I've been trying to kick the diary habit, both because it is an addiction and because we've been asked to keep new ones to a minimum for a while. But this is one story that deserves notice:
California received its first wave of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina on Sunday, in San Diego and Los Angeles, while San Francisco and San Jose prepared to accommodate a combined 400 victims.
At least 300 evacuees may start arriving today in San Francisco, where they will be offered temporary shelter, access to jobs, city schools and permanent quarters in public housing, authorities said. )San Francisco Chronicle 5 Sep 2005)
Other states are doing this, too. Why I think this story is important - below the fold.
We are doing this, you see, even though we were warned it's too soon to know if the feds will reimburse us:
Although refugees began arriving in California, the state had not yet officially finalized a plan on how many hurricane victims would be accepted, in part because state leaders were awaiting word from the federal government about how the state would be reimbursed for costs. [Emphasis added]
The state did contact the San Jose people to set up a shelter for the refugees, so it's not clear who in the state government is doing - or not doing - what. It is clear that they don't think we're doing it the right way:
By quickly responding to the victims' needs, San Francisco could lose out on funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state officials have warned.
"If they haven't used the normal procedures, they take a risk," Henry Renteria, director of the governor's Office of Emergency Services, said in a news conference Sunday. "If you don't do it according to the rules established by the state and FEMA, you could take on expenses not deemed eligible (for reimbursement.)" [Emphasis added]
San Francisco's response?
So be it, said Mayor Gavin Newsom's spokesman, Peter Ragone.
He added:
"We have great respect for the governor, and if they choose to not take the money the federal government would make available and reimburse the city, we'll do it on our own with charitable and philanthropic resources," he said.
The city is looking into what private charities can do, and the school district is checking where it has room to take in school-age refugees. Churches, including St. Mary's cathedral, will be used to house people temporarily until other shelters can be found.
We are, after all, sitting on an earthguake fault, and earthquakes, unlike hurricanes, give no warning. So we have some sense of what it means to have to respond to an emergency quickly.
One last thing:
In San Francisco, city officials said they put aside their Labor Day holiday plans and met to come up with an immediate response to the hurricane crisis.
I seem to recall some diarist here mentioning that he couldn't get back to some FEMA flack because the office had closed for the holiday. 'Nuff said.