The Times-Pic saluted Mr. Powell and gave him its "sincere thanks" for being a champion for the people of Louisiana (link to the editorial below). I'm back in Louisiana after sevens weeks of travel and am talking to residents and looking at unfinished houses again. This has been my primary home for over a year now, so I think I speak with enough exposure and experience when I say that for any sort of 'thank you' to be levied to someone who holds any responsibility for 'overall' recovery and direction is northing short of an outright joke!
Reading and hearing about any kudos from and to local, state or federal officials is as pathetic now as it was in the days and weeks after Katrina hit -- and if you watched the national news back then you saw plenty of them going around. This place is nowhere near "recovered" enough for someone touted as the "Recovery Czar" to be receiving more than "Nice knowing you, now who is next in line to try and get something tangible done?"
This is not to say that Powell is a bad person, or that he was a complete flop. By some definitions of what he was tasked to do, he had success, particularly in winning more money for the state of Louisiana. But what has been done with it? Where are the plans, the leadership, the direction or the inspiration from people at Powell's level? Thanking Powell for a job well done is like congratulating the owner of a professional sports team for buying them nice uniforms. Sure, it looks good, but what have they won?
I have tried more than I can express to stay out of opinion and bickering centered on government failings. Constant bashing and negativity does no good. But, hearing about this (and today's editorial wasn't the first I heard of props given to Powell) infuriates me. When you see what I see here everyday, when you hear what I hear, it's downright absurd. Just yesterday I stood with a woman in the middle of her gutted house as she lamented the fact that she can't find a decent, affordable electrician to do her electrical wiring so that the basics like insulation and sheetrocking can start. She finally just got her Road Home money in December, but has no idea how and when all the work she needs done can get started. Meanwhile, she's in a FEMA trailer for over two years now.
Today, I was in the house of another woman, 74 year old Beatrice Duplessis, who has been staying in Pennsylvania because she has family and friends there, but is dying to get back to her home here in St. Bernard Parish. She can't, however, because there is still weeks, if not months worth of work to be done on her house. A wall has to be moved, the ceiling made more structurally sound, things that volunteers like myself or others that I find to help people at these types of homes really can't or shouldn't do. These folks need professional help and they just need it to be done.
How about this for a concept? Instead of sending a woman $80,000 two years after the fact and telling her to figure out a way to get her home rebuilt (in a market where skilled labor like electricians and plumbers are all swamped with work, over priced or outright crooks), why didn't the government (at any level) set up a plan where the billions of dollars that was appropriated went to a Recovery Fund? The money from that fund could then be used to pay hundreds of skilled laborers and home builders and carpenters to come to the Gulf Coast for 6, 8, 12 months and help rebuild neighborhoods. Zones could have been created where some of the best Construction Project Managers in the country could have overseen the rebuilding of homes block by block, street by street. Where was Powell when it came to this sort of creative leadership and program? Cutting checks to people who have suffered great loss, depression, sickness, stress and obstacles beyond description in one blog, and asking them to find a way to get all the work done has to be one of the most ridiculous plans/projects I've ever seen. The more time I spend here, the more I am convinced of that. Have there been some great successes, some people who have figured out a way and rebuilt their homes and their lives? Of course. Quite a few. But overall, big picture, is the recovery moving along fast enough? Successful enough? Not even close.
The only thank you's that should be going around are to volunteers and people who have taken their own initiative to find solutions here, who have gone above and beyond, regular people who weren't in titles or official roles that might indicate they were to help with the recovery. And this isn't about me, forget me or anything I've done. This is about what I've seen every single day I've been here since February of 2007, amazing work done by hundreds of volunteers who are the only reason this place has a chance. I went by the St. Bernard Community Center earlier, where a volunteer (who earns a stipend) named Jason came on board last Fall. The Community Center was flailing when he first arrived, serving merely as a place for some residents to "hang out". Today, I walked in there and saw Road Home officials sitting at desks talking to residents on the left, accounting students from Michigan St. University sitting at desks on the other side of the room helping residents with Tax Questions, a food distribution taking place in the back and a medical clinic trailer sitting out front. That's all happening because a young kid fresh out of college who came her to help out is helping to make that happen.
Thanking the Federal Recovery Czar? Or anyone else in some sort of government role? Please, spare me. The only place for that in any newspaper is in the comics section!
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1204611682284920.xml&coll=1)
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