FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2010

Attached are two graphics detailing the February updates for the Lot Next
Door program http://www.scribd.com/doc/27131190/Feb-4-2010-Status-
Update-Report-Lot-Next-Door-Program
and for the HMGP Village Square Acquisition Program.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27131286/Feb-4-2010-Status-Update-Report-
Village-Sqr-1

CONTACT:
Karen Turni Bazile, Executive Assistant to the President
St. Bernard Parish
504-278-4280, 504-874-0980 or kbazile@sbpg.net

GRS issues updates on the St. Bernard Parish Lot Next Door Program and the
HMGP Village Square Acquisition Program
Property owners should contact GRS if they do not receive their initial LND contact
letter by early March

Global Risk Solutions, a contractor working with St. Bernard Parish Government to
administer the Lot Next Door Program, issued an update for February.
As of February 2010, about 3,800 letters have been mailed representing 2,599
Louisiana Land Trust lots for which interest had been expressed. Letters are still being
mailed. Property owners should contact GRS at 504-569-1905 if they do not receive
their initial contact letter by early March. GRS is located in the Gulf Coast Bank building
on the second floor at 1801 East Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette. After the initial
contact letter, residents will be contacted by mail when further action from them is
required.

St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro Jr. said the Lot Next Door program in St.
Bernard will allow adjacent neighbors first-refusal rights for the purchase of adjacent
Louisiana Land Trust properties. This program is NOT a first come, first serve program.
Adjacent property owners will have first right of refusal. There is no need to come in
person if lines are busy.

GRS officials said they are still seeing “interested in purchasing” replies to 25% of the
letters mailed and only 5% rejections. The parish has collected a deposit on just over
400 properties and has appraised just over 300 with the average appraisal value
continuing to decrease – currently – at $4,865.
Today, GRS is ready to sign purchase agreements on 87 properties. Officials are just
waiting on responses from the “other side neighbor” and another 120 properties will be
ready to go.

The LRA approved the St. Bernard Parish plan for dispensing of Road Home properties.
Like other parish officials, President Taffaro presented the LRA with St. Bernard's plan
for utilizing the Road Home properties, including drainage, public entity use, creation of
public recreation areas and "green space."

Right now the priority is focusing on lots of neighbors who want to buy the homes next
door. Once the properties are cleared for disposition, the parish will mail information to
the interested adjacent property owners. If they opt not to purchase the property, it will
be bundled for potential redevelopment in different lot sizes.

Rear adjoining properties will be handled on a case by case basis with plenty of
notification before the parish begins taking information.

President Taffaro, St. Bernard Parish Housing, Redevelopment and Quality of Life
Commission members and Louisiana Land Trust officials have said that more than
3,500 slabs will be removed from lots where Road Home structures once stood.

"This spurs our recovery one step further," President Taffaro said. "It is much more
feasible to restore a neighborhood when the slabs are removed. In total, we hope to
have 6,000 slabs removed, including LLT properties and non-LLT properties. We are
still hopeful that the Louisiana Recovery Authority will be able to pay for the removal of
all the slabs."

The cost for removing the slabs is being picked up by Louisiana Land Trust, the non-
profit holding company for Road Home properties across the state. The federally-funded
work is expected to cost $10 million in St. Bernard, said Mike Taylor, executive director
of the Louisiana Land Trust.

"With over 9,500 pieces of property that must be returned to parishes throughout South
Louisiana, we are pleased with the progress being made with the slab demolition in St.
Bernard Parish," Taylor said. Camp Dresser & McKee is overseeing slab removal and
home demolition across the state for the Louisiana Land Trust.

In addition to the more than 3,500 LLT properties where slabs will be removed, there
are more than 100 LLT houses that still must be demolished. Shortly after the slabs are
removed, the contract calls for workers to return, cut pilings to 2 feet below the grade,
backfill the lot and sprinkle it with Bermuda Grass seeds.

Once slabs are removed, the process of actually selling the properties will begin.
Contact letters from Global Risk Solutions on the behalf of St. Bernard Parish are
being sent, by geographical areas, to individuals concerning the purchase of the Lot
Next Door.
Once individuals receive the letters, the lots will be appraised and the owners of
homestead exempt properties next to the LLT properties will have the first chance to
purchase the properties. At that point, interested individuals should send their response
to Global Risk Solutions, P.O. Box 1099, Chalmette, LA 70044. Residents interested in
purchasing a lot next door should expect a phone call from Global Risk and a letter,
detailing what needs to be done to purchase the lot.

In addition to the Lot Next Door Program, GRS also manages the HMGP Village Square
Acquisition Program for St. Bernard Parish, and officials issued an update for February
as well.

Of the $24.2 million in four HMGP grants awarded to St. Bernard Parish, approximately
$12.9 million either has been or will be expended to purchase properties currently
scheduled to close through March. To date, the four grants include 185 properties of
which the Parish has purchased 62 Village Square properties. Another 30 are
scheduled to close, 44 are somewhere in process and only 42 have not shown any
interest.

For more information about Global Risk Solutions, Inc., visit

www.globalrisksolutions.com. Address: Gulf Coast Bank Building, 1801 East Judge
Perez Dr., 2nd Floor, Chalmette, LA 70043. PO Box 1099, Chalmette, LA 70044.

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