I apologize if this has been posted recently. I searched, but found nothing since Dec. 11 where there was some mention of Galveston.
In November, there were some pleas for help regarding UTMB, the indigent care hospital that served so much of Southeast Texas, but that's been a couple of months ago.
But while New Orleans gets continuing coverage from media outlets like PBS's Frontline, even three years later, Galveston is dying.
Here's something you might not have heard in the mainstream media:
The mayor of Galveston pleading for funds.
Galveston, which has an annual budget of about $80 million, also needs help to pay for the $178 million in damage Ike caused to buildings, roads and other infrastructure, LeBlanc said.
Thomas and LeBlanc asked lawmakers for financial help, including letting the city temporarily keep most or all of the sales tax revenue it usually gives to the state and apply for long-term, low cost emergency loans.
"By rebating the sales tax for a set time for areas devastated by Ike you would be enabling us in the Gulf Coast to rebuild our homes and mitigate against future disasters," Thomas told members of the House Select Committee on Hurricane Ike. Audience members applauded.
LeBlanc said the city applied for help from the Disaster Contingency Fund, created by the Legislature in 2007 to provide money and other help for local governments after a natural disaster.
But the city was turned down because lawmakers never appropriated money for the fund.
Notice that last sentence? Galveston was turned down because the idiots in the state legislature NEVER APPROPRIATED THE FUNDS!
We've got $700 Billion for fat-cat Wall Street managers, but the state of Texas can't allocate funds for DISASTER RELIEF?!?!?
It's a HUGE step for a city to ask for a refund of sales tax receipts like this. Cities just don't do stuff like that unless there is a major crisis at hand.
Even as I'm sitting here freezing my butt off in Illinois, I recall good times in Galveston (I grew up in Texas). It's a great town formerly humbled by the great hurricane of 1900. This breaks my heart.
But it's not just the Victorian splendor of Galveston that has been damaged by the hurricane. It's health care. There are people along the Gulf Coast who are hurting beyond the brick and mortar problems:
LeBlanc also implored the committee to help the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston — the area's largest employer and a major provider of indigent care in Southeast Texas — recover from the damage it suffered during Ike.
UTMB officials originally estimated the state's oldest medical school sustained about $710 million in damages from Ike.
On Wednesday, UTMB leaders told lawmakers damages are now estimated to be more than $1 billion. Only about $100 million of that was covered by insurance.
The massive damage at UTMB prompted the UT System Board of Regents to lay off 3,000 employees and reduce the number of beds at the medical facility's public hospital from 550 to 200.
UTMB was the medical facility of last resort for this area of the Gulf Coast. It was also the facility with the indigent mental health facility. 3,000 employees is a huge chunk of person-power to help keep the region's impoverished from slipping further down the ladder of ill-health.
It's not like the state is the only guilty party. We're all culpable. Galveston isn't a sexy media story like New Orleans. Look at the math, people:
The neglect even has a bottom line: Wilma, Rita and Katrina together inspired people to give to all hurricane-related charities to the tune of almost $6.5 billion. The four biggest charities have only been able to come up with $19 million for Ike victims. If you are doing the math at home, that comes up to less than one-third of 1 percent. It's a practically infinitesimal amount, even if you divide the $6.5 billion by three to account for the three storms. One example speaks volumes. The Bush-Clinton fund, run by the former presidents of those names, raised $135 million after Katrina. The same fund only managed to scrape together $2.5 million for Ike victims, despite the fact the storm hit the hometown of one of the principals.
Galveston is dying. The Bolivar Peninsula is already decimated. And nobody outside the state of Texas seems to give a damn.
Where is Frontline? Where is Keith Olbermann? Where is Rachel Maddow? Where is FEMA?
My family was hit by Hurricane Ike. I know a lot of people in Winnie, High Island and along the Bolivar Peninsula who lost a great deal. And it breaks my heart that these people are being ignored by the national media.
Why does this AP story not get more play? I know it's a financial crisis, but damnit, Galveston can be saved. The Gulf Coast can be saved, just like New Orleans.
I am reminded of Historian Douglas Brinkley's comments about the Bush Administration's reaction to Katrina:
Has anything changed?
NOTE: All emphasis added by me.