 8:38 AM
Kevin,

When my son turned 18 on 10/27 the Red Cross (he's been a volunteer in Seattle 4 years) submitted his name to the national relief database, and Monday 10/31 he shipped out to Miami. The first week he was working in Key Largo, opening a new warehouse and deliveries to shelters. While the damage cannot compare to what you had in LA they still operate 16 shelters, and with the rain last week more homes are being inspected and found unliveable, so as people move back home they are replaced by new
victims. When he gets back just before Thanksgiving he will have learned a lot more there than he missed at school. From what he's told us already we have a lot of respect for people like you who are well paid yet are doing work that most people wouldn't want to do for any price.

Kevin Arceneaux
11-27-2005, 5:44 AM
Still here. As I said in another thread, I am hopefully going to get a few days off in a week or so. 12 hours a day/seven days a week tends to wear on you.

Though I did get to spend most of Thanksgiving Day at home, about 20 hours of being there was great. When I walked into the house Wednesday evening, my wife had a HUGE steak waiting for me. When I got done, all that was left was a very clean bone.

We have been running with reduced crews. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were made optional days for the workers. I'm hungry and knowing I am getting a few days off soon, I am working them. Which turned out to be good as the Zone manager took off for his days off and I am running the zone. Good stuff for the resume down the road.

It is a challenge getting people who have never worked a real job before to get with what is expected from them. It only takes a day or so to see who really wants to work and who doesn't. Those who don't are send home. I have a huge pool of people who want to work or at least think they do, so getting bodies is not a problem, it is getting ones that really want to work.

I got to bend my Dad's ear the other day on the "Joys of Management." He had a few hundred working for him. After he got done laughing at me he gave me a lot of good pointers.

Martin Shupe
11-27-2005, 8:27 AM
Kevin,

First let me say that no matter how much you are being paid, it is probably not enough.

Second, I have some questions....

1) In your opinion, how long do you think the clean up will take? I am talking the entire city here. Just curious to get the perspective of someone "on the ground".

2) Do you think the city should be rebuilt? There has been some discussion of this on the news lately.

3) Do you think large sections of the city should be reassigned as parks for flood control, if this should ever happen again?

4) What will happen to all the people who lived in the poorer sections of town, whose home's will have to be bulldozed?

Not trying to get political, here, but I think a lot of people will never come back, once they (hopefully) find jobs in other states.

It will be interesting to see what will happen. Perhaps the urban planners will have a chance to fix things and make the city more disaster proof for the future. I hope so.

Kevin Arceneaux
11-27-2005, 7:59 PM
1) In your opinion, how long do you think the clean up will take? I am talking the entire city here. Just curious to get the perspective of someone "on the ground".

That is the $60,000 question. In the Mid-City area here there are section that are 70% rental houses. They had water to the ceiling. Those folks will never be back and how long it takes depends on how these houses are handled. Most will have to be demo'ed. Most also have asbestos roofs and sidings which will have to be dealt with before demo. You also have the houshold goods inside that have be removed first. All this material cannot go to the same place. It may be 2 to 3 years before real progress can be seen.

2) Do you think the city should be rebuilt? There has been some discussion of this on the news lately.

3) Do you think large sections of the city should be reassigned as parks for flood control, if this should ever happen again?

4) What will happen to all the people who lived in the poorer sections of town, whose home's will have to be bulldozed?

These 3 questions go hand in hand. Many areas can be rebuilt, IF they use the Lower 9th ward and other very low areas as you asked in #3. That would be beneficial to all. It would have a place for water to be absorbed and proviide areas for a different type of tourist than NO is used to. The people in those areas are 75% renters and most are not coming back. You could build pockets of housing the the 9th Ward that would provide housing for those that do chose to come back. My workers, they are all from NO, said that many they know in really wiped out areas are not coming back. They have found that there ARE public schools that will educate their children and there are more chances for a decent job where they have been relocated at. You have to understand that the NO area wages have been extremely low, even compared to other areas of Louisiana. An example is my wife. While we live in Lafayette, when she went with a national company, her pay jumped 20%. Here in NO, if she did that it probably would have been 30-35%. She is a medical transcriptionist.

The politicains here are very nervous about the poor not coming back. Those voters are the ones that put Blanco and Mary as out governor and Senator. Without the poor vote from NO, they may be history. Even if they come back, the sediment amoung the poor is that they have to go. But that is now, I don't think come election time, they would vote for anyone but a Democrat.

As far as hurricane proof, yeah right. Until they get rid of the levee board system here, it will never change. The levee boards are pure political patronage jobs. There was an effort to consolidate them into just a couple of boards, but that was killed in committee. Who in their right mind lets oak trees grow on a levee? These idiots did.

Kevin Arceneaux
12-04-2005, 10:29 PM
I am finally going to get some days off - the 16th - 20th of this month. I also know I am going to get Chrismas Day and New Years Day off.

Vaughn McMillan
12-05-2005, 4:39 AM
You deserve the time off, Kevin. Even if you're making good money doing what you're doing, I'm sure it's time for a break. (I've worked some long hard physical stretches on previous jobs, so I have some empathy...but nothing as tough as the work you must be facing every day.)

- Vaughn

John Shuk
12-05-2005, 4:26 PM
I'll be joining you this Thursday by the looks of things. I work for Verizon and they have been sending some of us down to help Bellsouth out. As things look now I'm going. we'll see.

John Shuk
12-05-2005, 4:27 PM
I'm told I'll be working Bourbon St.

Rob Bourgeois
12-05-2005, 5:27 PM
Bourbon street didnt get much damage so you got lucky in that sense.

Just be careful...girls are not always girls and that stuff you step in might not be rain water....if things are back to normal.

Thanks for your help John and Kevin. I have relatives down around there and I know they appreciate it.

John Shuk
12-06-2005, 9:19 PM
Kevin,
Sent you a PM.
John

John Shuk
12-06-2005, 9:20 PM
Rob,
Thanks for the heads up. Sounds like my kinda town!

Kevin Arceneaux
12-07-2005, 8:30 PM
John, got it. I got an error on my reply that you cannot recieve PM's, check your control panel.

I am only about 3 blocks or so from there and there is decent place that has cold beer and decent burgers. I'll give you a ring.

Well, we went back up to 10 crews today and 6 bobcats. We are supposed to get a couple of more bobcats. They make the job easier and let us tackle the big piles. And the job got bigger the last few days. We have been released to work commercial buildings, state maintained roads, and medians. These had been off limits for various reasons. Job security.