Jackson Free Press

The tree that toppled down onto the roof of the Sykes Park Community Center in South Jackson was clearly a big one. The steel, painted roof section over the building's kitchen area is crunched in like tin foil over an apple pie. The space between it and the suspended ceiling beneath is gaping and open, with water dripping freely into the kitchen every time it rains.

Although the community center was damaged by Hurricane Katrina, it still has not been repaired.

"Every time it rains, the water comes here into the kitchen," said Sykes Park Community Center manager Tiffany Johnson. "It's been looking like this ever since the storm came."

""We've got 35 people in here, and it's been a cold winter," said center volunteer Carl Ormond. "That cold gets into the dining area on the other side of the kitchen, too. The ceiling's damaged over there, too."

Ward 6 Councilman Marshand Crisler has been hearing complaints about the unfixed building for weeks and brought the issue up at a recent council meeting.

"We've got to do something about this building. There are still people using it. Senior citizens make use of the place almost every day, and it's been leaking ever since Katrina. It makes no sense for our senior citizens to be playing bingo in a building that looks like it's been in a war," Crisler said. "They deserve more respect than that. They've earned it."

Jackson Public Works Director Thelman Boyd told The Clarion-Ledger that the Sykes Park Building is the last public building in Jackson still marred by Katrina storm damage. He said the damage to Sykes Park has lingered because the city assumed the city's insurance company would work out a deal with FEMA to decide who would pay for the brunt of the repairs.

Boyd did not return calls to the JFP.

FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany said his agency works out disaster bills directly with the applicant, not the insurance company.

"FEMA only speaks with the applicant regarding any federally covered disaster relief. The city works out coverage with its insurer, and then works with us," Brezany said.

Crisler said the city did not file a claim with Connecticut-based Travelers Property Casualty Corp. & Insurance Company until last week, however.

The city's risk manager of the general claims department, John Anderson, did not return calls inquiring why the city expected FEMA and the insurance company to work out the issues themselves.

Boyd told The Clarion-Ledger that the cost of fixing the property could be between $300,000 and $500,000, but community center volunteer and former sub-contractor James Norton said that the costs should not be $500,000.

"They could build a whole new center with that amount of money. I think it's more of a $100,000 job. They just need to cut those beams and weld new ones on there and do some block work. That's all there is to it," Norton said.