Of course, typical of white men, he first pounds his chest like a gorilla.
While CenterPoint has borne the brunt of criticism, there are others who should have to answer for their actions, or inactions. For example, immediately after Hurricane Ike, points of distribution were set up to distribute ice, water and meals ready to eat. Why weren’t those set up immediately after Beryl? Nobody seems to be asking about FEMA this time around. Source
Then, Emmett brings a solution to a problem before people come together. Neighborhoods along Brays Bayou had been flooding long before 2008.
Following the Tax Day and Memorial Day floods in 2016 and the deluge from Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the public suddenly knew more about the risk of flooding than they’d ever wanted to know, and officials at all levels admitted the need for improvements. Both the public and private sector had to honestly assess their shortcomings. Experts from the academic community, industry and government carefully analyzed the issue and developed recommendations to prevent such massive flooding in the future. The voters of Harris County raised their own taxes when they approved a $2.5 billion bond proposal. The community came together to deal with an ongoing threat to our lives and our property. Source
Maybe Emmett forgot about Tropical Storm Allison. So, everyone before him could not do what he did, and everyone, after he left, could not do what he did.
Maybe Ed Emmett should do less chest pounding and go back to wherever he crawled out from. He is the one who refused to honor what the voters said to do with the Astrodome. Like way too many white men, they think they are the only ones who know how to fix things.
Property Owners’ responsibilities?
Ed Emmett states that the following belong to the homeowners.
Property owners will have to accept their responsibility for mitigating risk through actions as simple as trimming trees and installing generators. Source
If that is the case, the government should pay for the property rights (Easement) they are given without compensating the homeowners. The City already makes homeowners maintain the front easement, insisting that any sidewalks must be maintained. While I think homeowners should trim trees away from the Centerpoint lines, I don’t believe it should be required.
As to installing generators, even if those struggling from paycheck to paycheck could afford a generator, would they be able to pay for days or weeks of feeding the beast? Ed Emmett must have never used a generator, or he would know that running a generator for one day would cost about thirty dollars a day. I spend almost $300 on gasoline for eight days without power. Generators will cost over $400. When my old Hurricane Ike generator quit running, I found a generator and had to pay nearly $900.
