Wednesday, February 21, day 153
Still incredibly windy, 20-30 mph, day and night.
Hard - but short - sideways rain overnight.
More hassles with the Small Business Administration trying to prove I/we own this property. The problem is the difference here between postal/mailing address and what are called physical addresses. They are not the same.
Most places outside of towns don't have actual street addresses. For example, our postal/mailing address is "332 Bo. Bajuras." (Bo. is the abbreviation for barrio.) Bo. Bajuras is just a descriptor, not a street. The road we live on does not have a name or a number. "332" is just a box on a post. It has actually moved several times. It is not connected to the property. If you put that address into GPS, Siri would say, "Hunh?" because it is not a street address.
To actually locate the property you need the physical address, which is long and complicated. And, you have to know what it means to know what it means, to find the place. If I just gave you the physical address, you still couldn't find us. GPS and Google Maps don't recognize our physical address as an address at all so don't bother trying to find us that way.
Anyway, SBA needs some document that connects us as owners of the property and owners of the business to the actual physical address. Some documents use the postal address, some the physical address but none of them have both;
I found three different documents that, if taken together, I think connect all the dots. I hope SBA thinks so too.
We tried to see an attorney about all this but he's closed on Wednesdays. We tried to see SBA at their Isabela center but high winds and a hard afternoon downpour drove them out.
Frustrating day.
This whole issue of proper documentation is frustrating many people trying to get help. In some cases, because of how property sometimes changes hands in PR. "Hey, I'll trade you an acre of my land for four of your cows." "Okay." Handshake. That was four or five generations ago. the guy who traded the cows built a house on his new land. His kids upgraded the house and raised their kids there. Now the house is destroyed by the hurricane. But because generations ago no deed or title was ever filed, the great-great grand kids can't "prove" to SBA or FEMA's satisfaction that they own the land, even though their family has lived there for more than 100 years. That's the first question SBA and FEMA ask: do you have title to the land? No title - no help. Oh you rent? Sorry, can't help you.
A lot of people will be living under tarps for a long time.
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