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My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...

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Friday, November 02, 2007

Mexico's Katrina

Stranded horses stands amongst submerged cars in flooded Villahermosa in Mexico's Gulf coast, Friday, Nov. 2, 2007. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans fled the flooded region of the swampy Gulf coast Friday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) Hundreds of thousands flee Mexico floods
By ANTONIO VILLEGAS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

Title link is for Blogger who's home is Mexico.


CBC Toronto

Hundreds of Thousands Flee Mexico Floods - 2 hours ago
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans fled a flooded region ... The flood affected more than 900000 people in the state of 2 million

Photo Photo
PhotoPhoto
Mexican army soldiers evacuate residents from flooded areas in the city of in Villahermosa in Mexico's Gulf coast. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans fled the flooded region of the swampy Gulf coast Friday.
PhotoPhotoPhotoPhotoA man swims in flood waters in Villahermosa in Mexico's Gulf coast. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans fled a flooded region of the Gulf coast Friday, jumping from rooftops into rescue helicopters, scrambling into boats or swimming out through murky brown water, while Mexico's President Felipe Calderon called it one of Mexico's worst recent natural disasters.

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans fled a flooded region of the Gulf coast Friday, jumping from rooftops into rescue helicopters, scrambling into boats or swimming out through murky brown water. President Felipe Calderon called the flooding in Tabasco state one of Mexico's worst recent natural disasters, and pledged to rebuild.

A week of heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, drowning at least 80 percent of the oil-rich state. Much of the state capital, Villahermosa, looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with water reaching to second-story rooftops and desperate people awaiting rescue.

At least one death was reported and nearly all services, including drinking water and public transportation, were shut down. The flood affected more than 900,000 people in the state of 2 million — their homes flooded, damaged or cut off by high water.

A 10-inch natural gas pipeline sprang a leak after flooding apparently washed away soil underneath it, but it was unclear if other facilities operated by the state-run Petroleos Mexicanos were damaged or if oil production was affected.

Workers tried to protect Villahermosa's famous Olmec statues by placing sandbag collars around their enormous stone heads, and built sandbag walls to hold back the Grijalva River in the state capital.

But the water rose quickly, surprising residents used to annual floods and forcing soldiers to evacuate the historic city center. The dikes failed Thursday night, and water swamped the capital's bus station and open-air market.

Rain gave way to sunshine Friday, but tens of thousands of people were still stranded on rooftops or in the upper floors of their homes. Rescue workers used tractors, helicopters, jet skis and boats to ferry people to safety, while others swam through water infested by poisonous snakes to reach higher ground.

Calderon met with state officials and flew over the affected areas. The extent of the flooding was clear from the sky — Tabasco state seemed like an inland sea with only rooftops and treetops protruding from the water.

"This is not just the worst natural catastrophe in the state's history but, I would venture to say, one of the worst in the recent history of the country," Calderon said Friday during an emergency meeting with state officials in Villahermosa.

The president ordered the armed forces and federal police to maintain order and prevent looting, and asked residents to remain calm. He canceled a trip to Panama, Colombia and Peru.

"Once we have passed the critical stage ... we are going to reconstruct Tabasco, whatever it takes," Calderon said.

Mexicans rallied around the disaster, with people across the country contributing money and supplies. Television stations dedicated entire newscasts to the flooding and morning shows switched from yoga and home improvement to calls for aid. Friday was the Day of the Dead holiday, but banks opened to accept donations for flood victims.

Food and clean drinking water were extremely scarce in Tabasco state, and federal Deputy Health Secretary Mauricio Hernandez warned that there could be outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

"With so many people packed together there is a chance that infectious diseases could spread," he said.

Officials tested for 600 suspected cases of cholera, but none was positive, he said. The waterborne sickness, which can be fatal, has not been reported in Mexico for at least six years.

The government also sent 20,000 Hepatitis A vaccinations and were giving booster shots to children to prevent outbreaks, Hernandez said.

Medical care was difficult, however, because at least 50 of the state's hospitals and medical centers were flooded.

Hotels, parking garages and other dry structures were converted into temporary shelters for those forced from their homes.

Guadalupe de la Cruz, a receptionist at the Hotel Calinda Viva Villahermosa, said the hotel's meeting rooms were being used as shelters for employees' families. She said the 240-room hotel was completely booked, mostly by people who had fled their homes.

Many people were headed to nearby cities unaffected by the floods. Highways that weren't covered with water were packed with residents fleeing in cars and on foot. The exodus appeared to be orderly with no reports of violence.

Villahermosa resident Mauricio Hernandez, 27, who is not related to the federal official, paid a taxi to go to Cardenas, 30 miles away. From there, he planned to hop a bus to the port city of Coatzacoalcos.

"We are leaving because we cannot live like this," he said. "We don't have any water, and the shelters are full. Where are we going to go?"

State officials sent 50 buses to a museum in the capital where hundreds of people gathered.

"We wanted to stay in the city but it is no longer possible," said Jorge Rodriguez, 43. "We have lost everything." By ANTONIO VILLEGAS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

Mexico Flood Crisis BBC News

From another Blogger "Today I'm going off my usual subject to raise awareness and ask you for help in assisting the people of Tabasco, Mexico, my home state."

LINKS TO HELP SITES.
The State of Tabasco Official Site has many links to donation sites and account numbers for monetary donations: http://www.tabasco.gob.mx/

You can also make your contribution directly to the Red Cross of Mexico, their banking account is: Cruz Roja Mexicana I.A.P.Bancomer No. 0147592957
Oficina 0032 DF Palmas
Your contribution is tax-deductible.
For verification, go to the website of the Red Cross of Mexico.

We are also collecting donations and distributing them to two community shelters that the Muñoz and Caldera and other block families are organizing in one of the last dry areas in Villahermosa, Tabasco.
You can send donations via Paypal to Root Coffee Here.

Así mismo, estamos haciendo collectas directas para abastecer de víveres a las personas (conocidos y extraños que buscan resguardo) que se han estado alojando en casa de mi familia y en el resto de la cuadra en una de las areas de Villahermosa que todavia no se ha inundado: Calle Antonio Suarez Hernandez, Colonia Reforma, C.P. 86080. Las donaciones se aceptan via Paypal a Root Coffee Aqui.

Lista de Cuentas para Donativos a Tabasco - Fuente: Presidencia de la República, México.: Read More Details You can find extensive details of on this site which is writen with a personal angle since it is home to this person.

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posted by LadyIrene @ 11/02/2007 10:46:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Who's side would you be on? The man or the neighbors and city?

City cites illegal rooming house Owner: use porper as aid to ex-addicts.

By Christine McConville, Globe Staff July 29 2007

MEDFORD -- From the street, William Maragioglio's house looks perfectly in place among the others in this densely packed neighborhood near the Malden city line.

But what's inside the blue four-bedroom at 112 Second St. is a different story.

The dwelling is now the subject of a federal administrative probe, after city officials sided with Maragioglio's neighbors and took him to court for allegedly operating an illegal rooming house.

The city wants to shut Maragioglio down, or at least force him to scale back. He has as many as 10 men, all of them recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, living in the house -- far more than allowed under city zoning laws that prohibit four or more unrelated people from sharing a single-family home, City Solicitor Mark Rumley said.

But Maragioglio is fighting back.

Maragioglio's lawyer, Bruce T. MacDonald, said he is protected by federal housing laws that designate recovering addicts as disabled people, and when disabled people request reasonable accommodations, those accommodations must be provided.

The "reasonable accommodation" in this case is a waiver from local zoning, and by not allowing 10 men to live in Maragioglio's so-called sober home, the city is discriminating against the disabled, MacDonald said.

Maragioglio recently complained to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, after Medford officials asked a Somerville District Court clerk-magistrate to issue a criminal complaint against him.

The federal agency is investigating the dispute. HUD spokesman James Barnes declined to comment on the matter, saying the probe is ongoing.

Medford officials and Maragioglio began locking horns in March soon after he bought the clapboard house for $429,900 and brought in tenants.

The house sits in a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood, where some old-timers still converse in their native Italian. Many of the homes are decorated with American flags and well-tended flowerpots.

City officials first heard about the sober home after a utility worker, surprised by the number of beds in the building, told a neighbor, who alerted City Hall.

Officials found nine or 10 men living in the house. Some had come straight from prison, others from halfway houses and recovery programs, MacDonald said.

The men each paid a $270 entrance fee, and then about $135 a week in rent. Many of them work, but some pay rent with government-funded disability checks.

One of the tenants said the home provides a much-needed low-cost and positive environment for recovering addicts.

"This place has been great for me," said Bobby Manchester, 37, an aspiring restaurateur who has lived at the home since March. "I couldn't afford $15,000 for a private detox center."

Manchester and MacDonald said tenants must provide three urine samples each week to New England Transitions, Maragioglio's addiction treatment company, plus additional urine tests on demand. The company also recommends that tenants attend at least three recovery meetings each week, they said. Continued...

But neighbors and city officials contend the operation is no more than a rooming house because there is no professional oversight.

Through the spring, as tenants came and went, neighbors became increasingly upset about the change in the neighborhood.

"It used to be that when you saw a new person in the neighborhood, you knew that a house had been sold," said Julia Hendrix, a schoolteacher who has lived on the street for 12 years. "Now, you see somebody new and wonder, 'Does this person live at 112? Does this person have a record?'

"We've got an element here that is potentially dangerous, and there's no oversight," she said.

MacDonald contends the men are no more dangerous than the general public. He said the freedom is exactly what the men need at this point in their rehabilitation as they make a transition to more independent lifestyles.

"The whole point is to mainstream people back into the community," he said.

Rumley said that while Maragioglio and his tenants have certain rights under the federal Fair Housing Act, the neighbors also have rights, and the city is trying to balance both concerns. As a compromise, he said, the city in May offered to allow up to six recovering addicts to live in the home as long as Maragioglio ran criminal background checks on the tenants, to verify earlier public statements that no convicted sex offenders or arsonists would live in the home.

"The city has continually offered to keep the door of dialogue open with Maragioglio to reach an agreement on reasonable accommodation," Rumley told HUD in a recent report.

But Maragioglio will not compromise, said MacDonald. "There will be no criminal background checks."

And so now, for both parties, the future is uncertain. If the federal government backs the city, Maragioglio could be forced to shutter his operation. But if HUD finds Medford guilty of discrimination, the sober home could be here to stay.

Clerk-magistrate Margaret Weeks has put the city's request on hold, pending the outcome of the HUD investigation.

The review is expected to be complete by late August.

Christine McConville can be reached at cmcconville@globe.com. © Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company. 1 2 Next

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posted by LadyIrene @ 8/05/2007 12:13:00 AM 0 comments