Friday, February 03, 2006
Ken Arnold Answers Chicago Tribune Question 5 - FEMA
Candidate Arnold has himself done extensive research in this area and finds many innovations can be had. For instance: For space, storage life, and tastiness for the kids; one can store provisions of powdered milk along with the powdered form of Slim Fast. Just adding water to the milk, and then mixing in the Chocolate Slim Fast gives a nutritious meal that even kids will enjoy (covering up the powdered milk taste). This idea and many more are the innovations that a commission can develop and compile in an entire listing of recommended items that the average household could then stockpile. Such developed list could then be mailed to every residence in the United States. These are the sort of innovations that our Federal government can surely have a hand in – and arguably has a moral duty to provide.
Saying the above, one area of preparedness candidate Arnold does NOT condone (he condemns) is the taxpayer-subsidized Federal Flood Insurance Program along with the occasional Federal bailouts that occur by such events as million dollar homes built on sand dunes sliding into Lake Michigan (like what happened around Michigan City, Indiana a number of years ago). Ken Arnold simply asks: “Why should one taxpayer (who can’t afford the view) PAY for the view of another?” Essentially, anyone placing homesteads along ocean beaches, or rivers, or on top of sand dunes should NEVER ask the Federal taxpayer to “pay for their view” when disaster surely comes! The common man deserves better treatment than this! And Ken Arnold would work to eliminating such discriminatory and biased use of Federal monies – and eliminate it NOW.
As to the reconstruction needs within New Orleans and surrounding areas: There are several principles that should be applied here and in all other similar mass disasters in the United States going forward:
1) In such event, rebuilding will not simply rebuild that which was there before. Based upon both prior factors and knowledge, and those gained from the catastrophe itself, government at ALL levels will seek to rebuild in a BETTER and different manner to address all known challenges and problems. For instance: If an area is one of the lowest lying in New Orleans, it should never have permanent structures built on it again. And where a neighborhood’s density or layout was a prior fire hazard, or not conducive to automobiles (given they were built in the horse and buggy days), such neighborhoods need to be remodeled and improved to address the NEW realities. In short, government should not expend funds merely to replace – it should IMPROVE as well!
Our own City of Chicago is perhaps THE shining example of such foresightedness. After the disastrous Chicago Fire in the 1800s, the city fathers had the foresight to re-plan certain street layouts. This included placing several diagonal streets within the city as not only fire breaks – but major thoroughfares so that fire trucks could quickly access locations anywhere in the city. Additionally, many areas – using the ruins from the fire - were actually elevated since much of downtown Chicago was originally built on low lying marshland. All of these innovations and benefits carry thru to today!
2) The Federal government will greatly assist in the planning of such reconstruction. However: It is still the prime responsibility, and activity, of the State and local governments to most oversee and be responsible for all such reconstruction other than that involving Federal facilities and infrastructure.
3) The Federal government is not the primary monetary source for such overall reconstruction. It will be the prime source for all Federal structures such as Post Offices, Federal highways, and other Federal Government installations. And for State and local government facilities and infrastructure, it will cost share in similar proportions to what it originally participated in. Example: A public library may have 25% of its reconstruction paid for by the Federal government. But each government entity will pay in proportion…
4) Finally, most reconstruction will remain within the private sector and not government (as it always has been in prior disasters – including the Chicago fire.) Government is not to rebuild a private citizen’s home, nor rebuild their office buildings, etc. The free market will find the most efficient means to redeploy such land, labor, and capital WITHOUT government getting in the way. What government CAN and should do in this process, however, is provide the “social safety net” in the meantime for people to privately get back on their feet.
Thru careful application of the above four tenants Ken Arnold has developed, we can successfully move thru this current disaster – and all future disasters to come…
To return to McHenry County Blog, click here.
Saying the above, one area of preparedness candidate Arnold does NOT condone (he condemns) is the taxpayer-subsidized Federal Flood Insurance Program along with the occasional Federal bailouts that occur by such events as million dollar homes built on sand dunes sliding into Lake Michigan (like what happened around Michigan City, Indiana a number of years ago). Ken Arnold simply asks: “Why should one taxpayer (who can’t afford the view) PAY for the view of another?” Essentially, anyone placing homesteads along ocean beaches, or rivers, or on top of sand dunes should NEVER ask the Federal taxpayer to “pay for their view” when disaster surely comes! The common man deserves better treatment than this! And Ken Arnold would work to eliminating such discriminatory and biased use of Federal monies – and eliminate it NOW.
As to the reconstruction needs within New Orleans and surrounding areas: There are several principles that should be applied here and in all other similar mass disasters in the United States going forward:
1) In such event, rebuilding will not simply rebuild that which was there before. Based upon both prior factors and knowledge, and those gained from the catastrophe itself, government at ALL levels will seek to rebuild in a BETTER and different manner to address all known challenges and problems. For instance: If an area is one of the lowest lying in New Orleans, it should never have permanent structures built on it again. And where a neighborhood’s density or layout was a prior fire hazard, or not conducive to automobiles (given they were built in the horse and buggy days), such neighborhoods need to be remodeled and improved to address the NEW realities. In short, government should not expend funds merely to replace – it should IMPROVE as well!
Our own City of Chicago is perhaps THE shining example of such foresightedness. After the disastrous Chicago Fire in the 1800s, the city fathers had the foresight to re-plan certain street layouts. This included placing several diagonal streets within the city as not only fire breaks – but major thoroughfares so that fire trucks could quickly access locations anywhere in the city. Additionally, many areas – using the ruins from the fire - were actually elevated since much of downtown Chicago was originally built on low lying marshland. All of these innovations and benefits carry thru to today!
2) The Federal government will greatly assist in the planning of such reconstruction. However: It is still the prime responsibility, and activity, of the State and local governments to most oversee and be responsible for all such reconstruction other than that involving Federal facilities and infrastructure.
3) The Federal government is not the primary monetary source for such overall reconstruction. It will be the prime source for all Federal structures such as Post Offices, Federal highways, and other Federal Government installations. And for State and local government facilities and infrastructure, it will cost share in similar proportions to what it originally participated in. Example: A public library may have 25% of its reconstruction paid for by the Federal government. But each government entity will pay in proportion…
4) Finally, most reconstruction will remain within the private sector and not government (as it always has been in prior disasters – including the Chicago fire.) Government is not to rebuild a private citizen’s home, nor rebuild their office buildings, etc. The free market will find the most efficient means to redeploy such land, labor, and capital WITHOUT government getting in the way. What government CAN and should do in this process, however, is provide the “social safety net” in the meantime for people to privately get back on their feet.
Thru careful application of the above four tenants Ken Arnold has developed, we can successfully move thru this current disaster – and all future disasters to come…
To return to McHenry County Blog, click here.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 5:26 AM
