People love to carp about The Government. And usually it's that designation, capital "t", capital "g."
But when it works it's beautiful.
In the post mortem of last week's fires I am certain that there will be some culprits, and the smart money is on the California Department of Forestry, the agency in charge of the air assets for fire fighting. Unions, bureaucracy, snafus of epic proportion...it will all play out over the next few weeks.
Now move to the city, country and state. Leadership from San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, County Supervisor Ron Roberts and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had direct influence on an evacuation that exceeded the scope of Katrina, the re-population of those evacuees, coordination of assets and information, refugee centers that actually worked, and a fostering of an atmosphere of giving, both time and donations, by the average San Diegan.
Apologists for Katrina say that we compare apples and oranges. Maybe so, but the San Diego response started at the city and the county level. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in an homage to Nero, ate dinner while the city sank under the weight of the hurricane. He evacuated his family to Texas and was incommunicado for nearly three days. (Ironically, the media was able to speak with the former mayor of New Orleans while Nagin remained missing in action.)
Our first responders were on the job. The New Orleans police and fire department had 40% of their work force fail to respond, though some were caught on film looting with the best of them.
I must single out the efforts of my City Councilman, Brian Maienschein. Brian, experienced through his representation of the victims of the 2003 Cedar Fire, knew exactly what to do. One Tuesday afternoon he had posted on his website the addresses of all the Rancho Bernardo homes that were destroyed or damaged in the fire. He and his staff walked every street in the community. He was also instrumental in helping establish the first of several centers to help those who lost their homes or are facing clean-up.
A local community center was transformed into a one-stop-shop, housing representatives of FEMA, the Red Cross, all of the utility and phone companies, cable television. The parking lot was filled with catastrophe teams from insurance companies. We met with a representative from USAA, got our FEMA number, and picked up some free cleaning supplies and a rake and a shovel from the Red Cross.
So, when it works, the government is beautiful.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Back in the saddle again
We got back to the homestead on Thursday afternoon and had a long conversation with our next door neighbors, Francois and Marie and two of their three children, Pierre and Alex. We had just enough time to assess the damage, fortunately light, and make a start at cleaning. Our neighborhood is still without power and will be until the earliest midnight tonight and the latest a couple of weeks from now. At sunset we collect our gear and head off to our new home, the Radisson hotel.
Yesterday we made a great start on getting an upper hand on the clean-up. I handled the exterior, wearing one of those stylish face masks, and Lynn attacked the indoors. What's left will remain the purview of a restoration company. Looks like we will need to have the attic cleaned and the insulation replaced. We also have our Christmas decorations stored up there so maybe everything will look like it came down the chimney (or chimbley) with Santa.
After lunch we walked the neighborhood and covered about two thirds. The fire came a lot closer than we knew, destroying a house less than a block away, probably about 100-125 yards. We have found several partially burned pieces of paper in our yard, a check, a time card, a budget from a landscaping business owned by a woman whose house also burned.
Television crews were still roaming the neighborhood and the presence of the first responders and their back-ups was more than apparent. Every few minutes we had a San Diego policeman or two drive by the house. The National Guard, complete with M-16s, have troops walking the neighborhood or cruising by in Hummers. San Diego Gas & Electric has hundreds of personnel, supplemented by contractors and teams from Pacific Gas & Electric, on the ground trying to get power to our neighborhood.
We talked with perfect strangers yesterday. People we had never met before. Everyone seems keen on sharing their story.
As to the neighborhood...tragic. While the media has demonstrated this point countless times, there seems to be a randomness in the destruction of certain homes. Lynn and I were able to walk out on a dirt path at the corner of an especially hard-hit cul de sac and look down the valley and observed the fire's path. Some homes survived because of a barrier of red apple ground cover or large rocks and a plant free barrier. Others, away from the canyon, were victims of the embers.
One of the strangest sights was a two-story home, destroyed by the fire, and one of the collapsed walls leaning against the home of the next-door neighbor, who sustained no damage at all!
At one home nearly twenty teenagers, friends of the family who had lost their home, were helping sift through the ashes to find mementos. At another, a troop of boy scouts were helping their friend.
Everywhere people are sharing information and offering assistance.
One house we saw was destroyed not by the fire, but by heavy smoke damage. The interior was blackened.
We are lucky. Our damage, at this point, seems confined to the kitchen, where the ice-maker and frozen food melted and warped the wood floor, our fence and gates (wind damaged) and some outdoor cushions, covered with ash and still smelling like it even after a proper cleaning.
The cats are fine and have adopted their former routine. Bustopher likes to roam outside and then some back in, his legs and paws covered with soot. Macavity makes his ninja forays and then comes in to find some new place to hide and plan his next nefarious caper.
We're off to breakfast and then donning our grubbies back to the clean-up.
Yesterday we made a great start on getting an upper hand on the clean-up. I handled the exterior, wearing one of those stylish face masks, and Lynn attacked the indoors. What's left will remain the purview of a restoration company. Looks like we will need to have the attic cleaned and the insulation replaced. We also have our Christmas decorations stored up there so maybe everything will look like it came down the chimney (or chimbley) with Santa.
After lunch we walked the neighborhood and covered about two thirds. The fire came a lot closer than we knew, destroying a house less than a block away, probably about 100-125 yards. We have found several partially burned pieces of paper in our yard, a check, a time card, a budget from a landscaping business owned by a woman whose house also burned.
Television crews were still roaming the neighborhood and the presence of the first responders and their back-ups was more than apparent. Every few minutes we had a San Diego policeman or two drive by the house. The National Guard, complete with M-16s, have troops walking the neighborhood or cruising by in Hummers. San Diego Gas & Electric has hundreds of personnel, supplemented by contractors and teams from Pacific Gas & Electric, on the ground trying to get power to our neighborhood.
We talked with perfect strangers yesterday. People we had never met before. Everyone seems keen on sharing their story.
As to the neighborhood...tragic. While the media has demonstrated this point countless times, there seems to be a randomness in the destruction of certain homes. Lynn and I were able to walk out on a dirt path at the corner of an especially hard-hit cul de sac and look down the valley and observed the fire's path. Some homes survived because of a barrier of red apple ground cover or large rocks and a plant free barrier. Others, away from the canyon, were victims of the embers.
One of the strangest sights was a two-story home, destroyed by the fire, and one of the collapsed walls leaning against the home of the next-door neighbor, who sustained no damage at all!
At one home nearly twenty teenagers, friends of the family who had lost their home, were helping sift through the ashes to find mementos. At another, a troop of boy scouts were helping their friend.
Everywhere people are sharing information and offering assistance.
One house we saw was destroyed not by the fire, but by heavy smoke damage. The interior was blackened.
We are lucky. Our damage, at this point, seems confined to the kitchen, where the ice-maker and frozen food melted and warped the wood floor, our fence and gates (wind damaged) and some outdoor cushions, covered with ash and still smelling like it even after a proper cleaning.
The cats are fine and have adopted their former routine. Bustopher likes to roam outside and then some back in, his legs and paws covered with soot. Macavity makes his ninja forays and then comes in to find some new place to hide and plan his next nefarious caper.
We're off to breakfast and then donning our grubbies back to the clean-up.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Madness of Mike Aguirre
Michael Aguirre, San Diego City Attorney, has descended beyond demagoguery to the brink of megalomania. His bizarre conduct over the past few weeks, when the city first faced the collapse of city streets in the Mount Soledad neighborhood of La Jolla and now the fires, calls into question not merely his capability but his mental soundness.
In an interview last evening with Kimberly Hunt on KUSI television, Mr. Aguirre alluded to secrets about the fire that he would reveal next week, suggesting some heinous cover up or gross mismanagement. As one of the still evacuated residents of Rancho Bernardo, I resent the City Attorney's politicizing the fires and using it as yet another bully pulpit.
Mr. Aguirre has ceased to be the city's advocate, preferring the role of devil's advocate. He postures as the last angry man and the only honest man in local politics. His relationship with Mayor Jerry Sanders is toxic. He files frivolous lawsuits, relishes battling everyone, has decimated the ranks of the city attorney's office, and has cost our cash-strapped city millions of dollars because of his shenanigans.
Why compromise when you can confront? Why accommodate when you can antagonize?
Mr. Aguirre seeks the microphone and then blurts out such nonsensical drivel that his behavior reminds you of a hyperactive and uncontrollable child.
Consider his suggestion that the entire city of San Diego evacuate in the face of the wildfires. The entire population, every man, woman and child, under Mr. Aguirre's plan, would take to the roads and leave, ostensibly for Arizona. Millions of people in perhaps one million vehicles on the already stressed highways fleeing the city. This plays more like a scene out of a poor Hollywood script; it is not the deliberate thoughts of a rational civic leader. Beyond the logistics, apparently Mr. Aguirre never thought about the aftermath of his suggestion. An abandoned San Diego, a vacuum that would be filled by to looters, criminals and illegal aliens.
And now we must wait a week until he unveils his latest conspiracy theory.
Enough.
As responsible citizens we can no longer merely wait for the next election to send this popinjay packing. Recall Mike Aguirre.
In an interview last evening with Kimberly Hunt on KUSI television, Mr. Aguirre alluded to secrets about the fire that he would reveal next week, suggesting some heinous cover up or gross mismanagement. As one of the still evacuated residents of Rancho Bernardo, I resent the City Attorney's politicizing the fires and using it as yet another bully pulpit.
Mr. Aguirre has ceased to be the city's advocate, preferring the role of devil's advocate. He postures as the last angry man and the only honest man in local politics. His relationship with Mayor Jerry Sanders is toxic. He files frivolous lawsuits, relishes battling everyone, has decimated the ranks of the city attorney's office, and has cost our cash-strapped city millions of dollars because of his shenanigans.
Why compromise when you can confront? Why accommodate when you can antagonize?
Mr. Aguirre seeks the microphone and then blurts out such nonsensical drivel that his behavior reminds you of a hyperactive and uncontrollable child.
Consider his suggestion that the entire city of San Diego evacuate in the face of the wildfires. The entire population, every man, woman and child, under Mr. Aguirre's plan, would take to the roads and leave, ostensibly for Arizona. Millions of people in perhaps one million vehicles on the already stressed highways fleeing the city. This plays more like a scene out of a poor Hollywood script; it is not the deliberate thoughts of a rational civic leader. Beyond the logistics, apparently Mr. Aguirre never thought about the aftermath of his suggestion. An abandoned San Diego, a vacuum that would be filled by to looters, criminals and illegal aliens.
And now we must wait a week until he unveils his latest conspiracy theory.
Enough.
As responsible citizens we can no longer merely wait for the next election to send this popinjay packing. Recall Mike Aguirre.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
But knowing is better...
My son and daughter think that I am the most well prepared, anal retentive human they know. They might be right. That attention to preparedness and detail failed me as I went to bed on Sunday night with no plan to evacuate the house in case the wildfire hit Rancho Bernardo.
As I wrote earlier, we escaped with little.
I even forgot my asthma medicine.
A newscaster announced that RB residents were being allowed back into their homes to retrieve medicines. Not knowing the drill we loaded up the Jeep and the sedan and drove to our home, figuring that a police cordon in front of our development could be easily breached with a driver's license. The police had other, and better ideas. They have the major roads into residential areas cordoned off at key choke points. No one is allowed to walk through the neighborhoods. Instead you collect at the Holiday Inn on West Bernardo Drive and do the Disneyland snake line waiting your turn to be escorted to your home.
After a two-hour wait, made pleasant by meeting and greeting neighbors and making new pals in line, Lynn and I hopped into the backseat of a patrol car and were driven to our house.
We drove past the strip mall that is being used as the RB command center, and the location that Matt Lauer interviewed the Governator this morning. About twenty pieces of equipment were ready to be staged and but on the line, the firefighters enjoying a short respite from their valiant round-the-clock battles. We turned left on Escala and dipped into the canyon, blackened on both sides by the fire, as was Battle Mountain. Miraculously we did not see a single home along Escala or in the foothills that suffered any damage. We crossed Pomerado, made the two quick right turns and saw the house. Intact. As was the entire cul de sac. We had five minutes. I grabbed the medicine, some clothes, fed the cats on the ground floor. Lynn sprinted in, fed the cats upstairs (yeah, we could have communicated a little better) and tossed a new tee-shirt into the bag.
I also retrieved a canopy from the garage.
We were driven back to the Holiday Inn. With the aid of three young Hispanic teenagers, I put the canopy together, and left it, providing some of San Diego's finest a bit of shade.
By the way, we also saw and had a short conversation with Congressman Duncan Hunter. While he comes across as a pretty tough guy, you could see the pain and enormity of the fire etched into his face. And we're not even in his district.
So, the good news is that the house is currently standing. The cats are freaked but alive and we're back in La Mesa mooching off my buddy, Jerry.
As I wrote earlier, we escaped with little.
I even forgot my asthma medicine.
A newscaster announced that RB residents were being allowed back into their homes to retrieve medicines. Not knowing the drill we loaded up the Jeep and the sedan and drove to our home, figuring that a police cordon in front of our development could be easily breached with a driver's license. The police had other, and better ideas. They have the major roads into residential areas cordoned off at key choke points. No one is allowed to walk through the neighborhoods. Instead you collect at the Holiday Inn on West Bernardo Drive and do the Disneyland snake line waiting your turn to be escorted to your home.
After a two-hour wait, made pleasant by meeting and greeting neighbors and making new pals in line, Lynn and I hopped into the backseat of a patrol car and were driven to our house.
We drove past the strip mall that is being used as the RB command center, and the location that Matt Lauer interviewed the Governator this morning. About twenty pieces of equipment were ready to be staged and but on the line, the firefighters enjoying a short respite from their valiant round-the-clock battles. We turned left on Escala and dipped into the canyon, blackened on both sides by the fire, as was Battle Mountain. Miraculously we did not see a single home along Escala or in the foothills that suffered any damage. We crossed Pomerado, made the two quick right turns and saw the house. Intact. As was the entire cul de sac. We had five minutes. I grabbed the medicine, some clothes, fed the cats on the ground floor. Lynn sprinted in, fed the cats upstairs (yeah, we could have communicated a little better) and tossed a new tee-shirt into the bag.
I also retrieved a canopy from the garage.
We were driven back to the Holiday Inn. With the aid of three young Hispanic teenagers, I put the canopy together, and left it, providing some of San Diego's finest a bit of shade.
By the way, we also saw and had a short conversation with Congressman Duncan Hunter. While he comes across as a pretty tough guy, you could see the pain and enormity of the fire etched into his face. And we're not even in his district.
So, the good news is that the house is currently standing. The cats are freaked but alive and we're back in La Mesa mooching off my buddy, Jerry.
"It's the not knowing that is interesting..."
Apologies to A.A. Milne and the dour Eeyore.
Yesterday morning at 4:30 a.m. I heard the nonstop wail of sirens. We had gone to bed the night before concerned about a fire in Ramona, about 20 miles from our home. The Santa Ana winds drove that fire into Rancho Bernardo.
The police were driving through our development, sirens and amplified mikes blaring, urging an immediate evacuation.
We left with very little and drove first to my office, to regroup, and then to La Mesa, to stay with a friend.
Thanks to all of you who have called and left messages. We spent the day and evening watching the local news and surfing the Net for information. We learned that about 25 homes in our Montelena neighborhood have been destroyed. We cling to hope on the thin thread that Lynn's voice still greets us when we call home. Our phone holds the answering capability. Frankly I don't even know if that is the correct technological touchstone for confidence, but I'm taking it,
With Highway 15 we have another decision to make. When we return to our home.
Over 300,000 people have been evacuated in the county of San Diego. Firefighters, media, city workers have toiled non-stop and their efforts have not gone unappreciated.
Yesterday morning at 4:30 a.m. I heard the nonstop wail of sirens. We had gone to bed the night before concerned about a fire in Ramona, about 20 miles from our home. The Santa Ana winds drove that fire into Rancho Bernardo.
The police were driving through our development, sirens and amplified mikes blaring, urging an immediate evacuation.
We left with very little and drove first to my office, to regroup, and then to La Mesa, to stay with a friend.
Thanks to all of you who have called and left messages. We spent the day and evening watching the local news and surfing the Net for information. We learned that about 25 homes in our Montelena neighborhood have been destroyed. We cling to hope on the thin thread that Lynn's voice still greets us when we call home. Our phone holds the answering capability. Frankly I don't even know if that is the correct technological touchstone for confidence, but I'm taking it,
With Highway 15 we have another decision to make. When we return to our home.
Over 300,000 people have been evacuated in the county of San Diego. Firefighters, media, city workers have toiled non-stop and their efforts have not gone unappreciated.
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