Reports - Mississippi Renewal

vi | INTRODUCTIONGovernor Barbour immediately committedthe state’s support, and shortlybefore Christmas, he and Senators Cochranand Lott led an effort in Washingtonto secure billions of dollars throughomnibus federal legislation targetingthe Katrina-stricken Gulf region. It willtake years for us to understand fully thevalue of the work these leaders – andthe entire Mississippi congressional delegation– accomplished in the closingweeks of 2005. We can say with confidence,though, that this funding willgo a long way toward helping communitiesimplement key Commission recommendations.Thanks to this aid package, homeownerswho qualify will have themoney to rebuild. Schools will havemoney for operations during a periodof lower ad valorem taxes. Infrastructureneeds, including roads and sewer systemscan be addressed. Naval shipbuildingwill be escalated. Agriculture andforestry are getting help. Training fundswill become available. Military housingand reconstruction, plus environmentalrestoration and rural redevelopment arelikely to get help.The tax and loan incentives includedin the recent legislation will encouragefirms to rebuild and to migrate here.Housing developers and companies alreadyhave begun sharing their intentions.Some are committing to projects.Many more will step forward with ideasand proposals to drive our economicrecovery and to increase our citizens’chances for better lives.So, where do we go fromhere?Early in 2006, this Commission’swork transfers to a new entity workingout of the Governor’s Office withstaff in coastal counties. That group willcoordinate government assistance at alllevels and assemble a package of advisoryhelp for local jurisdictions. It’s leftto them to pass and enforce ordinancesthat implement good policy and applymost directly to their citizens.We must recognize, however, thatsame approach didn’t work 36 yearsago. After Camille, local elected officials,concerned about imposing anything onconstituents already beaten down bythe hurricane, ignored many of the recommendationsof a Governor’s Council.What makes us think it will workthis time?Because it has to. We have exhaustedthe alternatives.Federal taxpayers’ billions in aid,though generous and coming after exhaustivework by some of the most politicallyinfluential officials in our state’shistory, cannot make us whole in 2006.Is anyone so naive as to believe that anotherset of Mississippi leaders can go toanother Congress and expect the exponentiallylarger sums required to deliverus from the consequences of anotherbig hurricane?We have learned through this ordealthat we have friends everywhere. Buttheir empathy and even their aid arenot enough. Ultimately, we must rescueourselves.Federal and state officials have rolesto play, certainly. At the state level, thegovernor must use first his bully pulpit,then the discretionary dollars from therecent federal appropriation to prod localofficials into action. It’s this simple:Communities that make the best decisionsshould reap the financial rewards.It’s time, as well, for results-focuseddiscussions with federal emergencymanagement officials. No one, includingthose in Washington, can be happywith the performance of some federalagencies during and after Katrina. Wehave to do better. The next hurricaneseason will soon be upon us.No one, however, is going to comefrom Washington or Jackson to lift theburden of choices from local communitiesand transport them magically intothe future. For local decision-makingto work, local citizens have to support– have to demand – tough choices frommayors, aldermen, and county supervisors.This report is nothing if not a callto arms for exactly that kind of responsiblecitizenship.That’s the big idea implicit in thisreport. Local citizens and local leadersmust own the challenge of shaping alandscape and a legacy. They must committo achieving the results on whichthey’ll be judged – and in which theycan take pride – not only in the nextmonths but in generations to come.The whole country is watching.