Reports - Mississippi Renewal

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iv | INTRODUCTIONembracing their deepest concerns, we would find it unconscionable if their hopesare unrealized because their leaders failed to make the hard choices and committhe full resources necessary to move from great ideas to meaningful action.Certainly, from our experience over the last four months, the willingness of someleaders to set the pace is inspiring. This has been the greatest outpouring of publicspirit and unselfish labor I’ve ever experienced. It would take all the pages in thisreport to name each contribution and thank each person individually. To eachcommittee chair and member, to each of the elected officials in towns and countiesthroughout Mississippi, to each person on the Commission’s hard-workingstaff, and to all the volunteers who came from around the world: Thank you. Yourreward, as you already know, is to have been a part of an unprecedented enterprise-- what might well be the most ambitious planning effort in history.Thank you, Governor Barbour, for giving us the opportunity to help.“Our mission: Forge a way throughthe pain this hurricane visited onour citizens, so that in 30 years, thelegacy of the work we now beginis a Mississippi that enjoys higherprosperity and a better quality oflife for all than we dared imaginebefore August 29, 2005.”What the Commission searched for arerecommendations for Mississippi’s renewalthat are sensible, doable, and thattruly make a difference in all our citizens’lives. The 238 committee recommendations thatfollow emerged from a healthy, participatory process.While we all may not agree on each one, together theyreflect our determination to move toward a renewalSouth Mississippi that includes everyone.There are several common themes: The hardest hitcommunities have attracted the most focused study.Forty-three counties in the state were declared naturaldisaster areas. Some were obviously more affected thanothers. Those areas, therefore, were where our workgroups targeted much of their efforts and focused mostof their recommendations.Everything is connected. An emergency like HurricaneKatrina peels away delusions of independence. We’re reminded, yet again,that “no man is an island.” We all rely on one another. Every business, nonprofitentity, and government agency is linked in crucial ways. Our industrial recovery isdependent on access to workers. Workers depend on available housing and a supportiveinfrastructure of schools and health and social services. Schools and servicesdepend on the physical infrastructure of roads, bridges, and communications. Theinfrastructure is dependent upon the ability of local governments to not only addressthe needs within their jurisdictional borders but to also understand howthose needs connect with regional and state networks. And on and on it goes. Forthat reason, you will see recommendations here for broader, more connected, andmore comprehensive approaches to problem-solving. It’s time for collaborationand, where practical, consolidation of services.Local governments have the most opportunity and the highest accountability.What you read in these committee reports are recommendations – as informed
THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION REPORT | vas we can make them, but recommendations nonetheless. Some are appeals for aidbeyond Mississippi’s borders, but most are proposals to cities, towns, and counties,who have the most to say about how citizens live, work, and play in their communities.They write the zoning and building codes. They choose whether or not to joinregional transportation, infrastructure, or economic development initiatives. If weare to behave differently in the aftermath of Katrina than we did after Camille, thecommunities most at risk will have to lead the change.I feel a personal obligation to one overarching concern at the top of our state’splanning agenda: We must recognize where we live.At one of our meetings, a coastal engineer pointed to the Mississippi Gulf Coaston one of his maps and called it “a storm surge magnet.” As we prepared thesereports, the experts who annually predict the frequency and intensity of hurricaneseasons issued their first projections for 2006 and warned of the potential for moredangerous storms than in 2005. We will see another major hurricane, perhaps notthis year, nor next year, nor the year after that – butalmost certainly within our lifetimes. Will we be prepared?Partly because of the sense of urgency the Commissionbrought to planning efforts, the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency accelerated production ofdetailed flood zone advisory maps for the Coast. Thenew flood zones won’t become official until after morestudy and a public process that could take a year or longer.There will be much wrangling over interpretationsof the maps as they apply to specific parcels and neighborhoods.The politics of zoning and building codeswill be fractious. However, coastal engineers warn usthat to ignore these interim maps – these guides tochanges in the ways we build and live on the Coast – isto risk lives, property, and the very existence of wholecommunities in the decades to come.I can’t imagine how any prudent property owner or any responsible communitycan fail to take this discussion seriously. Home builders and developers must planwith the new flood zones in mind, and communities must pass codes that acknowledgereality.I can understand how someone would look at all the proposals that follow andbe overwhelmed by what’s required, but that would misread both our intent andour recommendations’ underlying message. Our recommendations can be modifiedwhere needed, but we don’t have to lower our expectations. We have theresources we need within our grasp – or within reach, with help from allies in thenonprofit, government, and private sectors. The question is: Do we have the will?We have models of high performance to emulate. From the moment Katrinacame ashore, we witnessed the power of churches and other charitable organizationsthat immediately rushed into disaster areas with aid. Other nonprofits, includingthe foundations that have funded the Commission’s work, are behind much ofthe research that will lead to the next steps in our rebuilding.“After listening to all those voicesand embracing their deepest concerns,we would find it unconscionableif their hopes are unrealizedbecause their leaders failed tomake the hard choices and committhe full resources necessary to movefrom great ideas to meaningfulaction.”
Page 3 and 4: Governor’s Commissionon Recovery,
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Page 19: INFRASTRUCTUREThe four subcommittee
Page 22 and 23: 12 | LAND USE■ City land use plan
Page 24 and 25: 14 | LAND USEgional level, coastal
Page 26 and 27: 16 | LAND USElored for South Missis
Page 28 and 29: 18 | LAND USEThe qualityof life and
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Page 34 and 35: 24 | LAND USEapproval process for c
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HUMANSERVICESThe reports that follo
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SPECIALREPORTSWhere do we go from h
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Reports - Mississippi Renewal

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