[StBernard] Washington Post Columnists Focus on Hurricane Recovery

[Westley Annis]

Slow-Motion Disaster 

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005; 11:33 AM

For once, I don't think I can blame the media.

Journalists keep writing stories about how awful things are in New Orleans.
Time did a cover story last week: "It's Worse Than You Think." And yet three
months after Katrina struck, the administration hasn't done much, Congress
seems distracted by other issues, and there seems to be no sense of national
urgency about the slow destruction of a major American city.

Is this inevitable, given today's MTV attention spans? What about all the
lofty rhetoric, the presidential visits, the media hand-wringing amid the
devastation of the hurricane and flooding? People are no longer drowning,
but what remains of the city is slowly being strangled. Isn't that as big a
story as when the levees broke?

Here is some of what I've been reading: About 250,000 devastated businesses
have applied to SBA loans, while only a couple hundred have been approved.
Isn't that as lackadaisical a response as FEMA's? If these businesses can't
get short-term loans, they're going to close up, and there go the jobs that
might enable more folks to return.

Some 284,000 homes were destroyed by the hurricane. Some people got
flood-insurance payments, while others in the same neighborhood were denied.
Major portions of the area have no power, and the local electric utility is
bankrupt. The health care system has been crippled, with only two hospitals
partially reopened. The first regular public school reopened only yesterday.
Some banks can't decide whether to rebuild. Companies like UPS and Burger
King have jobs available, but few takers because there is no housing. Much
of the $62 billion okayed by Congress remains unspent.

Meanwhile, FEMA's brilliant plan was to kick out most of the 150,000
evacuees still living in hotel rooms, as of this week. After a huge uproar
in the affected states, the deadline was pushed back to Jan. 7. But what
happens then? FEMA has even tried to block cities like Houston from signing
apartment leases for the displaced.

Donna Brazile, a Nawlins native, says in Time she's worried about "Katrina
Fatigue."

.................

Hurricane Recovery: A Forgotten Priority? 

By Terry M. Neal
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 30, 2005; 9:09 AM

The television cameras have mostly left the Gulf Coast, but the region
continues to reel from the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita.

More than two months after the storms, leaders in both political parties
seemingly have backed away from some of their initial pledges to support
reconstruction whatever the cost. As Manuel Roig-Franzia and Ceci Connolly
wrote in The Washington Post
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/28/AR200511280
1681_pf.html> on Tuesday, "financial aid from Washington, once expected to
reach $200 billion, has stalled out at about $70 billion."

The Congressional Black Caucus, seeking to jumpstart the recovery effort and
reassure the region's residents that Washington has not forgotten them, has
unveiled a comprehensive proposal to aide the poor and other vulnerable
citizens most affected by the storms.

The CBC acknowledges there is little hope that the bill
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04197> will pass in its
current form, but its members hope it will set the stage for a meaningful
debate about whether America is serious about helping those still hurting in
the hurricane-ravaged region.

The bill will almost certainly inflame the already rancorous debate about
spending priorities and the role of the federal government at a time when
some conservatives are rebelling against the budget-busting tendencies of
Congress and the White House. But the CBC believes that Katrina and Rita
were historic event that has left an entire region suffering a set of
problems of unprecedented complication.

"The CBC is trying to play a proactive role," Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) told
Talking Points. "Here we are four months after Katrina and Congress has
still not moved a comprehensive bill that deals with the whole panoply of
issues related to the hurricane, from Medicaid and health care issues, to
housing issues, to wealth replacement issues for business, to capital
replacement for communities.

"This is why people are frustrated about politicians. It's the failure to
focus on what is happening with [people's] daily lives. When I go home back
to my district, I hear it all the time. Occasionally they are wrong or
short-sighted in terms of what affects them, but more often than not,
they're right."

The problems facing Katrina and Rita victims are well documented. More than
100,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. And with so many questions up
in the air about rebuilding the complex levee system that protects New
Orleans from flood waters, even those who can afford to rebuild aren't sure
it makes sense to do so.

While neither Davis nor most of his CBC colleagues directly blame race and
class for the malaise they believe has descended upon Washington in dealing
with hurricane recovery, it's a fact many of the people facing the long-term
displacement are poor and/or black.

To address these realities, the CBC proposes a number of steps:

*	Create a Victim Compensation Fund, modeled after the fund
established by Congress for families of 9/11 victims. In this case, a
"special master" would "determine what compensation is necessary to restore
each individual Hurricane Katrina claimant to his or her pre-Katrina
condition.
*	Extend unemployment benefits to Katrina survivors by 26 additional
weeks.
*	Provide Medicaid benefits for all survivors whose income doesn't
exceed 100 percent of the poverty line.
*	Rebuild medical facilities destroyed by Katrina.
*	Provide billions of dollars in community development block grants,
loan guarantees, public housing capital funds and additional programs for
housing.
*	Provide Katrina evacuees the same absentee ballot and registration
rights as military personnel and give $50 million in grants for replacement
*	Give tax credits up to $5,000 for displaced people seeking to
purchase or build a home in the area hit by Katrina.
*	Exempt victims from the newly enacted bankruptcy laws that make it
more difficult to wipe out debt.

The costs of the bill to taxpayers has not been etimated legislative
analysts in the House, but it would unquestionably add tens of billions to
the costs of the recovery.

"As much as it costs, that's as much as it should take," CBC communications
director Myra L. Dandridge said.

But the congressional leadership doesn't appear to share that view.

"The House is looking at continuing to do things piece by piece," said Sean
Spicer, spokesman for the House Republican Conference. "There are some major
issues that need to be resolved and you don't do them all the same time in
one broad stroke. You're talking about major programs that effect people's
lives, and you want to make sure you doing it right and giving the attention
to detail that is required."

About the only other major proposal pending is a bill introduced by Rep.
Richard Baker (R-La.) that would create an independent commission -- the
"Louisiana Recovery Corporation" -- that would have authority to purchase
property from people willing to sell. It would be financed by treasury
bonds, which would be repaid by redevelopment of the area. [Read details of
the Baker proposal at baker.house.gov -
<http://baker.house.gov/html/news_item.cfm?id=519> 

Baker's spokesman, Michael DiResto, said this plan was a way to address the
problem without burdening the taxpayers with billions in additional debt.
DiResto said as word has spread of Baker's plan, his office is getting
upward of 10 calls a day from desperate residents begging for Congress to do
something.

"If we could get this done before the end of the year, that would be really
helpful," DiResto said.

But Spicer said the House leadership has not made any commitment to Baker's
plan. He said several options, including some version of a tax credit plan
being studied by Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Bill Thomas
(R-Calif.), are possibilities. But Spicer said there was no timetable for
getting anything done.

"We're doing things as they need to be done," he said.

When Spicer returned my call yesterday, CNN was airing live a meeting held
by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Residents of his city were coming to the
microphone one-by-one, asking why it seemed their leaders had abandoned
them.

"Why do we have to beg and plead ... when it's on the news media every day,"
one man wondered.

Were Democrats and Republicans listening back in Washington?

# # #

The Louisiana Recovery Authority is the planning and coordinating body that
will assist in implementing the Governor's vision for the recovery of
Louisiana. The authority will identify and prioritize the short- and
long-term needs of the recovery. The authority will seek out and value local
input as it plans and implements the recovery.

The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF), Louisiana's fund for
Louisiana's people, has been established by Governor Kathleen Babineaux
Blanco in order to support long-term family restoration and recovery and
help provide assistance to our citizens in need through a network of
Louisiana charities and non-profit agencies. 

1-877-HELPLA1 (877-435-7521) www.louisianahelp.org