Andrew survivors offer tips

[TexasStooge]

Florida's advice: Be patient, plan carefully and beware of cons

By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – After the unprecedented catastrophe of the storm, promises flooded in from the president on down: What was destroyed would be rebuilt, bigger and better.

The year was 1992. The hurricane was Andrew. Those promises – some fulfilled and others failed – offer lessons to victims of Katrina and Rita: prepare for a long haul, a decade or more. Start planning now. Take advantage of government aid but take government promises with a shaker of salt. And yet, recovery is possible.

Thirteen years after Andrew, visible scars are hard to find. A street sign remains twisted in a hard-hit neighborhood. The sign is still blank, the paint blasted off by the power of the storm. Not far away, a yard that once held the tangled remains of a mobile home is now covered only by weeds and trees.

Other reminders are more private and more common: memories of the wind, of being ripped off by contractors, of the frustration of months of waiting, of the kindnesses of neighbors and strangers.

The storm roared through South Florida on Aug. 24, 1992. It buzz-sawed an 18-mile-wide swath through towns and suburbs about 20 miles south of downtown Miami.

Manny Romero, 55, owns MCR Lumber in the unincorporated community of Naranja. He has a large post-Andrew aerial photo of his lumberyard. It looks like a pile of dirt covered with dried linguini – the remains of his building and the lumber.

But that's not the picture he has facing his desk. Every day, Mr. Romero looks up at a painting of Clint Eastwood dressed as a cowboy. He bought the painting for inspiration after the storm. "You have to be a tough guy," he said. "Do whatever it takes to get it going again."

Like Mr. Romero, many people decked by Andrew did get going again. But it's been a long way back, say those who stayed through the hard times.

"I think we lost 10 years because of Andrew," said Homestead City Manager Curt Ivy, who was the police chief when the storm hit.

There are enormous differences in scale between Andrew and the double punch of Katrina and Rita. The newer storms may have done as much as 10 times more damage.

But recent images from the Gulf Coast of roofless buildings, smashed homes and people picking through the rubble look like photos after Andrew. The recovery – aside from the unique flooded horror of New Orleans – may also be similar.

Andrew's survivors tick off a long list of what victims of Katrina and Rita can expect.

Expect a slow process: The initial rush of disaster relief will give way to numbing weeks and months of incremental change. Those who had the least before the storm will have the most trouble getting aid. Poor people generally have the worst insurance, if they have it at all. And they're the least savvy in working through the government red tape.

Betty Morrow is a South Florida sociologist whose professional interest in disaster survivors was born the day after Andrew roared through. "Disaster accelerates social change," she said.

She suggests that Gulf Coast aid officials seek out women, who often know more about the specific needs of their households but are less likely than men to apply for the aid.

She suggests that local leadership coalitions include more than white, wealthy businessmen. In South Florida, the business leadership formed an organization called We Will Rebuild to help coordinate millions of dollars of aid. Some dissatisfied women formed Women Will Rebuild to raise the profile of issues such as day care and recreation programs, Ms. Morrow said.

"Children suffered in South Dade for a long time with nothing for recreation," she said.

Plan now: The Gulf Coast economy will soon be jet-boosted for a couple of years by insurance money and government aid. Planning needs to start now for how to wisely spend that money, said Dennis Moss, a Miami-Dade County commissioner who was elected a few months after Andrew.

"If you don't have a plan, when the money comes down, it tends to go where money has no business going," he said.

He held more than 40 public meetings in South Dade, asking for citizen input to create what became known as the Moss Plan. His was a long-term vision – a ceremonial groundbreaking was just held for a new cultural center that was part of the post-Andrew plan.

Be skeptical of extravagant government promises: The first President Bush promised to rebuild the devastated Homestead Air Force Base, which was the biggest economic engine for the area. President Clinton and Congress did not fulfill that promise, saying the Cold War-era base had largely outlived its usefulness.

"How many times do you hear politicians promise things," said Jimmy Accursio, who owns Capri Restaurant, a Florida City landmark that was closed for only 30 days after the storm.

"Our business still hasn't recovered," he said.

Know that con men follow the money: Fake roofers, unlicensed contractors and do-gooders who only want to do themselves good will prey on the unwary and impatient.

Ron Harris runs Greater Love Day Care in Florida City. It's next door to St. Matthew's Holiness Church, where his wife is pastor.

Andrew took apart his home and the church building. Unlike some of his neighbors, Mr. Harris and the church quickly secured the help they needed.

"Money was, like, falling out of the sky out here," he said.

But both he and the church were ripped off by contractors drawn to that easy money, he said. He suggests storm victims take the time to check out contractors, even if that means waiting longer for repairs.

Don't become dependent on the aid: After the construction boom comes the slump. Lowered property values will cut tax revenues, leaving local governments cash-strapped.

Florida decided to send extra sales tax money to South Florida because purchases that rebuilt the area gave the state a tax windfall.

But that tax aid ended after three years. Homestead, where the tax base was still depressed and the city had become dependant on the extra state money, almost went bankrupt, said Mr. Ivy, the city manager.

He suggests that Gulf Coast state governments help the cities for at least five years and that the cities carefully plan on eventually supporting themselves.

Address what makes a community: Some people with resources and choices will move out and leave behind a population that is poorer than was there before the storm. One way to hold down those losses may be to pay early attention to fixing up the amenities – churches, parks and recreation centers – that make a community a pleasant place to live.

Robert Epling, president of Community Bank, one of South Florida's larger banks, helped community leaders pull resources together after Andrew. Last week, he was in Biloxi, Miss., helping the president of a bank there figure out how to do likewise.

He said South Florida tried "visioning" the future while too many people were still worried about the basics. And leaders worked too hard to bring in big businesses instead of offering better support for the smaller stores that had been the mainstay of the area.

"We thought we could win the ballgame with home runs. But we learned that you can score with singles and doubles," he said.

Recognize that rebuilding is a long-term process: Homestead, the largest city whacked by Andrew, had 27,000 residents in 1992. About 7,000 people left.

Today, Homestead is experiencing a housing boom driven by enormous increases in home prices closer to Miami. By comparison, South Dade is a bargain.

Mr. Ivy predicts his town will have 50,000 residents by next year.

Patience, Andrew survivors say, is as important as money.

And spiritual strength helps, too.

"I went to church every single day," Mr. Moreno said. "I did that for 10 years."