Baker Institute panelists decry bureaucratic delays in wake of Hurricane Ike

Baker Institute panelists decry bureaucratic delays in wake of Hurricane Ike

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

The mayors of Houston and Galveston spoke of the lessons learned from previous storms during a March 11 panel discussion at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, but they lamented bureaucratic obstacles that hindered the recovery from Hurricane Ike.

Opening the discussion, Edward Djerejian, founding director of the Baker Institute, asked the panelists, “What lessons did we learn? What did we do right? And what could we have done better?”

	The mayors of Houston and Galveston spoke of the lessons learned from previous storms during a March 11 panel discussion at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. Pictured from left are Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, Houston Mayor Bill White and Edward Djerejian, founding director of the Baker Institute.

Houston Mayor Bill White responded that we learned we can’t control the weather and that meteorologists aren’t perfect. Then he listed several things that worked, including evacuation based on zip codes and evacuation of people with special needs — both of which showed considerable improvement over evacuation efforts during Hurricane Rita in 2005.

White also mentioned the importance of protecting the electricity grid in future storms and the need to fortify facilities and infrastructure as well as trim the trees that caused so many Houstonians to lose power. He praised civic involvement in the cleanup effort but decried plodding disbursement of federal funds to pay for it. He concluded with a call for federal officials to delegate more authority to their local counterparts.

Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas echoed White’s description of bureaucratic foot-dragging. “The whole city was a shambles,” she said, “We got it cleaned up very quickly.” But the Texas Department of Transportation did not allow Galveston to remove debris from major thoroughfares, she said, and it took three months to get them cleared.

Her city took precautions, based on prior experience, Thomas said. Galveston had buses ready to evacuate people who rely on public transportation, for example. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had not taken such steps last September, according to Thomas. “FEMA needs to have prearranged contracts prior to these storms,” she said. And FEMA has held up promised payments for tents, food, portable toilets and other facilities six months after Ike devastated the city, Thomas charged, a delay she blamed on bureaucratic inertia.

The Baker Institute panel included two nonpoliticians as well: Paul Burka, senior executive editor of Texas Monthly, and Joan Neuhaus Schaan, fellow in homeland security and terrorism at the Baker Institute.

Burka, a Galveston native and Rice alumnus, spoke of the “psychological hold” tropical storms have on the island city. He cited three lessons from the most recent one. First, parts of Galveston that were behind the seawall were inundated by the backwash from the storm surge coming from Galveston Bay, demonstrating that the seawall (built after the 1900 storm that killed an estimated 6,000 people) does not provide true security. Second, Burka noted that Ike was “only” a Category 2 storm, but it still devastated the city. Finally, Burka said, Ike raised the question of whether the state of Texas has the political will to deal with the effects of future storms. Setting aside large amounts of money to pay for hurricane cleanup may not be so appealing to a legislator from Amarillo, he pointed out.

Schaan, who has served as the executive director of the Houston-Harris County Regional Homeland Security Advisory Council since 2004, told the audience that citizens in Galveston, Chambers and Harris counties are “particularly attuned to disasters.” As a result, she said, “preparedness has become a culture here,” which has a direct impact on response and recovery after storms.

Schaan underscored improved coordination between local authorities, regional officials and first responders — a product of lessons learned from earlier hurricanes. She also noted the importance of cooperation from the private sector. And she concluded with praise for the Red Cross, whose efforts were “critical” after Ike, including four and a half million meals served to those most affected. The Red Cross, Schaan noted, is funded by private donations.

The panel discussion, titled “Life After Ike: The Future of Houston and Galveston,” was co-sponsored by Texas Monthly and the Baker Institute.