Toward the end of last year’s State of the Union Speech, the President had this to say:
A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency — and stays at it until they’re back on their feet. So far the federal government has committed $85 billion to the people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. We’re removing debris and repairing highways and rebuilding stronger levees. We’re providing business loans and housing assistance. Yet as we meet these immediate needs, we must also address deeper challenges that existed before the storm arrived.
In New Orleans and in other places, many of our fellow citizens have felt excluded from the promise of our country. The answer is not only temporary relief, but schools that teach every child, and job skills that bring upward mobility, and more opportunities to own a home and start a business. As we recover from a disaster, let us also work for the day when all Americans are protected by justice, equal in hope, and rich in opportunity.
That sounds nice and all until you learn that New Orleans is still a shadow of itself and still waiting for a lot of that reconstruction money the President promised a year ago.
What half hearted promises will he make tonight that we’ll be talking about next year?
I live in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Milwaukee, WI with my wife Jen, our daughter Emerson, and sons Carter and Colton.
People don’t understand just how bad it is down there. Unless you’ve been to St. Bernard Parish or Gulfport, MS, there isn’t any way to convey the utter devastation that still exists, except that everyone who has gone there (myself included) will tell you that just taking a drive around makes anyone angry at their government.
If it wasn’t for private and non-profit relief, the area would be even more devastated. Yet, we can still pay to rebuild most of Iraq :(
will tell you that just taking a drive around makes anyone angry at their government.
I don’t get this mentality. JB – can you explain this to me, please? Why would the devastation that still exists be because of some government entity?
The amount of devastation that still exists is beyond comprehension. People are still living in tents cities in Biloxi and Gulfport. Not like large army tents or anything, I mean camping tents. It’s been over a year and these people are forced to live off the kindness of volunteers and charity organizations, without whom they would be in total despair.
The promises made by FEMA: trailers (still sitting in a parking lot in Arkansas), recovery, supplies for repairs, never materialized. Add in the amount of devastation that still exists (it still looks like a tornado ripped through both cities, after more than a year), and people are justifiably angry. Why the government, though, you ask.
Simple, the federal government is there for the big things. Things that smaller governments can’t possibly engage in. Things like national infrastructure, defense, and massive response efforts. The federal government let down their end of the bargain.
Oh, and did I mention that 200 of those people living in tents were kicked off the premises so Bush could stop by and make a speech. His actual words, I kid you not, were, “I don’t want to see anything depressing.”
I smell the set up for a follow up comment!
If the government has the responsibility of cleaning up after a regional disaster, and they botch it up so bad that 18 months later the region is still in shambles, that just proves that “big government” is a bad idea and the whole cleanup effort should have been privatized to KBR/Haliburton instead!!!!!!!!!!!
The whole cleanup effort WAS privatized, on a no-bid contract to KBR. The first places they fixed up were the casinos and the airport. Gotta have an airport if you’re gonna have a photo op.
Well, to Dan’s point … FEMA did really well hey? I suppose we should create a new government agency that will be responsible for our health care. *ducks*
JB – so, what should be happening? What needs to happen in order for this to get resolved? Do the people of New Orleans, etc. have any responsibility (blame?) here or is it just “the government’s” responsibility?
The whole KBR contract is another issue altogether, and is ANOTHER example of why you don’t trust your government.
What needs to happen in Gulfport/New Orleans:
1. The government needs to establish a cleanup/rebuilding czar for the region. Not some political hack, but a person with real experience.
2. With National Guard/Reserve support, establish health and sanitation standards for the region. i.e. hospitals, shower facilities at the camps, drinking water, toilet contracts.
3. Begin shipments of rebuilding supplies to the region, ensure they are sold at a reasonable cost, rather than gouging consumers.
4. Send a boatload of federal marshals, judges, and attorneys to New Orleans to help with the overloaded criminal justice system from preventing crime thru sentencing.
5. Taxbreaks for licensed contractors working in the region.
6. Pass meaningful legislation dictating what insurance companies must pay on. Most of the cases are still being dragged through the court. If standards are set, rebuilding can continue faster.
Just a few
Thanks, JB.
Do the people of New Orleans have some responsibility? Certainly. But after billions of dollars invested in the city over the last few hundred years, I don’t blame them for not wanting to abandon the city.
The responsibility for the citizens is a tricky matter, especially in New Orleans. A lot of people saw the warning signs but did nothing, or if they did, they were choked out by the will of others.
So what responsibility do the people of New Orleans bare, looking over their wall that kept the ocean out, knowing that one day it would start pouring over? L.A. will one day be hit by a giant earthquake that will destroy the entire city. That is a fact. Yet people still live there.
The answer to the question is entirely philosophical, devoid of the real nuts and bolts of reality.
I disagree with rebuilding everything exactly where it was. Which is why I suggested working with the insurance companies to set standards of substance in the region. It’s no different than people building homes on flood plains, and expecting to have their home resurrected every 20 years. The disasters will happen. It’s up to the government afterwards to make sure they don’t happen the same way. In this, I think we’re losing.
missed you on here, Yeah Boy