-
Login
-
Digital Edition
-
Print Edition
- Most Commented
- Most Commented
- Most Emailed
- Most Emailed
- Popular
- Popular
« News Home
Hurricane Katrina recovery shows need for government
TweetIt was the administration of for- mer President George W. Bush, a Republican, that formulated the recovery of the Gulf Coast region devastated five years ago by Hurricane Katrina. Congress appropriated $142 million in federal money to facilitate the recovery.
It is the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, that has streamlined the process for getting the federal funds and other assistance to the region, especially the city of New Orleans.
Thus, the question: Should the federal government and all the other public entities even be involved in rebuilding the communities?
We pose this question on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina because of the attitude on the part of a growing number of Americans that governments at all levels are too involved in our daily lives.
However, as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill in the Gulf has shown, beliefs quickly change when the disaster hits home. The federal government will end up spending millions of dollars in the Gulf region to restore the economies of the communities affected by the oil spill — even though BP has said it will pick up the entire cost of the clean up.
While it has become popular to demonize the federal government, the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort has benefitted greatly by having Washington involved.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, an independent report released this month shows that the $142 million has been money well spent in metropolitan New Orleans. The report was compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. They analyzed 20 indicators of prosperity, such as re-population, housing costs, local tax collections and the reopening of schools, the Monitor reported.
“It [the study] concludes that the New Orleans area is poised to become a safer, more sustainable, and economically stronger city than it was before the storm,” according to the newspaper.
Presidential visit
President Obama visited New Orleans Sunday and reassured disaster-weary Gulf Coast residents that he would not abandon their cause.
“My administration is going to stand with you, and fight alongside you, until the job is done,” Obama said to cheers at Xavier University, a historically black, Catholic university that was badly flooded by the storm.
The president said there are still too many vacant lots, trailers serving as classrooms, displaced residents and people out of work. But, he said, New Orleanians have showed amazing resilience.
“Because of you,” the president declared, “New Orleans is coming back.”
The images of that fateful day on Aug. 29 when the hurricane struck still shock the senses, while the statistics reveal the extent of the devastation. More than 1,800 people were killed, many in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. About 850,000 housing units were damaged, destroyed or became inaccessible; 900 churches, synagogues and mosques were destroyed or damaged.
But the most telling number is the one that deals with the exodus of people from New Orleans. Only about 40 percent of the residents who left have returned to the city.
That’s what government officials locally and in Washington are trying to change.
Reassurance
The president seemed to hope, in part, that his mere presence would reassure residents they were not forgotten. Obama toured Columbia Parc, a development of attractive new townhouses replacing the St. Bernard Housing Development that flooded during Katrina. He met with a longtime resident who had to be rescued from her home in a boat after Katrina struck.
And Obama dropped in at the Parkway Bakery and Tavern, a local institution known for shrimp and roast beef po’boys, which was underwater after Katrina. “I appreciate you coming here,” one woman told him. He responded with a hug.
Comments
amazing that this newspaper would be a shill for the administration
pre-Katrina
the local pols wasted the monies to strengthen the levies
the mayor never used the buses to get poor people out of there
post katrina
fema was slow to react
a small fraction of the neighborhoods have been rebuilt
there hasn't been repopulation to pre hurricane levels
great job brownie, uh vindy
..."governments at all levels are too involved in our daily lives."
HOW TERRIBLY TRUE!
I wonder if people are not returning to New Orleans because New Orleans is a sitting target for more totally devastating hurricanes?..
The title of this article indicates we need government to handle the aftermath of disasters, and perhaps we do. I remember the reaction to Katrina approaching New Orleans by former Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Blanco. Nagin took his family to safety and left residents of New Orleans to suffer. Blanco acted like a deer in the headlights....and never did much of nothing even after President Bush called her multiple times to see what she was doing and to offer her support! We soon found out that the local board responsible for the improvement and upkeep of the levees was a miserable political failure for years, prompting some members to resign in disgust before Katrina! Of course after Katrina the mainstream media that ignored all of this jumped all over themselves to join with the Democrats and flail the Federal rescue and relief efforts and especially beat up President Bush!! To this day those responsible have never been given their share of responsibility for their failures! I believe that good government is required, but that it begins as close as possible to the people and the problem.....and ends with the Federal government to assist but not lead. I still have nightmares when I see pictures of the stranded citizens of New Orleans and the thousands of flooded school buses which could have been used to transport them to safety if there was good local and state government in place! The Lord helps he who helps himself!
the question still is; is new orleans better off today because of fed help?
Did anyone notice? Bush is identified as a Republican (like as in "villain")? And the Prez's political party is not mentioned behind his name? But the local officials were in fact Democrat (as in "incompetent"-see above posts #1 and #3).
The Vindy can take any editorial position they want-it's their paper. But when you're the ONLY paper in this valley and the alternatives are the Plain Dealer, Warren Tribune, Pittsburgh Post Gazette and other LIBERAL papers, it would be nice to get more of a balanced view. Fifty-fifty would be fair. Plus, editorials that gave you BOTH sides of the issue(s) without "interpretation" would be nice. As the first poster said, "shill for the government", which is what we continually see.
This is where Peter Zenger's trial in 1748 has ended up...an issue of "freedom of the press" is now license to make or break political regimes.
@ront: whether the Big Easy is better off because of fed help is a fair question.
Only time will tell.
piak, Americans who truly want to know and decide for themselves about important issues watch Fox News programs, because Fox News is a right leaning news network, and they help balance the tons of left leaning news and views that we are bombarded with every day.
Re: Whether the Big Easy is better off because of fed help being a fair question,.. I don't think it's a fair question, because the amount given to the Big Easy was so incredibly generous it's an automatic given the Big Easy has to at least in some ways be better off. ..However, maybe not. because things are so corrupt there, it might be just the corrupt politicians who are still benefiting
On the other hand, a fair question would be... Is the entire U.S.A. better off today because of the non-stop outrageous spending by both political parties, who have spent hard earned tax payer money as though it grew on trees, which in turn has bankrupted the U.S.A., leaving us with TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN BURDENING DEBT?
"Only about 40 percent of the residents who left have returned to the city. That's what government officials locally and in Washington are trying to change." You know, it's not like they had a choice. 1800 of these residents perished, and they will never return. As for the rest of the residents, many had their whole life washed away and have nothing to return to: no home, no business, no job and no future unless they have skills which are in demand. At least the army corps of engineers is building a new levy which will be much more substantial than the old one. I hope no one begrudges this vital public works project. It is the least we can do.
sorry, that should be "levee" vs. "levy."
"human construction vs elevation/gravity/ocean"
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2...