Blame for poor response in New Orleans begins to shift

Monday, August 28, 2006 In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the failure of government to respond to the needs of thousands of people trapped by high water — without shelter, food or drink — fell primarily on the federal government. It is the job of the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to respond to catastrophes so severe and so widespread that local resources are clearly inadequate. To be sure, there were local breakdowns as well. The evacuation of New Orleans before the storm hit was a disaster of man's making. Some New Orleans public servants abandoned their posts, even as National Guard troops and police and firefighters from other parts of the country were rushing south to help. But the image of the inadequate federal response will continue to be thousands of (mostly poor) New Orleans residents jammed into and around the Super Dome, crying for help, even as FEMA officials gave interviews claiming there were no problems. A year later, however, the worm is turning. Now it is fair to ask if state and local authorities are not failing in the job of resurrecting, refurbishing, rebuilding and repopulating New Orleans. No one expected New Orleans to be rebuilt in a year. But it is unsettling to hear that a year after Hurricane Katrina did her best to destroy much of the Gulf Coast, some areas are doing much better at rebuilding than others, and New Orleans appears to be doing the worst. Smaller, to be sure It is safe to predict that the new New Orleans, even under the best of circumstances, will be a smaller New Orleans. And, that's OK. What is not OK is that there is still not an accepted master plan for rebuilding the city — on the eve of the release of $7.5 billion in federal funds for residential rebuilding. Without a plan, New Orleans could become a mirror image of what some Youngstown neighborhoods are: blocks where one or two homes are inhabited, while others stand vacant or have been reduced to empty lots. In Youngstown, thousands moved out of the city over the years, leaving a few behind. In New Orleans, entire communities were inundated and abandoned over night, and now a few residents are returning. That's obviously unacceptable. Such scattered site occupation makes it impossible to provide efficient city services such as policing, road repair, even garbage pick-up. The few living in these areas have no sense of community, have a decreased quality of life and property values are adversely impacted. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently responded to criticism with a slam against New York, where competing interests have, indeed, impeded the redevelopment of the World Trade Centers site. Referring to New York's "hole in the ground" may have given Nagin some sense of satisfaction and a few debate points. But it means nothing to the people of New Orleans. Should the fact that a commercial block of New York City remains a huge hole in the ground give consolation to tens of thousands of Nagin's former constituents who are still living in emergency trailers scattered throughout the South? There will, inevitably, be more destructive hurricanes. Homeland Security and FEMA will have an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned from their mistakes in 2005. But the time for New Orleans to demonstrate that it has learned something over the last year about the need to work together to rebuild a city is now.