In his speech to the nation from Jackson Square in New Orleans on September 15th, Bush said:
As he stood behind that podium, shirt-sleeves rolled up, the roar of the generators providing that unnatural lighting could not drown out the shallowness of his promises:
Jesus wept, George. What the hell is taking you so long? For all the promises and all the trips which showed you posed, sweating in your shirt-sleeves for the benefit of a photo-op and nothing else, it is only on Monday that you formed your “Gulf Coast Recovery and Rebuilding Council”
I pity the fool who will have to work hand-in-glove-in-pocket with Michael Chertoff aka Skeletor in a new DHS agency that is built on the already crumbling foundation of the Stafford Act. That fool’s name is Donald Powell.
Just more cronyism in the style of Michael Brown….Powell’s claim to fame was as the CEO of a bank in Amarillo, Texas (one of the Top 10 armpits of the Earth) and as one of the leading fundraisers in GWB’s 2000 S’election campaign. A Pioneer. For that, he was appointed FDIC chairman. So now, he joins the gianormous Homeland Security bureaucracy without any previous experience in disaster recovery or master planning. On the other hand, he may fare better than Darth Cheney or Krusty Karl Rove, Bush’s previously anointed `recovery czars’…just what happened to those guys anyway?
If nothing else, the Katrina disaster has demonstrated that King George reigns over a government that does not believe in government – except, of course, as a device for gathering tax revenues from the masses and redistributing it to defense contractors and campaign contributors, and also for keeping dissenting citizens under surveillance and control. Otherwise, whatever the government attempts to do, if we are to believe the right-wing think-tank gurus, private individuals, private property, and “the free market” will always do better.
Tell that to the state of Louisiana that finds itself in a $1 billion dollar tax shortfall through the end of the year, with more grim projections for next year. A state under-served by it’s insurance coverage to the tune of $3.5 billion dollars.
Tell that to the feisty middle class that is trying to re-inhabit New Orleans and the rest of south Louisiana armed with nothing more than credit cards and good intentions.
Tell that to the employees of the federal government who are looking at having their pay frozen because Congress is unwilling to cut the pork from their own districts, but were all too willing to make promises in front of the cameras in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. After Rita, it seems that they regained the false disguise of fiscal conservatism, so long as it doesn’t affect their pet projects.
But, what are we hearing back? Last week at the Aspen Institute’s roundtable address, members of Gov. Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority had hoped that Chertoff would have some answers for them or at least be able to provide a status report. Instead, they got a snide and snippy Chertoff who refused to answer specific questions about hurricane recovery, such as the status of community disaster loans. Instead, he spent the bulk majority of his time defending Homeland Security’s response and reiterating that he, and not the President should deal directly with FEMA.
This is in direct contrast with the position that special advisor to Gov. Blanco and former FEMA director James Lee Witt is lobbying for. He maintains that the Katrina experience proves that the FEMA directorship needs to return to it’s former cabinet level position.
Another woeful meeting from last week was at the White House where members of the Louisiana Recovery Authority discussed the abysmal failure of the Small Business Administration to handle Katrina related requests. Out of 7,000 loan requests, 600 had been rejected, 68 had been approved and the remainder are unprocessed. There are 79,000 small businesses in Louisiana affected by the two hurricanes and each one represents both the economic and community base of Louisiana. Without the businesses, there can be no viable tax base for the state to operate on and without the jobs, there can be no community. It all boils back down to a need for cash influx and housing. The third tier is storm protection in the form of coastal restoration and levee enhancement, it is not only a practical necessity, but the lynchpin to drive business reinvestment.
There have been 311,000 Louisiana residents who filed jobless claims after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and roughly 195,590 or 63% are still living in Louisiana. The state’s unemployment rate has doubled to 11.5% and in the New Orleans area it is closer to 16 times the normal rate.
This week shuttle bus service has begun between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but transitional and permanent housing are desperately needed in the greater New Orleans area. The closest FEMA trailer park is in Baker, nearly 80 miles away. Municipalities closer to New Orleans do not have the existing infrastructure to accommodate temporary parks and are disinclined to do so. FEMA and Corps of Engineers contract jobs are going to individuals from out of state because of the housing situation. It is far easier to accommodate a single worker than it is to provide housing, healthcare and schools for a family.
There are jobs to be had, but no housing. As Bush’s “man on the ground” Vice Adm. Thad Allen, the Federal Emergency Management Agency´s Gulf Coast director, said recently:
In addition to the limit space to park “FEMA trailers” in the affected areas is the cruel reality that only 86,000 were manufactured in 2004 and FEMA is expecting 120,000. The residents aka job-seekers and the small businesses that need them cannot wait another quarter much less another year for this to sort itself out.
In another White House meeting last week, New Orleans’ Mayor Ray Nagin’s New Orleans Recovery Team met to discuss the levee situation. According to member Sean Reilly, the president´s advisors agreed to support more money for business bridge loans, Medicaid reimbursements and tax incentives for businesses and individuals, but would not commit to repairs to the levee system beyond their current CAT 3 levels and would not discuss the larger coastal restoration project. A top tier levee system from New Orleans to Morgan City would take years and $20 billion to build, far more than the Bush administration and conservatives in Congress are prepared to go.
Yesterday, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about levees, economic development and other issues affecting the city´s recovery. In addition to the levee and coastal restoration initiatives, Nagin addressed the need to fix the Stafford Act, to establish tax incentives for local business and provide protections to ensure that local businesses and workers are being fully utilized in the rebuilding effort, restoration or replacement of water and sanitation systems and the development of a minimum funding formula.
Also testifying before the Senate Committee was William Hines, director of the economic development group Greater New Orleans Inc., who said,
The gulf coast restoration and the rebuilding of the New Orleans and Southwest Louisiana’s economy is a chicken and egg challenge of epic proportions. Not one entity either city or state or federal is going to have all the answers. But, it is far past time to concede that the federal government could help with a rapid cash influx in the form of loans, tax incentives and grants. There will also have to be a long term commitment to making the Louisiana gulf coast viable for business, industry and the workers that keep them operating. All I can ask of you is to keep your ear to the rail and pressure on your congress-people.
Don’t let unavailable trailers and unaffordable levees doom my state’s future. You need New Orleans and Southwest Louisiana as much as I do.
This was originally posted at New International Times late yesterday afternoon. I am not much of a diarist and certainly read a good bit more of the blogs than I ever write or comment upon. But this is a topic very close to my heart.
This morning’s news on the release of Michael Brown’s “fashion god” emails makes me cringe.
If you are interested in a more personal look at the gulf recovery story, I invite you to read my postings chronicling my own limited view of Katrina and Rita from a small town in Central Louisiana (most recent first):
Rebuilding New Orleans One Small Business at a Time
Circling Vultures and Congressional Cretins
Hurricane Live Streaming which was an open thread during Hurricane Rita among the NIT community and evolved also into a discussion of the Asian typhoons.
The NIT running Hurricane Katrina thread and a very special relief effort by the NIT’s site host, Welshman, To New Orleans – A small thank you from the UK for the great gift of your music
The New International Times is not fast paced or highly trafficked like Booman Tribune, but we are a small, deeply engaged family concerned with the well being of all the souls on this planet and I invite you to come, read and sit a spell with us.