By Mansfield Frazier
The Saturday before Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast with an unprecedented vengeance, I was traveling west on the Ohio Turnpike heading to Toledo when I noticed convoy after convoy of power company bucket trucks — quite literally hundreds upon hundreds of them — heading in the opposite direction. I recall thinking at the time the storm obviously was going to be the monster predicted, and indeed, it turned out to be.
Both New York and New Jersey suffered loss of life and property on an unimaginable scale, so contrasting the damage done there with what we suffered through here in Northeast Ohio is, at the very least, unseemly. So this has to be one of those columns where the subject matter is approached gingerly and with due respect for our fellow citizens’ loss, lest I be accused of hardheartedness. With that caveat firmly in mind, I’ll forge ahead and attempt to shed some much needed light where darkness has prevailed for close to a week.
While Hurricane Sandy certainly wrecked much more havoc on the New Jersey/New York area than Northeast Ohio, the Franken-storm nonetheless did cause a serious degree of damage and suffering in our area. When power goes out people whose lives depend on electricity (to run their medical devices and equipment) have to scramble to stay alive … no matter the state they reside in. So, lives were certainly at risk here in Ohio and one child died, electrocuted by a downed power line.
Which raises the question: Since First Energy knew early-on that Northeast Ohio would be hard hit also, why did it send its work crews to the East Coast, only to have work crews from other parts of the country come here to take their place? Efficacy would seem to dictate the crews from Montana, Canada and the Carolinas that were sent to our region to restore power should have instead been sent directly to the East Coast, allowing local crews to stay local and restore power … probably at a much faster rate.
A full week after the cataclysmic event, thousands in Northeast Ohio still were without power … so is it any wonder patience is wearing thin and tempers are flaring in regards to the hundreds upon hundreds of First Energy workers that were sent to help other communities — while leaving ours in the dark?
Without delving down to the level of wacky conspiracy theories, we nonetheless need to be cognizant of the huge amounts of money made off of disasters in America. Those Wall Street one-percenters literally made billions off Hurricane Katrina, which is why brokers were willing to wade through waist-deep water to get to their trading desks in Lower Manhattan the day after the Hurricane Sandy hit New York. However, in a hollow display of fake concern and false empathy with the suffering masses, the greedy bastards kept the New York Stock Exchange closed for an unprecedented two days … which was about all of the time they were willing to sacrifice; they needed to get back to their money-grubbing while the getting was good.
So, were work crews from Ohio rushed to the East Coast primarily to protect life and limb of the broke folks in Hoboken, or the wee people in Weehawken (sorry, I simply couldn’t resist the cheap alliterative opportunities) or was the first concern to protect the financial center of the universe … all in the name of the Great God Profit? New Yorkers from the outer areas are currently bitterly complaining that far more of the power restoration efforts are being focused on wealthier Manhattan than their poorer bedroom boroughs.
Sadly, in this country we have a history — indeed too many instances — of the politics of race and class being factored into decision-making when resources are scarce, as they oftentimes are during natural disasters. With more bizarre weather events on the horizon, we need to make sure all Americans are treated in an equitable manner during these times of distress … something that has not always happened in both the recent and distant past.
Reasoning that perhaps the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should play a stronger role in determining how men and equipment are allocated by utility companies during such emergencies (that no communities, due to wealth, are allowed to jump the line), I did what anyone who had been sitting in the dark shivering and fuming for a number of days would do: I called my Congressional representative.
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge heard me out, and then made a statement and asked a question that snapped me back to reality: “We’ve got a tough presidential election coming up on November 6 that right now I’m totally focused on winning, so just what is it you want me to do, Mansfield?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at myself and my relatively petty concerns … thankful she didn’t express even more incredulity and exasperation than she did at my small by comparison concerns. Indeed, if Mitt Romney had won it could have been lights out for all of us, and in many more ways than one. Her attention was in exactly the right place, at the right time.
There would be plenty of time to review power company’s priorities and suggest changes after the election … or after this is over will we allow ourselves to be rocked back to sleep — as per usual — until the next calamity strikes?
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Almost on the same subject, numerous friends offered us shelter in spare bedrooms until our power was restored, but we demurred since we didn’t care to abandon Ginger and Zadia (our two dogs), and, besides, I have a generator for such emergencies. We treated the four days like an at-home camping trip. I even fired up the grill on the deck in a drizzling rain, enabling us to have delicious hot food.
So I can completely understand why folks don’t care to abandon their homes during emergencies; nonetheless, if authorities felt we needed to evacuate our home we would have done so without argument, equivocation or hesitation. We wouldn’t like it, but we’d follow instructions.
Those folks who foolishly remain in harm’s way are not only gambling with their own lives, but also with the lives of the brave men and women who’ll have to come to their rescue if it proves these stubborn homeowners have made a bad bet by staying. When a mandatory evacuation is ordered, every person who ignores it and then complicates matters should be charged with three times the cost of their rescue. Maybe that’ll stop some of them from being so selfishly pigheaded.
Also, in light of the fact supposed “Hundred Year Storms” are now occurring every two or three years due to climate change (that some dunderheads still foolishly say is a myth), people should not be allowed to rebuild in low-lying areas that are flood-prone simply because they like being close to water. If they still care to do so, it should be at their own risk and expense, and it should not be the responsibility of the government or insurance companies to bail them out when the inevitable happens. These folk’s bad decisions cause insurance companies to pay out more money … and you know what happens when that occurs — everyone’s rates go up. Why should we, the general public, subsidize their foolishness choices?
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While speaking of foolishness: Did anyone in their right mind think the payout from casinos would be anywhere as high as the figures being bandied about by the gaming industry when the citizenry was being hoodwinked into voting to allow these one-armed bandit palaces to operate in Ohio back in 2009?
Now that projected incomes from these cash cows that communities across the state will realize are being revised downward (in spite of the fact business is so good at the Horseshoe more gaming tables are being added), elected officials are scratching their heads and wondering what happened. Well here’s what happened: they — and the voters — got bamboozled by some Vegas-type sharpies. But really, did anyone seriously think there would be any other outcome when local yokels match wits with some of the smoothest hustlers — excuse me, I meant businessmen — on the planet?
Those who thought otherwise, I wish they would please call me … I’ve got a great deal on some swamp land I’m willing to let go of (for a limited time only, so act fast!) at an amazingly low price. You could say — similar to casino deals — it’s almost a “steal.”
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.