Cypress Trees

In David Granger's editorial entitled "Recreate and Enjoy," he assesses the current state of recovery in New Orleans. He also states his opinion of the government's performace in the relief efforts. He claims that the government has forgotten about New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating natural disasters that America has ever seen, made landfall on the Gulf Coast just over two years ago. This storm caused a loss of $120 billion to the economy, and insurers lost approximately $60 billion. Recovering from a storm of this magnitude is no easy task. Although recovery in New Orleans is moving at a slow pace, progress is being made to revive the city.

I agree with Granger's claim that the response of the federal government during the storm was one of the worst failures in history. It took the government too long to respond in the early moments following the time the storm made landfall. In a report from the House Investigators, it is pointed out that poor communication among first responders, a shortage of qualified emergency personnel and lack of training and funding led to the poor performance (Hsu).

Much of the Ninth Ward and Lakeview communities have yet to recover. These communities were the hardest hit by the storm and there has been very limited progress made in those areas. Granger recounts on his recent drive through those neighborhoods and it dawned on him that there was no end to the destruction. He points to many families still living out of RV's parked outside their homes. It is a shame that over two years have passed and citizens of those areas have very little incentive to return to their homes that are still ravaged and in shambles.

This leads to Granger's opinion that the government hasn't made good on its promise to do whatever it takes to bring recovery to New Orleans. I feel the government has not forgotten about New Orleans. I disagree with Granger's assessment because the White House has asked for $108 billion in Gulf Coast relief and recovery aid, and all but $19 billion of which has been approved by Congress. In addition this money the Bush administration has spent $3.5 billion to bring the levees back to at least their pre-Katrina condition. The government also put into effect the Road Home program. The Road Home Program was intended to provide Louisiana residents with money to rebuild or sell houses severely damaged by the storms(HUD). An additional $4.6 billion was awarded to the state's original $6.2 billion request to fund Louisiana's Road Home Program.

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