California Disaster Froggy Gavin

California has had four straight years of extremely large and extremely destructive wildfires. In 2017, it was the Tubbs, Thomas, and Canyon fires. In 2018, it was the Camp and Woolsey fires. In 2019, it was the Glass fire. In 2020, the Creek and Bobcat fires.

Those fires are the ones that destroyed the most acreage or had major losses in property and life, leaving millions of people displaced.

According to the  Los Angeles Times, California has received more than $1.3 billion in federal aid to rebuild after the 2017 and 2018 Camp fires, and other subsequent “natural disasters.” However, homeowners and renters who were displaced by these fires have yet to see the first Dollar!  Such is life in a Democrat controlled state.  Where does all the money go?

Federal and state bureaucratic delays are said to blame for this horrible situation. OK so where is Froggy Newsom?  The man with a voice that makes you wonder if a big bug flew by Gavin a foot long tongue would shoot out from Gavin The Marvelous and with a big "Zoot!" goodbye bug!   We can only wonder what they serve him at The French Laundry for $700 the plate?

“To get access to the funding, California housing officials have needed to develop spending plans approved by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

It took two years after the disasters for HUD to sign off on any of the state’s proposals to respond to the 2017 wildfires as Governor Gavin has insisted California bureaus have to look like America. So, they have very carefully assembled staff with the politically correct number of skin pigmentations, but wait!  They don't know anything about it!

Last week, more than two years after the 2018 wildfires, Federal officials finally authorized the state’s plans for that year’s relief efforts,” as they finally got the mix right by installing a few ex-cons and now the money is all gone, it is rumored.

After four years of disastrous fires, the State has just obtained HUD approval for the fires that happened three years ago? This is some kind of crime!  Now the victims of the 2019 and 2020 fire season will have to go through the madness of applying for funding! Between the COVID-19 pandemic and a change of Administrations in Washington, they are likely looking at even more years.  We can only wonder how many of the victims voted for the socialism promised by Democrats.

“The spending problems have attracted condemnation from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), typically an ally of the President, among those accusing the Administration of intentionally stalling.

HUD officials have denied that they prevented the Dollars from coming out. Instead, they’ve lamented the complicated requirements surrounding the disaster relief program, which include writing new regulations every time the money is authorized and can those kids ever write regulations!  You should see them!  They are awesome.

“Legislation to simplify how HUD handles disaster relief has not advanced despite bipartisan support.”

It sounds like Katrina all over again, but instead of displaced people who are possibly drowning or suffering from disease, we have people displaced, in debt, out of business or work, and wholly dependent on getting these funds. We all have a front row seat to Congress’s inability to get another COVID Relief package off the ground; tack on more layers of bureaucracy and you experience a small sample of what these fire victims are going through.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s progressive cabal is getting plenty of blame. An investigation by the local HUD chapter has uncovered fraud and waste in the distribution of the funds to relief victims.

In a letter from the HUD San Francisco District Office to the director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, it noted “a total of twenty-five (25) findings and five (5) concerns were identified.”

“In California, at the time the 2017 fires hit, HUD investigators were examining the state housing department’s handling of other federal grants. They found a "systemic failure"  in how the department monitored the money it handed out. HUD officials have said the state’s internal oversight issues, which housing officials here did not dispute, contributed to the delays in approving disaster relief plans.

Between the Federal gridlock and a poorly-managed State government, Californians adversely affected by wildfires do not have a great deal of hope, and all they can do is wait for relief.

Adrian Vance