La Dignidad
Lee Sexton writes about the in the comments of our Road Home Questions post.
The City of New Orleans is pressuring property owners to clean up and take action regarding storm damaged property. The citizens, especially the poor and the elderly, are trapped and powerless in a political war between the City, the State, and the Federal government.
I am a Persian Gulf War Veteran. I served in uniform for 29 years. “KATRINA†took my Mother’s home and everything she ever worked for her entire life. My home State and Federal government, through the LA Road Home Program, have taken her dignity.
Becky Houtman writes about the Mexico City Earthquake in Why Aren’t We Looking at Mexico City?.
> Dignity, la dignidad, was the rallying cry for citizens’ groups. They lobbied for specific material needs as well, and for government accountability, but the recovery of dignity was the vital underpinning of all those efforts.
Although it is oft cited by the architects of our recovery, I’m not sure what lessons we can draw from the Japanese experience of the Great Hanshin earthquake that hit Kobe in 1995, let alone the Californian experience of the Oakland Fire in 1991.
Kobe recovered, but it had the commitment of every level of government. The Japanese do not simper and mew about moral hazard. Japan is not going to debate whether on not the victims of an earthquake deserve assistance. Japan is not going question or whether or not an earthquake prone city should be rebuilt, because when it comes to earthquake prone cities the Japanese do not have a choice. The Japanese rebuild.
If you listen to the lecture by Diane E. Davis that Becky has linked in her post, or if you’ll just take the time to read Becky’s notes, the story of the Mexico City’s citizen led, do-it-yourself, bootstrap recovery is strikingly familiar.
There is at least one important lesson that we can from the Mexican experience of the Mexico City earthquake. The frustration with the government over the disaster in Mexico City, and the corruption and incomptence that the disaster exposed, eventually brought about the end of single party rule in Mexico.
How did the citizens of Mexico City turn their dispair into determination for change?
How did the citizens of Mexico City restore their dignity?
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[...] He also quotes Karen Gadbois, keeper of Squandered Heritage, whose contributions to the community and the recovery are too many to mention. She is one to watch. She is active on all matters of dignity. [...]