In the aftermath of the storm hype that paralyzed a nation and dampened a coast, this puff piece ran in the Dallas Morning Fishwrap today. Since the resident bleeding hearts of the DMN newsroom don't do much of their own journalism it doesn't originate in Big D. In fact, despite being on page three of today's rag, a verbatim search on the headline text returned no results. Apparently their web-site is ashamed of it.
Lower Ninth Awaiting Recovery
This week is the sixth anniversary of the descent into sub-humanity which marked Hurricane Katrina's passage over New Orleans. The folly of building a city fifteen feet below sea level played out as the society crumbled in less than 24 hours. Now, the Ninth Ward is not yet the Potemkin Village of their dreams. And, that news piece illustrates exactly why.
Let's say you had a house in a town or a metro neighborhood. That neighborhood was virtually destroyed by a natural disaster. When the disaster has passed, what do you do?
You probably take stock of what you have and what your future might hold. Do you leave and rebuild your life somewhere else or do you rebuild where you are having learned lessons from the experience? That's a fork in the road.
Choose to stay. You owned a house so you have insurance or you consider your financial position such that you self-insure meaning that you take the risk and assume responsibility. This is a working class neighborhood so you have insurance. You file your claim, receive your check and call a contractor. In a year you are in your restored dwelling. Your neighbors do the same thing.
Because you have a neighborhood restored, you have a tax base and a population to be served by government services such as police/fire and schools. You have a customer base awaiting retail outlets so your stores rebuild and merchants come to prosper.
In other words you pick yourself up, take responsibility and build a life just as people always have. You and your neighbors go to work.
Not apparently in the Lower Ninth Ward.
There they listen as "politicians, investors and celebrities continue to promise a better future." They complain that "they ain't nothin' new down here. Nothing new..." They watch as "environmental groups and thousands of volunteers" work to give them something they didn't earn. They receive the publicity photo-op of Brad Pitt cutting a ribbon for their free housing.
The plight of those in poverty in the Ninth Ward is sad, but the state of mind that is reflected in those who would sit and wait for six years for someone else to provide for them is infinitely sadder.
3 comments:
I was in Westchester County during the storm. Winds gusting to 40 or 50 mph, rain. Next day, there was a tree across the road. It took three or four neighbors and a chainsaw fifteen minutes to clear the tree out of the way. Con Edison was nowhere to be seen all day long.
Saw Mill Parkway was flooded, but it always floods.
Some 60-something creep in a Ferrari monogram shirt by the Metro North train station was calling cops on people who came down to look at the river.
On the radio today, Mayor Bloomberg was patting himself on the back, adding poeple should leave clearing away trees and branches to the "professionals," emphasizing that people should not use chainsaws because they are "dangerous."
Bloomberg's comments illustrate that government doesn't understand the axiom of "lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!"
Good on the WC residents who didn't sit on their a$$es waiting for ConEd.
This country could really be a powerhouse [again], if gov't were not in the way. Maybe they should keep the chains sharp to cut out some of the deadwood (which is to say, most) in the Congress.
You mean to tell me that Brad Pitt and the gubmint ain't gonna build me a new house, provide groceries, cut the grass, and put gas in the tank?
a) It's all George Bush's fault.
b) The Republicans in Congress are mean and are obstructing Obama.
c) America is a racist country.
d) It's due to global warming.
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