Katrina's Costs and Accountability

I recently compared the aftermath of Hurricane Tracy with Hurricane Katrina.  I love New Orleans: good jazz, great food, and Tulane University.  But, I believe that the people who govern the town have not acted ethically in their use of recovery dollars, and the people who elect those officials don’t seem to care.  But, let’s look at the numbers.

The actual cost of the damage done by Hurricane Katrina is around 125 billion, with $66 billion in insured losses. In contrast the federal money allocated to rebuilding has been over $142 billion, not including any of the private and philanthropic monies donated to the rebuilding, which have been considerable. 

            According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, it has been money well spent.  According to their data, which is filled with subjective adjectives, New Orleans and its environs are, “…poised to become a safer, more sustainable, and economically stronger city than it was before the storm.” 

            It should.  Divide $142 billion by the population of the New Orleans metropolitan area for that period (around 1,316,510 people) and you get a figure of $117,805 for every man, woman, child, adolescent, teen-ager, nursing home resident or suckling babe.   For a family of four that means an income of $471,220.  Hardly a fortune but certainly enough to, “start over.”  Of course not every human being affected by the storm got a check for $117,805.  That is not how this money was handled. 

            The poverty rate in New Orleans dropped dramatically after the Hurricane, from 18% to just 15%, but has since risen to 19%.   The poverty rate in the city itself is at 29%.  Child poverty rates in the Parish have increased to their 1999 levels: 42% in the city and 28% in the metro, both of which are higher than the national rate of 23%.  This is disgraceful, but hardly the fault of the federal government who gave each of those children the equivalent of $117,805.  Oh, wait, they really didn’t get that money did they.  It went to their town fathers who were supposed to do something wonderful with it.

     The money may have been spent on housing, but 54% of renters in the Big Easy pay 35% of their pre-tax income on rent and utilities.  The money may have been spent on police protection, but violent crimes per 100,000 run around 800, which is double the national rate.  The money might have been spent on clean-up.  FEMA has given $10.3 billion to localities for debris removal and infrastructure repairs.  There are 72 neighborhoods in NO.  That comes to $143 million for each neighborhood.  Is the debris gone?  If the answer is, “no” what happened to the money?  The powers that be have also granted $8.99 billion in, “Road Home” grants to 130,009 pre-Katrina homeowners. That amounts to $69,149/per household.  What have those recipients done with that money to better themselves or their families?  Does anyone know or care?  Efforts to follow the money are brushed off.  When we really try to hold the local authorities’ feet to the fire about fiscal accountability they ultimately play the race card.  Never mind that careful, honest and non-corrupted use of this money would most benefit the 59% of the New Orleans population who claim Black ancestry, no, if you question the legitimacy of how this money is spent, you are interfering with someone’s God given right to steal from the government—and you are a racist. 

     Twenty years from now will New Orleans be a better place?  If not, why?  The fault, dear Brutus, is not in their stars, but in themselves.

            Trust but verify, and keep the faith.