One of the aspects of resilience that intrigues me is where the public sector leadership is likely to come from. In the immediate aftermath of H. Sandy, we have seen some encouraging statements and actions from Governors Cuomo and Christie and from Mayor Bloomberg.  Obviously the superstorm provided a driving force, but other conditions must be in place for political action to occur.  Here is an interesting take on Mayor Bloomberg’s possible motives:

Mayor Bloomberg focuses on Hurricane Sandy and gun control before singing his swan song; After donating millions in relief the NYC Mayor wants to see results before he gets nostaligic. (NY Daily News, Dec. 31, 2012.)

* * *   Bloomberg spent nearly a week working to prepare the city for the superstorm. He directed the recovery, outlined an ambitious plan to protect the city from future hurricanes and took a lead role in lobbying Congress for help.

In his efforts on both Sandy and guns, Bloomberg’s vast wealth has given him more leverage in Congress.

He has donated millions of dollars to candidates and causes. This year alone, he set up a super political action committee and seeded it with more than $10 million to help elect moderates to Congress.

Making personal calls to lawmakers “is not something he does publicly, but it probably is one of the most important things that he can do because he is such a prominent figure as well as contributor in Washington,” said Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership for New York City, a business group.

Stu Loeser, Bloomberg’s former press secretary, said the fact that Bloomberg doesn’t have to worry about his reelection allows him to “swing for the fences.”

“He’s not looking for another job and he’s not going to run for any other office,” Loeser said. “So it allows him to . . . do things that you wouldn’t be able to do if you were being cautious or worried about offending someone or some group in the future.”

Too bad that those qualifications and conditions are so hard to replicate!  But the takeaway point here  point is that  elected officials at high levels can, if they so decide, be effective “champions” of resilience actions.  In my view they do not have to deal with the constraints that career public employees have – like restrictive authorizing legislation and program regulations.

Here is a sensible idea: build or rebuild a structure to serve as a shelter in future disasters. In this case gyms will be available for sheltering vulnerable residents. “FEMA building multiuse storm shelters along Texas coast,” Dec. 30, 2012.

 Most of the time, the windowless building with the dome-shaped roof will be a  typical high school gymnasium filled with cheering fans watching basketball and volleyball games.But come hurricane season, the structure that resembles a miniature version of the famed Astrodome will double as a hurricane shelter, part of an ambitious storm-defense system that is taking shape along hundreds of miles of the Texas Gulf Coast.

FEMA is paying for 75 percent of the dome structures, with local communities picking up the remaining cost. The funding is part of the agency’s initiative to help homeowners and communities build hardened shelters that provide protection from extreme weather.

Nationwide, more than $683 million has been awarded in 18 states, including Texas, Alabama, Michigan and South Carolina.

Related articles

• Texas Builds ‘Hurricane Domes’ for Double-Duty (AP)

Here is an upbeat article from the Huff Post, December 23 : How New York City Food Trucks Helped Heal Hurricane Sandy Victims . A few excerpts follow:

Connecting the real-time knowledge of City Agencies and FEMA working on the ground, the Mayor’s Fund ultimately funded over 275,000 free hot meals to New Yorkers in the neighborhoods hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. As many as 32 trucks were dispatched on any given day, serving over 500 meals apiece. Additional food distribution efforts to date, including Thanksgiving meals, exceed 330,000.The impact for families was significant and immediate, as we heard in daily reports and tweets and instagrams and blog posts from the trucks on the ground.”The smile on people’s faces when they get warm food and coffee is priceless,” one said in a Nov 8 report.

The Critical Infrastructure Protection Center at Geo. Mason University has issued its DecemberNewsletter, which features some articles on resilience. The focus of this center is on civil infrastructure, but the observations made by several article authors should be of general interest.

Related to the last posting, here’s a new tack: including requirements for far-reaching implications of the reconstruction efforts post-Sandy into the Congressional appropriations for recovery.  In my view this action seems to be an immediate way to get around the limitations of the enabling legislation, regulations and program requirements of FEMA and other disaster agencies.

Sandy relief bill says rebuilding effort should take into consideration climate-related risks; published 19 December 2012 in Homeland Security Wire.

The $60 billion Sandy relief bill being debated this week in the Senate does not specifically mention the words climate change or global warming, but it implicitly raises topics and themes which are part of the climate change discussion; the bill says that federal, state, and local agencies engaged in the post-Sandy rebuilding effort should take into consideration “future extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal flooding”

The Senate begins debate this week of the administration request for a $60 billion package in disaster relief funds for states which suffered the wrath of Hurricane Sandy.

Scientists point to Sandy and the damage it left in its wake as disasters we are likely to experience more of as a consequence of climate change, and the Hill notes that the bill, while not specifically mentioning the words climate change or global warming, implicitly raises topics and themes which are part of the climate change discussion.

The bill, for example, urges consideration of the effects of rising sea levels in the rebuilding effort.

The bill says: “In carrying out activities funded by this title that involve repairing, rebuilding, or restoring infrastructure and restoring land, project sponsors shall consider, where appropriate, the increased risks and vulnerabilities associated with future extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal flooding.”

The bill also says that that federal agencies, in partnership with state and local governments, should seek to ensure that recovery and rebuilding plans “reduce vulnerabilities from and build long-term resiliency to future extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal flooding.”

Be sure to read the comments, which raise all kinds of new considerations!

In my view, the window of opportunity for dealing with some of the long-range issues connected with sea level rise and climate change was wide open for about 6 weeks after Hurricane Sandy occurred.  As is often the case, the focus of the news media shifts quickly, this time to the terribly sad shootings in Newtown, CT. No mention of H. Sandy victims lately in the media or on the political struggle to obtain Congressional funding for recovery.

In an editorial in the NY Times today, they note:

But with the election over, outside events have now presented Mr. Obama with a series of decisions. Vote counts might suggest that he is still a long way from passing significant legislation on climate change, immigration and gun control. But Hurricane Sandy, last month’s Latino turnout for Democrats and now the Newtown shootings have also given him openings to make new arguments.

Once the glare of the spotlight is off, perhaps some progress will be made. But now other matters also want space in the window.