The outpouring of assistance from everyday American citizens and small businesses is almost enough to quell the anger that has been directed towards our government in their complete lack of effectiveness in dealing with this disaster. Yet were it not for the generosity of each and every one of us who has been touched by the plight of the hurricane survivors, many people would still be stranded in the city of New Orleans and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast. With over $200 million in financial donations and scores of hard goods being sent to the Gulf, it looks as if things are finally, slowly, taking a turn up in this ravaged region of our country. Yet despite this initial outpouring of compassion and aid from the citizens of America, there is a long road ahead for those who have lost everything in this hurricane. Our efforts are only just beginning. But as the days turn into weeks, we must again turn to our government for help in dealing with this ongoing crisis. And as ineffective as they have been in the initial stages of dealing with this tragedy, we’ve no choice but to hope they take strong steps to put things back on the right course.
As the evacuations begin to see an end, and as food and water and other supplies begin to reach those in need, the next most important task is to find housing for the hundreds of thousands who have lost their homes in this deadly storm. While the opening of large sporting stadiums and convention centers in Texas and elsewhere provides an immediate remedy, it can hardly be a long-term solution to the problem of housing the newly homeless of our countrymen. Private citizens recognize this and have been offering shelter in their own homes to families displaced by the storm. But the sheer numbers of American refugees makes this a solution for just a small portion of the survivors. If these people are to regain any sense of normalcy in their lives while the reconstruction of their homes and towns are completed, they will need to return to a more normal standard of family living. The opportunity for government to make a real difference is now.
The first place to look would be areas that have existing buildings, homes, and infrastructure available that is not being utilized. Such places can be found around the country in the shape of closed military bases. Since 1988, nearly 125 major military installations have been shut down as various administrations decreased the size of our military. Many of these bases could be converted into temporary towns for those whose homes were destroyed by Katrina. Those that were previously permanent duty stations have a variety of housing and dormitories that could offer more normal shelter than a football stadium. The bases were likely equipped with stores, banks, medical facilities, and school facilities, and other basic infrastructure. With some minor maintenance, many of these former bases could be converted into mini-towns in a short time. This type of housing solution should be implemented immediately at no cost to hurricane victims.
A second housing possibility could be offered by the hotel industry, with government providing tax credits to participating hotels and motels. Simply put, large chain motels could set aside up to 25% of their available rooms and offer them to small families or single people at no cost. Small or independent hotels and motels could be encouraged to participate through even more generous tax credits to increase the total number of available rooms. In many cases, this might be a win-win situation for the hotels, the government, and the newly homeless. As fuel prices continue to rise, fewer families will be taking to the roads and staying in hotels simply due to a decrease in their personal finances. This could lead to a profit loss to the hotel companies, which would be offset by the tax credits. Government wins too by having fewer refugees to find housing for.
The problem of an increased population in cities that absorb thousands of new residents can also be dealt with. Take a drive through your town and count the number of vacant commercial buildings you see. Through a combination incentive program of tax credits and remodeling assistance, these buildings can be converted into schools and additional living quarters. Local governments should reduce or greatly streamline some zoning restrictions and enact temporary zoning waivers. The amount of construction for the conversions could also put able bodied citizens back to work in some capacity, allowing them to earn a living and reduce the necessity for public assistance.
The problem of housing isn’t the only thing facing hurricane victims, though it is the most pressing. Also looming in the near distance is the recognition of the huge financial losses faced by businesses and citizens. Already, some mortgage and lending companies are instituting a 90-day period of forbearance on mortgages and other credit debt. It’s a nice gesture, but wholly inadequate. To begin with, at least 75% of the homes in New Orleans and other hard hit areas have been completely destroyed, if not from the gale force winds, then from the flooding. In addition to the homes, businesses have been lost and nearly all forms of industry, leaving most of the survivors homeless AND unemployed. Do the lenders really believe that in three months time, these people who have lost everything that they own will be able to start remaking mortgage payments on a home or business that for all practical purposes no longer exists? Previous disasters have shown us that insurance companies drag out their claims for months and years in some cases, leaving these folks no real option but to have the banks foreclose or try to declare bankruptcy. Foreclosure stains ones creditworthiness, but in this situation, may be the best choice for former homeowners since their property is uninhabitable anyhow and the eventual insurance payout (if it ever comes) will likely go to the banks anyhow. Either way, the final result is a large group of citizens living in donated, temporary housing, struggling to find jobs to pay for their food and clothing and assorted necessities, with nothing left to show for their previous efforts but a pile of debt.
A better solution would be to enact a special law that allows hurricane victims who have lost homes, possessions, and businesses a grace period from repayment for 12 months. Interest will not accrue during this period and the overall balance will not increase. An automatic 6 month extension would follow if necessary which in turn would be followed by a repayment schedule that had a low interest rate and minimum payment according to each persons financial ability. Insurance payouts for damage claims should be mandated to commence no more than 45 days after the end of evacuations. In paying these claims, insurers should pay lenders 75% of the policy coverage and 25% to the policyholder. This provides survivors an opportunity to get a jump start on rebuilding their former lives by putting a little cash in their pocket. Again, tax credits for these one time measures could be offered to offset some of the financial loss to businesses.
Finally, the task of sending supplies to the hundreds of thousands will not end when the headlines are removed from the front pages of our papers. It will be weeks and months before those affected will begin to regain employment and stability in an effort to rebuild their lives. This holiday season will be especially tough. We must keep up our efforts to send things that we usually take for granted. Clothing, bathroom supplies, school materials…the list goes on and on. The convoys of goods leaving from towns all over the country must continue with the local governments and charities establishing an effective collection and disbursal protocol that ensures goods get to the people who need them with a minimum of red tape and also creates an encouraging and gracious atmosphere for those who make the effort to donate.
The challenge presented to us by Hurricane Katrina has expo
sed the façade our government has so carefully built. The initial efforts at all levels of government from the local to the federal levels, has been utterly without real leadership up to this point, and feelings of anger and resentment are running high. There will still be a day of reckoning on those issues, but quick action in dealing with the problems listed here could alleviate some of that anger, leaving way for careful and conscious reform in the near future instead of divisive witch hunts from both sides of the aisle.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2005 at 8:26 am and is filed under Common Sense, General.
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September 5th, 2005 at 9:29 pm
Ken,
Perhaps you should consider faxing your post to the various heads – FEMA, W, etc…they need serious help as they are stuck on defensive spin to shift blame away from themselves.
If you ask me, the whole situation is like de facto execution of otherwise innocent Americans. Two numbers will become critical. One – those killed innitially by Katrina outright. Two – the number dead post Katrina becuase of the poor response. The latter holds more salience for our deteriorating opinion of the W, Rove and Co. Moreover, the latter will become cause for civil suits that could crush our economy and break the treasury. The big bust is headed our way, but we may be saved unless the army of letigious lawyers head down south to start the litigation.
Blog on brother.
September 5th, 2005 at 11:09 pm
Please don’t forget to help the animals that were abandoned because of Katrina. Please go to my blog and check out the list of compiled links that will help animals and people hurt by Katrina. http://www.dianesdiary.blogspot.com
I lay crying at night and wish I could do more. I am currenty going to Charlotte for a few says to volunteer my emt skills and help pass out food or whatever is needed.
September 5th, 2005 at 11:27 pm
You should be asking why our leaders will spend tax money to rebuild Iraq, but expect us all to donate to rebuild New Orleans.
September 6th, 2005 at 2:50 am
Wise up Sir!
George Bush and the federal government are not to blame for the disaster we have witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
In fact, the primary responsibility for the disaster response lies with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and other local officials.
Yet leading Democrats and their allies in the major media are clearly using this disaster for political purposes and ignoring one obvious fact.
This fact – which needs to be repeated and remembered – is that in our country, state and local governments have primary responsibility in dealing with local disasters.
The founding fathers devised a federal system of government – one that has served us remarkably well through great disasters that have befallen America over more than two centuries.
But if we believe the major TV networks, George Bush, FEMA and the Republicans in Congress are all to blame for the current nightmare.
Let’s remember that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was created only in 1979. It was formed to coordinate and focus federal response to major disasters – to “assist” local and state governments.
Common sense suggests that local and state governments are best able to prepare and plan for local disasters.
Is a Washington bureaucrat better suited to prepare for an earthquake in San Francisco, a hurricane in Florida, or a terrorist act in New York?
After the Sept. 11 attacks against the World Trade Center, no one suggested that the Bush administration should have been responsible for New York’s disaster response or that federal agents should have been involved in the rescue of those trapped in the buildings.
Last year, four major hurricanes slammed into Florida. Governor Jeb Bush led the disaster response and did a remarkable job, with nothing happening like what we have seen in New Orleans.
The primary response in disasters has always come from local communities and state governments.
First responders and the manpower to deal with emergencies come from local communities: police, fire and medical. Under our federal system, these local departments answer to local authorities, not those in Washington. These first responders are not even under federal control, nor do they have to follow federal orders.
In addition to local responders, every state in the Union has a National Guard.
State National Guards answer first to the governor of each state, not to the president. The National Guard exists not to defend one state from an invasion by another state, but primarily for emergencies like the one we have witnessed in New Orleans and in other areas impacted by Katrina.
Tim Russert and the Blame Game
The media would have you believe that this disaster was worsened by a slow response from President Bush and his administration, though the primary responsibility for disaster response has always been with local and state governments.
It is true that federal response was not as fast as it could have been. The president himself has acknowledged that fact.
But the press has focused on the first 48 hours of federal response, not uttering a word about the fact that New Orleans had 48 hours of warning that a major Category 4 or 5 would make landfall near the city, yet local officials apparently did little to prepare.
Obviously, Gov. Blanco did not effectively deploy her state’s National Guard.
And New Orleans’ city leaders did almost nothing to evacuate the portion of the population with no transportation. In failing to follow their own evacuation plan, these officials did little to pre-position food, water and personnel to deal with the aftermath.
I was surprised Sunday to watch Tim Russert, on his show “Meet the Press,” tear into Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff. During his encounter with Chertoff, Russert did not suggest once that local government had any role in dealing with the disaster. Russert also asked for Chertoff’s resignation.
It wasn’t until after the first 29 minutes of his show – 29 minutes – that Russert raised the question of local responsibility. And when he did so with Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard, he did so in a passing way. Broussard brushed off his question with a non-answer.
Broussard began his interview claiming that the nation had “abandoned” New Orleans.
That is nonsense and a lie.
Broussard, who was never identified by “Meet the Press” as a Democrat, spent much of his time attacking the Bush administration, as has Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Broussard then ended his performance as he collapsed in tears with a demand: “For God’s sake, just shut up and send us somebody!”
His tears didn’t wash with me. My sympathies lie with the tens of thousands of people who have suffered or died because local officials like Broussard, Mayor Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco, also a Democrat, failed monumentally at their jobs.
As former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial told Russert, the disaster in New Orleans was “foreseeable.”
In fact, New Orleans has long known that such a disaster could take place if a major hurricane hit the city.
The municipality even prepared its own “City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.”
The plan makes it evident that New Orleans knew that evacuation of the civilian population was the primary responsibility of the city – not the federal government.
The city plan acknowledges its responsibility in the document:
As established by the City of New Orleans Charter, the government has jurisdiction and responsibility in disaster response. City government shall coordinate its efforts through the Office of Emergency Preparedness.
The city document also makes clear that decisions involving a proper and orderly evacuation lie with the governor, mayor and local authorities. Nowhere is the president or federal government even mentioned:
The authority to order the evacuation of residents threatened by an approaching hurricane is conferred to the Governor by Louisiana Statute. The Governor is granted the power to direct and compel the evacuation of all or part of the population from a stricken or threatened area within the State, if he deems this action necessary for the preservation of life or other disaster mitigation, response or recovery. The same power to order an evacuation conferred upon the Governor is also delegated to each political subdivision of the State by Executive Order. This authority empowers the chief elected official of New Orleans, the Mayor of New Orleans, to order the evacuation of the parish residents threatened by an approaching hurricane.
It is clear the city also recognized that it would need to move large portions of its population, and it would need to prepare for such an eventuality:
The City of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Those evacuated will be directed to temporary sheltering and feeding facilities as needed. When specific routes of progress are required, evacuees will be directed to those routes. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed. …
Evacuation procedures for small scale and localized evacuations are conducted per the SOPs of the New Orleans Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department. However, due to the sheer size and number of persons to be evacuated, should a major tropical weather system or other catastrophic event threaten or impact the area, specifically directed long range planning
and coordination of resources and responsibilities efforts must be undertaken.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:24 am
Anonymous, what about this?
Plus, if we’re not supposed to rely on the Feds for help, then why are they there now?
No one seems to be able to answer this question for me.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:55 am
anonymous wrote: The media would have you believe that this disaster was worsened by a slow response from President Bush and his administration, though the primary responsibility for disaster response has always been with local and state governments.
Ah. I got it. In other words, red tape kept the most powerful country and President in the world from helping.
Give me a break.
September 6th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
I agree with the common sense post here. There is so much our country’s strayed from, and our founding ideals are nearly unrecognizable.
We should, however, be focused a little less on politics and spend a little more time remembering that this tradgedy happened to real human beings.
We have a long way to go before it’s over. Everything will be taken care of in it’s own time. It all comes out in the wash.
September 7th, 2005 at 6:47 pm
As soon as it can be done, every able bodied man needs to get back into the city and begin rebuilding. It could be like the CCC in the 40s, although I was not alive then. But if you’ve studied history, this could be the CCC and TVA stuff FDR did all over again! Not to sound like too socialist, but in this case, work a=can bring hope! Great Post – Great Blog!
September 8th, 2005 at 1:10 am
To “7:50 Anonymous”: Wise up, sir. The horrendous flooding, death, and destruction, and the effects that will last for years and years are the direct result of Bush administration mismanagement. They were warned in no uncertain terms that it could easily happen; they were begged for help to prepare; but they decided not to help. They wanted to give tax breaks to the rich and fund an illegal and immoral war. Bush and his cronies know they will burn in Hell, so they prepare for it by creating Hell on earth.
September 8th, 2005 at 1:13 am
There is an old hospital in Saint Joseph, Missouri that should have been used for housing, there is nothing wrong with the building. The owners say it was to late the utilities had been turned off and it’s scheduled for demolition. I think greed has something to do with it. I was wondering if you had heard of Jabbar Gibson? I first heard and posted about him today. I feel he should be thought of as a Katrina hero.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic
September 8th, 2005 at 6:04 am
(responses)
Windspike- I actually have e-mailed this essay to several members of the HOuse and Senate as well as the president. I don’t really expect many of them to actually look at it, since this government obviously feels it has the answers to everything, but at least I am trying.
Thanks for the support!
Angel- Yes, there were likely thousands of animals trapped and killed as a result of this hurricane, and that is a shame. But as much as I am an animal lover in general, I still feel that the greatest loss is in the human lives lost due to inept government action. That said, our animals are almost completely dependant on us for their own lives, and any time we can hel them, we are the better for it.
Good to hear from you again.
Tom- We should be asking that and a whole lot of other questions. But to me the most important one would be: Why are we continuing to elect the same kinds of spineless and/or corrupt public officials?
Anonymous- Others have already tackled your main premises so I’ll be brief.
The disaster was made all the more awful because of a breakdown in leadership and preparedness by all levels of government. Period. However, the federal government has the greatest resources of the three levels, has a constitutional duty to protect the citizens of this country, regardless of the state they live in. Furthermore, the president, as leader of this country, has great leeway in how he decides to use the resources of the federal government, especially in times of great crisis. He had no problem nationalizing the Natinal Guard to serve in Iraq- and he could have done the samething for this stateside disaster.
To compare this hurricane to others, or even to 9-11, is specious at best. This was like none of these others because of its sheer intensity, size, and destructive power. Which of the others completely destroyed an entire city, from the houses to the businesses to the basic infrastructure? That’s right…none of them.
Parsing jurisdiction in times like these only leads to more gridlock, and death, for those trapped in the mess. Quit apologizing for this complete lack of federal government action. They are as complicit for the factors that led to this widespread destruction as any local or state government is.
And now that the feds have gotten involved, they are manipulating the citizens who do want to help in favor of their over-bloated corporate bosom buddies like Haliburton. Do I hear pending claims of eminent domain in the near future, giving the government the power to take whatever is left of the ravaged Gulf Coast and give that to the businesses as well? I fervently hope that won’t be the case…
Ticklebug- Thanks for providing Anon. and all the readers with the link to the DHS mission statements. Hypocrisy really is something, isn’t it? The acting head of FEMA on the west coast, when interviewed about plans for a catastrophic earthquake in California which would require a similar aid response as generated by Katrina, blithely stated that she “Didn’t anticipate anything like that.” Strange, I thought their job was to anticipate every possible disaster scenario and come up with action steps that could be implemented in a hurry. I guess we really are on our own.
Glad to hear from you.
Martian- Yes, Anon. seems to be in some kind of conservative-republican wet dream to give such cover to the feds on this one. I only hope more people shake the sleep from their eyes after this colossal debacle. Keep up the great work on your blog as well!
Chanemza- If it all comes out in the wash, the our current government leaders should be looking for new jobs, now! I hope that you are right and that the wash will throw out these babies with the bath water, because it all stinks these days.
Thanks for dropping by.
CR- Thanks for the comment, and I think that a lot of folks will be headed down south to help rebuild as soon as they can, provided that the government doesn’t turn them away as they are doing with so many who are trying to help now. The hubris of these people continues to stun me.
Shea- Yes, they were warned, time and time again. Seems though that some people will defend this administration, (and all our corrupt politicians for that matter) regardless of what they do. Never have so many betrayed their own self-interest so blindly as in American politics today.
David- I had heard about this guy, though not his name. I think anyone who does as he did in the face of government inaction should be held up as a clear thinking individual who has displayed herioc actions in the face of calamity. So, while stealing a bus is wrong, stealing a bus to save some lives should be viewed through the mitigating circumstances of the deed.
Good to hear from you again.
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