EDITORIAL – Cleaning up Katrina a year later

A lot can change in a year, but New Orleans might not be the best example of that phrase…. A lot can change in a year, but New Orleans might not be the best example of that phrase.

A year after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Big Easy, there is still a lot to do. Some people maintain that a lot has been done — but these are generally the same people who believe we are winning the War on Terror. Others are shocked and disturbed that there is still so much to do to revitalize the area, and that people still haven’t returned to their homes.

New Orleans marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by setting a Tuesday deadline for homeowners to clean up or clear away houses in the area. Officials hope that the threat of penalties — including liens on property, seizures and destruction of homes — will encourage home owners to clean up their property. This bold initiative, if enforced, will prove to be a huge accomplishment in the clean-up process. It won’t hurt the battered psyche and despondent attitude of people in the area, either.

It’s been obvious from the beginning that the Gulf Coast can’t rely too hard on the government. That’s not to suggest that they have been completely MIA in the wake of the hurricanes last year, but the response hasn’t exactly been a shining moment for President Bush.

Yes, the government has allotted $110 billion in relief — $33 billion of which has been saved for future disbursements — but that money hasn’t really been used efficiently. With accusations of corruption and laundering coming out of the relief funds, how much faith can we place in the relief effort?

It’s good to see people in New Orleans taking charge and, after a year of continual controversy and heartache, enforcing deadlines aimed at progress.

It’s troubling, though, that while some people are waking up and mobilizing, others continue to miss the point.

President Bush began a two-day tour of the area yesterday — his 13th since Hurricane Katrina hit. Bush said that he felt a “sense of renewal” in the area and he was amazed at how the area looks a year later. “You can see that reconstruction effort beginning here in this part of the world,” Bush said in an Associated Press article Monday.

NAACP President and CEO Bruce S. Gordon was also surprised by the condition of the area.

“None of us should feel good about where we stand now,” Gordon said at a dedication ceremony for storm victims in the Lower Ninth Ward Monday.

President Bush’s tours have been marked with criticism, though, as they have been padded with staged meetings with supporters in the area.

There are a lot of fingers to be pointed (and a general area to point them to) a year later, but there is still hope for the Gulf Coast. We haven’t forgotten and it’s important that we continue to ask why, a year later, the area is still in distress.