[CPEO-BIF] The Forgotten Coast: Biloxi's (MS) Challenging Recovery

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[For an 860K formatted Word version with seven pictures, go to 
http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/Biloxi.doc. - LS]

The Forgotten Coast: Biloxi's Challenging Recovery
Lenny Siegel
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
May 18, 2006

As in New Orleans, film cannot capture the enormity of Hurricane 
Katrina's devastation along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The storm surge 
nearly scraped mile after mile of coastline. However, since much of the 
debris had been removed it was difficult for me, seeing this area for 
the first time, to tell how much had been demolished.


On May 18, 2006, I visited Biloxi, Mississippi, to discuss a possible 
Brownfields workshop with Bishop James Black of the Faith Tabernacle of 
Praise Church. Bishop Black is a civil rights and environmental justice 
leader. I know him from his service as Community Co-Chair of the Keesler 
Air Force Base Restoration Advisory Board.

According to the U.S. 2000 Census, Biloxi had about 50,000 residents, 
71% of whom are white, 19% of whom are African-American, and 3% of whom 
are ethnic Vietnamese. It appears that the Air Force and a number of 
hotel casinos are the economic engines of this beach town. Also from the 
Census, about a third of the people in Gulfport, adjacent to Biloxi, are 
black.

In my brief visit, I gained new insights into the challenges of recovery 
on this part of the Gulf Coast. Clearly the damaged sections of Biloxi 
will be rebuilt; reconstruction is underway. However, cleared land has 
been made available for the economically important casinos. There is 
some concern that residents may be relocated onto contaminated land, but 
that doesn't seem to be a central issue.

Repopulation of evacuees is a major concern, but from what I could tell, 
many more homes and businesses were damaged than destroyed. Bishop Black 
still lives in his storm-damaged house. Nevertheless, he has focused his 
time on restoring his spiritual home, instead. The Faith Tabernacle of 
Praise Church is located on the western portion of the Biloxi Peninsula, 
midway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Biloxi Back Bay. It was 
flooded and battered by winds as Katrina hit land, but the waters 
receded as the powerful storm passed through.

The Church appears to represent many structures in the area. It suffered 
roof damage, fallen ceilings, damaged walls, ruined carpets, and damaged 
pews. Step by step, Black and his congregation are making repairs. But 
it's not easy, because there is a shortage of people who can do the 
work. During our conversation, he received two calls from a carpet-layer 
in Georgia, hundreds of miles away. He hadn't found anyone closer to 
re-floor the church.

The casinos have large construction crews working, but lower-income 
people, businesses, and other institutions can't compete. Programs are 
needed to match the rehabilitation needs of large number of buildings 
with skilled labor from outside, coupled with subsidies to bring costs 
down to a level where people can pay.

Black's Center has partnered with the Deep South Center for 
Environmental Justice and the Worker Education and Training Program of 
the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to train about 
two dozen workers in hazardous waste operations as well as lead, 
asbestos, and mold abatement. They are well prepared to assist people 
clean their homes, but there isn't enough funding to make full use of 
the new skills.

Bishop Black's flock needs more that building repair, however. A wide 
range of community services were also destroyed by the hurricane. He 
pinpointed child care and elder services. I learned at the Recovery 2006 
conference earlier this week that the Gulf Coast is now awash in both 
public and private funds, but I learned from Black that his community 
doesn't have the wherewithal either to obtain sufficient support or 
implement the projects they know that they need. They are doing what 
they can, but they could do much more if better assisted by government 
and non-governmental organization from outside the area.



--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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