Dreaming versus Reality

So often in the past seven months and 8 days, yes I am counting, the news has been focused on rebuilding the infrastructure of the cities on the Mississippi Coast. They report on the millions or billions of dollars that it will take to accomplish this and the many years that it will take to come to fruition. The officials of each city are dreaming big that now is the time for the Coast to take advantage of all the things they have never had. Lets bring in more casinos to generate revenue for the cities and jobs for the people. We can build interconnector overpasses to make evacuations flow smoothly. The city of Gulfport is opposed to this as the overpass would be directly over the downtown area and potential tourists would most likely "cross over" and continue on to one of the other cities. The charm of Gulfport would be lost under tons of concrete.

The people who settled on the coast didn't do so because of all the grand things mentioned above. It has always been a small area filled with quaint shops, small business owners, antebellum homes, modern homes, seafood industries and shipbuilding. There are "well-to-do" people, middleclass and the poor. Many Louisiana citizens either moved into the Waveland-Bay St.Louis area or had a second home there to get away from the "hubbub" of city life. Snowbirds came for the warmth and often remained. They sensed the serenity and easy living in our area and wanted the same for themselves. In my opinion, most of our citizens just want a home resembling what they had and for the cities to rebuild many of the structures that were previously there so as not to make it foreign to the inhabitants.

Does higher elevation required on homes assure that there will be no damage? Does it mean that those homes that were not completly destroyed and couldn't be elevated will be destroyed by another storm? My daughter and I were talking today about her home that was at a 14 ft elevation. She felt that if it had been elevated any higher that it would have collapsed from the force of the surge. I agree!

I have learned a few things in my life and one of them is quite simple. Whoever "picks up the tab" has the upper hand in what will be done. In our case, it is the federal government.

As an example, of what the people want, there is a small elementary school K-5 on Market St. in Pascagoula, Mississippi that was severely flooded by the storm surge. Enrollment is a little over one hundred children. The parents are spending countless hours trying to save the school. They have signs on their cars asking for help in this endeavor. They already thought their school was grand so nothing elaborate has to be built..... just repair what is there.