One On One With Donald Powell, Federal Gulf Coast Rebuilding
Friday, April 14, 2006Video, photos and background information on The Gulf Coast: Road To Renewal
SUSIE GHARIB: In the weeks that followed hurricane Katrina, President Bush was widely criticized for not responding quickly enough to the needs of the Gulf coast. But more recently, the "Washington Post" complimented the White House for its new aid request to Congress saying that the president finally seems to get what happened in New Orleans. The top government official in charge of the rebuilding effort is Donald Powell. Washington bureau chief Darren Gersh talked with him about where things stand.
DONALD POWELL, FEDERAL COORDINATOR, GULF COAST REBUILDING: Well, the president`s been committed to rebuilding the Gulf coast in various ways. In Mississippi, the good people of Mississippi have submitted their plan to HUD for approval to rebuild their housing stock and their infrastructure and hopefully that money will be flowing very, very soon. The people in Louisiana are developing their final plan to be submitted to HUD and we`ll speak to the housing issue. We`ll speak to infrastructure issues and as you know, the president committed back in December to rebuilding the levee system and work is commencing as we speak by the Corps of Engineers.
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: We just visited a neighborhood, Marywood (ph) Court in the northeastern part of New Orleans and went around -- it`s a neighborhood of about 90 homes. One of them looks like they`ll be rebuilt. I counted about half a dozen building permits. Most of them had been gutted but it looks like very few have actually gone out and taken the trouble to get a building permit. Are you satisfied with that kind of pace of reconstruction?
POWELL: Well, there may be reasons that those other folks have not come in. I look at building permits and there has been a lot of building permits issued in New Orleans Parish and some other parishes within Louisiana. Part of it may be that they`re in Atlanta or they`re in Houston or they`re in Omaha, Nebraska. They just haven`t been able to come back. So there`s various reasons why one would not exercise a rebuilding at this one time.
GERSH: I also saw very few businesses that were reopened and from what I`ve seen, the Small Business Administration has given out maybe a half a million dollars so far in loans. And by some accounts it`s denying many loans. How is that meeting the president`s goal of trying to get business back right away?
POWELL: Well, I think there`s been well in excess of a billion dollars in grants and loans by the SBA to small businesses and to individuals. So there`s been a lot of money in the marketplace. If you look at bank deposits, they`re up 20 percent, so there`s been a lot of money flowing in that Gulf coast area. So while businesses are struggling, I think there are some that are open for business. Real estate prices are beginning to edge up a little bit. And so I see activity. Sales taxes are growing along the Mississippi Gulf. They`re beginning to have an upward trend in New Orleans. So there`s economic activity that`s occurring.
GERSH: But I heard from many people when I was down there that the SBA loans are not coming through.
POWELL: Well, there has been some issue as it relates to that because I`ve heard the same thing. But the facts are, there`s been in excess of a billion dollars that the SBA has granted in loans. I`ve also talked to bankers a lot. So there`s also a program that banks for small loans can grant without the SBA bureaucracy and still be SBA approved. And the bankers are ready to make loans also.
GERSH: A couple months back I visited Houston and there was a little girl on the floor of the Astrodome, I`ll never forget it, who was playing around and handed me, offered me a few of her M&Ms. She had nothing. She`d lost everything. But I will never forget seeing her. And I thought to myself this girl will be the test. How we treat this girl will be the test of how well we`ve done in rebuilding the Gulf coast. What can you say is being done to help people like that who`ve lost everything, didn`t have a lot to begin with to get back on their feet?
POWELL: Well, as you know FEMA has many, many avenues where they can assist those people. But more important long term, it`s important that they have housing. It`s important that their parents have jobs. It`s important that they, when they attend schools, have the best schools. It`s important that they have police protection, fire protection, that the infrastructure is in place when they come back to New Orleans. Housing, jobs, and infrastructure and that they have hope of a better life.
GERSH: Mr. Powell, Federal coordinator for the reconstruction effort. Thank you very much.
POWELL: Thank you.
