LET'S ALL HELP HOUSTON!

Me: atheist
Organization: construction union, not religion

Considering your concern for the above, it surprises me that you find the time to average almost 25 posts per day since you joined this forum. If you see the United States as being a terrible place, then go fix it. Hint: You ain't fixin' it by posting on this forum.

On a Harvey note, things are settling down, most will be back at work on Tuesday. Families are helping family, neighbors helping neighbors, volunteers pitching in, most of us are busting our butts getting the community back in order. As someone said above, "heartwarming."

 

Just saying California will have the Oroville Dam spillway repaired by November 1.
California is a high tax, high regulation State.
Texas on the other hand is a low regulation, low State taxes State.
Unbridled suburban sprawl worsened the property damage.
Will Texas ban reconstruction on lower lying areas of Houston?
Will Texas pass a temporary tax to help finance the Houston recovery?
No one is saying, "let them die". Just correct Texas ways at the same time.
More regulation.
More taxation.
Not to require corrective measures by Texas is feeding the grasshopper at the ants' expense, all over again.

 

Have some money set aside for Irma as well. It would seem like she is going to hit the east coast. Have some money set aside for others as well, for the birth pains have begun, there shall be many more catastrophes to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

FLASH!​

Just heard from my friend whose daughter and son-in-law's home is in Houston.
There home did not flood nor did the streets nearby.
Repeat. Their home did not flood nor nearby streets. Y'don't see that on the news.

BTW their home is on a 100 year old home site in Houston.
I guess they were smart enough to build on the high ground 100 years ago.

End FLASH!
​

The State of Texas needs to implement a new tax, a Harvey State Tax to help cover costs of Hurricane Harvey. And implement new regulations to lessen future flood disaster harm, such as no home sites on "Red Zones".
It is time that the Great State of Texas stepped up to the plate!

Moi

r > g

Across an immense, unguarded, ethereal border, Canadians, cool and unsympathetic,
regard our America with envious eyes and slowly and surely draw their plans against us. ​

 

Remember: Hurricane Irma is headed to Florida.

Don't get tapped out on Houston, save some for Florida too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...to-a-category-5-storm/?utm_term=.9f70671babc1

Florida officials begin ordering evacuations as Hurricane Irma intensifies to a Category 5 storm


Whose next? Save some compassion, the $ kind, for them too.

 

The Salvation Army does a lot of good for people in need, I've noticed, often with less red tape than that required by the Red Cross, it seems.

 

I gave $500 very early on and had my company TG make a separate donation of $10,000 from myself and all my employees both to The Red Cross

Shortly afterwards I read that Red Cross has been caught doing a much worse job than some of the other agencies. Hopefully it was all just nonsense, I always saw The Red Cross as a great agency so hopefully my money went to good use.

I briefly dated a SUPER RICH Jewish girl back in 2013 (red head Dolphins Cheerleader that was actually on the Amazing Race twice) who came from an uber wealthy family and was set up with a job in disaster relief after done with her degree and cheerleading.

I was DISGUSTED to hear about how much money her boss and his company were raking in by distributing out donations and such.

It was literally millions and millions, realy made me think differently of "donations" in a lot of situations and how they are taken advantage of.

 

Draco, it is true; there are many "charitable' services that are for all intents and purposes just Scams. My personal experience puts Red Cross in high regard, but there are stories of failing to meet promises.

I'm sure that in most places, people get calls for things like the Police or Fire Support funds, with the person acting like he is one of them and asking you to help the families of men who died in service or something. Generally, these are commercial solicitation companies who make deals with these various departments. That deal is usually that in return for collecting on your behalf you will get a percentage of what is collected- sometimes as little as 5%. Not only are the solicitors cons, but personally I have no respect for any agency who would allow their name to be used in this way- they become co-conspiritors.

When we make a charitable contribution, we want to help specific people in need, and that frequently does not happen. You must do your homework on every charity.

 

Glad to hear you say so, makes me feel much better. You hear so much negativity that sometimes it feels like a crap shoot and I agree with your final comment. People that take advantage of relief programs make me sick.

Again, the girl I dated and her boss have made MILLIONS AND MILLIONS by distributing relief. I wish THAT would get more coverage and those peopel would be lambasted on Facebook like other companies are

 

I agree(naturally, but given how sick a few people are maybe it's not so natural lol.) Keeping money for yourself that was meant to help others is incredibly low. What's even worse is if you have the resources to spare a few extra dollars or whatever and NOT donate then that person basically has no right to ask for help when he's down.

I'd love to be the kind of dude who runs charities and donates to charities. Money doesn't grow on trees, and if I have enough to support myself I'd like to support others too.

 

I'm afraid Houston might be forgotten in the aftermath of Irma. Irma is much stronger than Harvey was, and will do far more damage to most of Florida than has been done to Houston. Irma has overtaken Allen to become the most powerful hurricane in US history. People might jump to help in Florida and forget that Houston still needs help too.

 

Even though Irma is more powerful, water is more dangerous than wind to people. Plus Harvey stayed in one one large area for days and levies overflowed. I would be surprised if Irma kills more people or even damages more houses than Harvey. The damage may look worse because it is wind damage and not flooded inside, but I don't think Irma will cost more than Harvey.

 

As I understand it there is a significant difference in these two storms in that Florida will not have the massive flooding. That will change the nature of emergency needs somewhat, particularly the rescues- but property damage from winds will probably be much more.

A few years back, I had a waterfront property of some size in Charlotte Harbor Florida, lower west coast. Hell of a house on it now- but a good chance there won't be in a couple days. When I bought the property it was vacant land, but there had been 3 homes around it which had been destroyed by the last hurricane. I will be watching to see what happens to the property I wound up selling instead of building on.

Construction standards in Florida get bumped up with each hurricane. Age of the property makes a lot of difference in survival, but even the best get a beating on the outside if they hold together, and of course storm surge water gets them anyway. Here we go again...

 

Don't pizz in the wind
Don't grab onto Suoerman's cape ( unless you are Lois Lane!)

 

Construction standards are unconstitutional. That is nothing but the government being repressive and imposing useless money costing regulations and destroying Ametican bysiness and cistingbAmericans their jobs. We need to outlaw all firms of regulations and rules. We need to be self reliant but if we allow the Gubmint to impose terroristic regulations upon our businesses we will degrade into a Communist society.

What do we want?

Freedom from regulations!

When do we want it!?

Now!!

 

I owned a construction business for many years, so I have considerable experience with building codes. A few years ago, I was designing a waterfront house for the west florida coast, and I'm familiar with their codes, which are highly hurricane oriented.

The principle behind building codes serves several positive purposes:
It makes our structures far safer to live in and easier to repair, because it standardizes many conditions.
It makes them durable, and suited to the conditions of the location they occupy.
It makes them better investments because it preserves value for the long-term.
It gives our cities and communities greater value; prevents them being a cluster of cheap shacks.

There are some negatives.
Regulations are conceived by people, and therefore some will be poorly done; some will have little or no rational justification.
Regulations are enforced by people and politics, and that provides the opportunity for corruption, incompetence and abuse.
Regulations create a revenue stream and power base for government agencies, both of which can become more important than serving the purpose regulations were created for.

If you were to survey damage to structures after Irma, I think you could easily separate the level of damage by the time of construction. Those built to the later, more hurricane resistant codes survived in far better condition because of it. Many of the older properties will be total losses- and will be replaced by newer, stronger ones.

A major aspect of this is to build to consider the future. Most people think short-term. It's cheaper to do for today and postpone tomorrow- but tomorrow always comes around, and such people and what they build are never ready for it. Building codes force us to think in terms of decades instead of days.

I'm as anti-regulation as any rational man, and we have a lot of regulations that serve special interests or are trash for one reason or another. Building codes protect not only your investment, but that of your neighbors. Those old houses in a hurricane that disintegrate into debris are the ones that send 2x4's flying toward your house at high speed. IF you have a new-code house, you won't have that 2x4 hitting you inside, where you and your family are.

 

Texas can use its rainy day fund and then I'll start thinking about helping them

 

katzgar, sending your money would only perpetuate and expand the entitlement mentality that exists across our nation. Please do your part to promote self-reliance - keep your money.

I am happy to report that the Texas Gulf Coast is doing fine.

 

Such generosity. It warms the cockles of my heart.

 

/\


(I truly hope)

 

LOL!!! Hey, let's do away with medical licenses too!!!

Wow, I bet I could make a lot as a brain surgeon. And in a Republican world, no one could even sue me no matter how many people I kill.

 

Wow ... in another Thread someone just said Huston is helping itself ...

So which is it?

 

The really sad thing about hurricane damage, is that it is never fully repaired before the next storm does more damage, so your money is wasted

 

I'm sure the victims in Houston are thrilled by your logical indifference.