Before and after Hurricane Sandy hit officials at every level (Governors, Mayors, emergency management) urged residents to evacuate...and bemoaned that less than 50% headed their warnings.
Historically residents have been reluctant to leave their homes for any number of reasons: nowhere to go, no money to get there, not being physically well enough, not wanting to go to a shelter, not wanting to leave their pets, fear of looting while they're gone, to say nothing of the powerful emotional and psychological attachment we have with "home".
Post Katrina, and the fiasco of official directions to " go to the Convention Center", many, especially low income and minority residents lack TRUST in officials and their judgements.
(photo below Daily News/11/13/12)
And now we have the head of NYCHA telling residents that getting a rent reduction for the time they suffer few living back in the 18th century a "nice little Christmas present."
Clumsy statement or worse, this callousness goes a long way to extinguishing any remnants of trust people in Red Hook and elsewhere have.
Eroding public trust in the commons, won't help us out when the next complex emergency is on our doorstep.
No comments:
Post a Comment