Reports - Mississippi Renewal

ii | INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION“Out of this terribledisaster, beyond allimagination, comes ouropportunity. And Ibeg you not to letMississippi miss it. I’mdetermined we will notfail to seize thisopportunity.”-- Governor Haley Barbour, beforethe Special Session of the MississippiLegislature, September 27, 2005By Jim BarksdaleWhat happened to Mississippi in the last days of August 2005 isunrivaled in our nation’s history.Hurricane Katrina, one of the largest and most violentstorms ever recorded, cut a swath of destruction along theGulf Coast from the Alabama border west to Texas. New Orleansflooded. Mississippi took the brunt of the winds and a storm surge that roseto more than 30 feet.At least 230 people were left dead in our state. Sixty-five thousand homes weredestroyed. Churches, schools, and historic landmarks were obliterated. The keys toMississippi’s economic growth, the infrastructure of community and commerce,were so badly damaged it will take years and billions of dollars to put us back ontrack.Recovery from such unprecedented calamity requires unprecedented commitment,and Governor Haley Barbour initiated the effort immediately. He asked meto chair the Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding, and Renewal witha mandate to explore the range of options before us and to recommend approachesthat would not only restore what was lost but, in the governor’s words, make a GulfCoast “better than ever.”Our privately funded Commission examined the work of groups appointed afterother national disasters. What we found was that in most cases, whether it wasafter the Galveston hurricane of 1900 or our own experiences with the MississippiFloods of 1927 and Hurricane Camille in 1969, merely identifying problems andsuggesting solutions weren’t enough. The fact is, we’re facing some of the samechallenges of recovery, rebuilding, and renewal in 2006 because we failed to engagethem fully after 1969.So, we take it as our responsibility not only to name the problems but also tosuggest paths of implementation and accountability. Beginning on page 165, you’llfind a table enumerating every recommendation. Alongside each are resources to be