Wiston Papers

Perfect Storm Sandy is an opportunity for a Perfect Recovery

The devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy brings memories of equally catastrophic recent natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans and the Gulf coast in 2005; Hurricane Ike pounded Galveston, Texas four years ago; and the world awoke to a new year in January 2010 with news of an earthquake and the horrific destruction to Haiti.

In each instance massive help was promised, initial emergency responses were uneven, and rebuilding has stalled.  Those initial commitments of help--uttered largely for public consumption--have been largely forgotten while the victims remain ignored and abandoned.

Hurricane Sandy has been called a perfect storm.  Now will we see a Perfect Recovery?  Unlike past rebuilding efforts, we should.  Here’s how.

First, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have made rebuilding of America’s infrastructure a cornerstone of their Presidential campaigns.  Sandy provides a perfect laboratory for the next president to prove whether those words become  reality or remain just political rhetoric.

Sandy has killed scores of  persons, leveled numerous homes from water and fires, flooded the New York City subway system, and swamped tourist and amusement facilities along the Eastern Seaboard.

Initial damage estimates put losses to homes and businesses as high at $50 billion.

President Obama already has signed into law emergency aid legislation.  He could do more and should in the coming weeks and months.  There should be an immediate response followed by a carefully conceived and coordinated long-term disaster recovery and infrastructure renewal plan.

Second, unlike the disorganized recovery and rebuilding initiatives that followed Katrina, Ike and the Haiti earthquake, the next U.S. president should marshal  America’s armed forces to beef up and expedite the new response efforts.  Troops that formerly were in Iraq now should be movilized to the disaster-devastated home front.

There is far too much work left undone from Katrina, Ike and other recent attacks from Mother Nature.  Incompetence and corruption are two major explanations for the unfinished cleanup and rebuilding.  Apathy and lack of compassion seem to be in great abundance, too.  

The next president should lead the way in pushing both federal and local leaders to assess immediate storm-related damage and identify long overdue rebuilding needs to housing projects, transportation sectors, and educational institutions.  

Once these needs are identified, we can begin to put American men and women back to work rebuilding this nation.

Third, this massive effort will require money and lots of it.  It’s time for another stimulus program.  And we can do it properly this time.  Washington has no legitimate excuse for withholding the billlions of wartime money spent on Iraq that now is available for rebuilding on the homefront.

I’m optimistic and hopeful that our leaders will see Hurricane Sandy as an opportunity for a Perfect Recovery.  The rebuilding necessary in her wake can and should mean new opportunities to put millions of U.S. residents back to work, stimulate the economy through the circulation of additional monies that boost business, and rebuild our aging and poverty-infested neighborhoods.

I’m anxious to see if our newly elected officials are up to the task.

Steve Coon

October 31, 2012