GCN Recovery News Report

This report will constantly be updated as information becomes available
Updated 11/10/06 2:46 PM

The recent success of the Democratic party in the Congressional elections may slow federal support in helping the Mississippi Coast recover. An example of the sentiment was expressed by New York democrat Charles Rangel, who was quoted in The New York Times on  Nov. 9, saying: "Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?"

Mississippi Congressman Chip Pickering has asked Rangel to apologize to the people of Mississippi. Other Mississippian's are outraged at Rangel's comment. One GCN reader wrote:

Congressman Rangel,

As a proud Mississippian and resident of the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast I would be happy to tell you “who the hell wants to live in Mississippi”. I will not waste your time with the litany of world-class writers, artists, athletes, entertainers, scientists, surgeons, astronauts, musicians, soldiers and statesmen who have called Mississippi home. I will not mention the veterans who retire here nor the snowbirds who flock to our area each year. I will not list the giants in American industry who choose to locate in Mississippi.

Instead, I will tell you of the 93,000 people still housed in FEMA trailers due to the loss of over 10,000 apartment units and over 150,000 homes to Hurricane Katrina. I will tell you of the over 4,000 building permits that have been issued in Biloxi to the owners of homes and businesses destroyed a little over a year ago. I will tell you of the 13,000 Casino employees who live here and serve the many who choose to visit here.

Congressman Rangel, these people went through Hell to live in Mississippi!

Wendy Barthe Peavy
Biloxi, MS

GCN is also seeing that the nation as a whole still does not recognize the level of damage and loss that still exists 14 months after Katrina. Comments from people GCN has spoken to around the nation indicate that people are surprised to learn that the Coast is still having difficulty and that so many people are still in FEMA trailers. Meanwhile, the national news media has moved on again to other subjects. The lack of national reports takes the pressure off of Congress and the President to do more to help the people of the Katrina Disaster Zone in Mississippi and Louisiana. What these people do not realize is that the world is still watching how the United States cares for its own. In October, GCN met several BBC reporters who acknowledged that their news service was still watching and reporting on the U.S. response to Katrina. If people around the world see the U.S. fail to take care of its own people, they may conclude that the U.S. will not act on commitments with their countries either.

There are many people in the U.S. that believe market forces will help rebuild the Coast and New Orleans. But business and industry can do little to rebuild homes and neighborhoods, especially for the low and moderate income families that are the majority of families in the region. Homes that cost $150,000 are not "affordable" homes. One of the issues revealed by Katrina was the number of poor and low income families in the region that "market forces" had not risen much out of poverty prior to Katrina. Even for college educated workers in the region, pay is far less than in most other regions of country. The fact that chain store employers pay workers differently around the nation is one cause. For example, why should workers at a Lowe's in California be paid more than a Lowe's worker in Mississippi or Louisiana? That is the reality of "market forces" in this region. The cost of living is not as much an issue as what companies are willing to pay, and get away with. What Katrina has revealed is the failure of market forces capitalism at this point to find a solution to the area's economic  and social losses. Fourteen months after Katrina, there is no still central business or industry initiative to help the people and communities within the Katrina Disaster Zone to recover. Issues such as high insurance costs, labor pay, jobs and housing have yet to be successfully addressed. What does seem to be happening is that business and industry are sucking up millions of dollars in federal relief monies with little of it getting to the places where the need is greatest.

While progress is being made by the Mississippi Department of Transportation on replacing the U.S. 90 bridges on the Bay of St. Louis and Biloxi Bay, work on other projects is not moving well. MDOT says they are delaying bids for replacing traffic signals on U.S. 90 until next year because the U.S. Dept. of Transportation did not approve of MDOT's plans. There are also delays on relighting the I-110 bridge and the street lights on U.S. in Biloxi that MDOT controls. Just this past week, MDOT announced that it is awarding a contract to finally pave the new 4-lane Hwy 67 that runs north of the I-110 and complete the project by 2009. But that road was to have been finished sooner. MDOT's often rescheduled dates for projects could be of concern and delay some businesses from rebuilding until the area's road infrastructure is in better shape.

A plan by the Mississippi Choctaw tribe to build a $375 million off-reservation Indian casino in Jackson County is creating a huge controversy on the Coast and interfering with the Coast's redevelopment.

Jackson County does not allow casinos, however  the Choctaws own property in the county where an Indian casino could be constructed, if the Governor would approve. Governor Haley Barbour has stated that he does not support casinos where they are currently not allowed. That would normally suggest the end of the matter. But it has not. What is happening however, is that the Choctaw's plan is interfering with the recovery and rebuilding of the Coast. Harrah's has announced that they are delaying their plans to build a billion dollar resort at their former Grand Casino site, partially over the Choctaw question. It could be that the Choctaws, which operate two casinos in Philadelphia, Mississippi, do not want to see the Coast casino industry expand its market, which would further erode their operations in the state. As a result, they may not be interested in building a casino as much as inhibiting the industry's development here since any Indian casino will take years to get approval. The Indian casino issue has become national in scope as many tribes have developed casinos around the country and are now competing with the traditional casino industry. Coast area business and community leaders oppose the Choctaw casino as the Indian casino would not have to pay taxes, or locate near the water, which would give it a competitive edge. The Choctaw's proposed site is just off of busy Interstate 10 in Jackson county. (more here)

A recent study found that the Coast lost nearly 10,000 apartment units from Hurricane Katrina. The units were either destroyed or rendered unlivable. This total is nearly 50 percent greater than a review made earlier by the Gulf Regional Planning Commission. It also reflects the harsh reality of post-Katrina housing on the Coast.

Harrison County is finalizing their plans to use some $30 million in federal redevelopment funds. The county's plans includes widening Seaway Road in the county's main industrial park in Gulfport, to building a new home for the Harrison County Development Commission, which was once housed in the Hancock Bank tower in Gulfport. The Hancock Bank tower is undergoing a complete renovation after suffering heavy damages from Katrina. The building in downtown Gulfport will not reopen until sometime in the first quarter of next year. The Bank also hopes to complete rebuilding its branches in Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian early in the first quarter of 2007.

Biloxi in the past year has seen four times the number of construction permits for new homes and new businesses, and at the same time issued nearly 4,000 permits for storm repairs to existing homes and businesses. And Mayor A.J. Holloway says that as more homeowner grant money finds it way to Biloxi, those numbers are expected to grow even more.

Figures released by the city's Community Development Department show that in Fiscal Year 2006 -- from Oct. 1, 2005 to Sept. 30, 2006 -- the city issued 638 permits for new home construction, with a valuation of $80.5 million. In the past 10 years, the city averaged issuing 145 permits for new homes each year. The Community Development Department report also showed that in FY '06, the city issued 312 permits for new commercial construction at a value of $40 million, compared to an average of 80 permits each year over the past 10 years.

"What this means is that Biloxians are building back," Holloway said. "And it also means that we're going to see even bigger numbers once the bulk of the finance issues are resolved, such as the homeowners grants checks arriving, or SBA loans and insurance settlements being finalized."

Casino industry officials on the Coast are reporting that employment levels at the Coast's casinos have returned to Pre-Katrina levels as of late October. Nearly 13,000 Coast area residents are currently employed at the Coast's casinos.

D'Iberville is taking advantage of their destroyed homes to rezone the property to allow for casinos and condominiums. The area include a large portion of D'Iberville's Old Town area east of the I-110 along the waterfront to the St. Martin area. D'Iberville lost nearly 65 percent of its homes from Katrina. The area has been slow to redevelop.

Mississippi Power is receiving $276 million from a $360 million federal grant to help pay for the company's losses from Hurricane Katrina. But the real beneficiary are the company's customers. Mississippi Power officials say that without the money, the company was going to raise electrical rates by 30 percent. Mississippi Power will use the money to repay a $225 million dollar short term loan it acquired in September 2005 to provide the immediate cash it needed to make the enormous repairs from Katrina. That loan was for three years and now it will be offset by the federal grant.

Ferry service between Harrison and Hancock counties began Nov. 1. The free ferry service will help reconnect Bay St. Louis to U.S. Highway 90 just west of Pass Christian. The service is not expected to save people much time from taking the I-10 route, but it will save on fuel. The ferry can carry up to 20 vehicles, but the trip will take 40 minutes to cross the bay and at least another half hour to load and unload. The ferry was established to help keep the communities connected while the Mississippi Department of Transportation builds the replacement bridge across the Bay of St. Louis.

Harrah's is delaying their planned billion dollar mega casino resort on the property of the former Grand Casino in Biloxi. The company said that high construction costs, a volatile marketplace and uncertainty over a proposed Choctaw casino in Jackson County are among the factors in their decision to delay their plans.  The announcement has sent jitters throughout the Coast, but the news does not mean that Harrah's will not redevelop their site on the south side of U.S. 90.

Speaking for Mayor A.J. Holloway, Vincent Creel, the city's information manager, told GCN that mayor Holloway is hopeful that Harrah's will proceed with their project.

"The mayor is certainly concerned about any business that has indicated they would make a billion dollar investment in the city," said Creel. "Harrah's had told the city that if the state would allow onland gaming they would make a spectacular investment here."

Harrah's has continued to purchase land around the site, some concluding just this past week according to city officials. The real issues affecting the work include progress to rebuild the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge, which is critical to supporting the traffic needed for the casinos; labor costs, which includes the availability of cheap labor such as immigrants; and the Indian casino, which could be be blocked by the governor. Governor Haley Barbour has said in the past that he does not support gaming in areas where is does not already exist. But a stronger statement may be needed to ease Harrah's concerns.

There is also some in the Coast's business community that would like to see a casino in Jackson County, even if such casinos do not pay local and state taxes as other casinos do. And recent arrests and deportations of illegal immigrant workers on the Coast by the U.S. Border Patrol has some illegal Hispanic workers moving elsewhere.

The president of W.G. Yates and Sons Construction, one of the nations largest contractors spoke in Philadelphia, Miss. about the impact of Hurricane Katrina and the company's ongoing role in the Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery effort during a meeting at the Philadelphia Rotary Club reports the Neshoba Democrat.

Philadelphia native William Gully Yates 3rd, now of Biloxi, predicted that the rebuilding effort would take another eight to 10 years and said the true test would be how the region handles such things as workforce development and housing. (More Here)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the public's perception of changes in the wetlands permitting process for redeveloping the Coast is incorrect. The corps is extending the public comment phase of their proposed changes and say that they are not just allowing for development at the expense of the environment. (More Here)

Under criticism for the slow speed of the state's Homeowner Grant program, Governor Haley Barbour has ordered that the amount of money recipients get in the program be increased. The increase will average about $15,000. The grant program is part of a $5 billion federal grant to help homeowners who lost their homes in Katrina, but were outside of the federal flood zones, rebuild. Prior to the increase, homeowners could have received up to $150,000. But the program, which is administered by the Mississippi Development Authority, has moved too slowly in getting checks to homeowners.

FEMA reports this week that of the nearly 49,000 temporary housing units in place earlier this year, nearly 15,500 households have found other living accommodations. Temporary housing units are returned to FEMA at a rate of approximately 250 units per week. While this is progress toward people finding a resolution to their permanent housing, it does not mean that all of these families are moving back into homes in the area. Construction of new homes is still far below what is needed. What is likely, but FEMA doesn't know, is that many of these families are moving out of the area. It also means that nearly 93,000 people are still housed in FEMA trailers in South Mississippi.

It was bound to happen eventually. The high number of illegal immigrants on the Coast since Katrina has been noted as part of the help to rebuild the Coast, however their presence breaks federal immigration laws. Federal immigration authorities report that a man who lived on Haise Street in Biloxi along with three others pleaded guilty Friday for producing hundreds of fake ID's including Social Security cards that have been used by illegal aliens to get jobs in the area. The arrests were made April 26. Also arrested at the time for deportation were some fifteen others living in the house. It has been estimated that nearly 20,000 illegal aliens are in the Coast area, but no one knows for sure. The federal action may be seen as a message, but such actions have had little impact in other areas around the country. (More Here)

Just over a year has gone by since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Mississippi Coast destroying almost everything along the Beach highway. But construction of new high rise condominiums is moving rapidly, changing forever the look and feel of the area.

All along the beach in Biloxi there are towers rising. The huge concrete structures will easily take the most powerful storms.
(More Here)

One of the unfolding tragedies of post-Katrina life includes people that lost their mobile homes in cities within hard hit Hancock County. New flood regulations say that mobile homes that once provided houses to hundreds of residents cannot be replaced. The regulations require more substantial homes, often that are too expensive for property owners to afford. While many of these people are living in FEMA provided trailers, eventually they must move to more permanent homes. Officials in Bay St. Louis and Waveland are trying to find a solution, as are charity groups, but the challenge is great. In Waveland, the city has set up an office to provide help for residents with housing problems at the Waveland Long Term Recovery Office. The office is located in Trailer #8 in the city's Government Complex on Coleman Avenue. Residents having trouble rebuilding are encouraged to fill out the necessary paperwork to receive help. Yes, there is some irony that the help office is in a trailer within a flood zone. But that is the situation as all of Waveland's government offices are in trailers.

A regular occurrence for people living on the Coast since Katrina is fixing tires on their cars and trucks. Tire repair shops are still doing a brisk business replacing tires and fixing flats as a result of nails in the roadways. For GCN's two vehicles, we have had nails, usually roofing nails, removed five different times. Once, one tire had two nails embedded in the tread.

As we have been reporting, efforts to build modular homes as replacements for FEMA trailers in some Coast communities has gone poorly. Many communities have zoning regulations that see modular homes much like trailers and forbid them. That is the case for the family that won a modular home during the Governor's Rebuilding Expo.Hancock County officials have prevented the family from moving into their new home because it doesn't meet the zoning requirements.

Since hurricane Katrina, many of the Coast's cities have ignored enforcing code violations for such things as weed growth and debris on people's property. This has resulted in much of the Coast looking unkempt and in shambles in neighborhoods and even along public roadways. It adds to the depressing look of the area and is demoralizing to the public. Biloxi officials have started to enforce the city's codes in some areas but isn't doing enough. What is disturbing is that even in business areas that were not impacted by the hurricane, grass isn't being cut and trash isn't being picked up. It is as if no one cares about improving the conditions here. Along major roadways, grass and weeds have overtaken sidewalks and is now spilling onto the roads. There are also problems of dead trees. While FEMA will help remove the trees in the flood zones, there are dead trees everywhere, especially pine trees, that are now dead, which threaten people's homes and who cannot afford to have them cut down. These trees, just inside the flood zones are just as much a hazard as those within the flood zones, but there is no help.

While the lack of affordable housing is among the most critical problems slowing rebuilding on the Coast, there is a greater problem that must be resolved. Katrina's storm surge destroyed large sections of the water and sewer systems in cities all along Mississippi's nearly 80 miles of shoreline. The costs to re-engineer and rebuild the systems will take tens of millions of dollars. In Waveland alone, estimates for the rebuilding of their water and sewer system top nearly $22 million and over $36 million for Bay St. Louis. While the costs vary by city, it will take millions more to return the system to working order, and this must happen before homes and businesses can be rebuilt in the hardest hit areas. More than a year has gone by since Katrina, and it will take at least a year, to two years more, before many areas will be back in service. And then there are the issues of how the water and sewer systems should be rebuilt. FEMA will help finance much of the repairs, but that is to restore the systems to their former service condition, which was largely supporting residential and small business needs. With the high post-Katrina insurance costs and new build height requirements, most area planners see the Coast rebuilding with larger structures, such as condominiums and higher density apartments. This would necessitate a  different water and sewer system, which may not entirely be supported by FEMA grants and require additional local contributions, money that some of the smaller Coast communities do not have. (Related)

The issue of water and sewer service Coastwide is a key component to the growth and recovery of the Coast from Katrina and for the future. While such services are usually not part of the glamour of a community, or even in the news, without an adequate water and sewer infrastructure, growth can only proceed at a snails pace.

Biloxi has continuously added to its water and sewer systems; especially over the last 15 years. The city plans more sewer plants to cover its annexation north of Back Bay into the Woolmarket area. But the other Coast cites are far behind on new sewer plants and water system construction. As a result, they may soon find limits to future development due to their inability to provide an adequate water and sewer service. The most critical need is in Gulfport and D'Iberville. It seems clear that Biloxi has planned best for growth. Just over a year ago, prior to Katrina, Gulfport had considerable difficulty finding the resources to put in water to its park along I-10 for the new Gulf Islands Water Park.

The governor signed a bill  last April that created a regional water authority made up of six districts in the six southernmost counties as part of a plan that would provide access to nearly $500 million in federal water and sewer funds. While officials work out the details on how the new agency will function and how to get the money, it will take time to implement.

More criticism is being leveled by homeowners and politicians over the slow progress of the state's Homeowner Grant program. Money from the program, nearly $3-billion, was to help homeowners outside of the Katrina Flood Zones to rebuild their homes. But the state and governor have clearly misjudged the bureaucracy and red tape it takes to administer the program. The result is that the program is so far behind on helping the 17,000 people that qualified to receive the assistance, that it may take well into next year before everyone receives a check. This is as GCN reported last summer. As of the middle of November, only about 5,500 people have received a check. Governor Haley Barbour is seeking to speed up the process, but the red tape associated with the program, from the federal government, to the insurance and mortgage companies involved, have made the process too slow. There has also been confusion over those homeowners that signed up for help. Perhaps over 2,000 homeowners in Jackson County may have been rejected for Homeowner Grant by the Mississippi Development Authority, which is administering the program. The grant program will provide up to $150,000 to homeowners whose houses were outside of the federal flood zones. The grant program was touted as a key component to help the Coast recover. The plan was first announced back in January with the expectation that all the applicants would receive checks by mid summer. As delays were announced, homeowners were told by the Governor in August they would have their checks by no later than mid September.

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor and Sen. Trent Lott have recently been sharply criticizing the slowness of Mississippi's $3 billion Homeowner Grant Program and urged the state to speed up the distribution process so thousands of residents can begin to financially recover from Hurricane Katrina.  U.S. Sen. Trent Lott has blamed the "interminable, pathetic bureaucracy" of the federal and state governments for the slowness of grant program.

There is also criticism over three state lawmakers profiting from a lucrative state contract that allows them to use their professional legal services to finalize grants for Hurricane Katrina victims. The lawmakers have been named in a complaint filed with the Mississippi Ethics Commission. The Mississippi Press reports that Sen. Tommy Robertson, R-Moss Point, Rep. Jim Beckett, R-Bruce, and Rep. Jim Simpson, R-Long Beach, are named in the complaint filed by Edward Hightower of Jackson. The complaint also names Ethics Commission vice chairman Ben Stone, whose blessing Robertson said he received before bidding on the contract. Stone, a Gulfport attorney, is a partner in a law firm that is providing legal counsel for Mississippi Development Authority, which administers the $3 billion Homeowner Grant Program. (More Here)  The Sun Herald reports that the lawmakers believe that politics is involved and that the ethics complaint was leaked to the Mississippi Press.

News reports and political leaders often speak of the "Coast" as a single entity, the political reality is far different. There are sharp differences between the cities and the area's political leadership. These differences also extend to a great degree to some local area business leaders. The reality is that there is no "one voice" to speak for the Coast's recovery, nor is every city equally competent to the tasks before them. In many ways, some of the most visible "spokesmen" are serving special interests than serving the public. A case in point in the failed effort to relocate the CSX railroad track that runs along the Coast. That effort, spearheaded by some misguided and self-serving business and political leaders during the congressional efforts to fund Katrina recovery, was very costly to the area in both political capital in benefit to the state, and in the speed of the legislation.

Meanwhile, one of the unexpected outcomes of the Hurricane Katrina disaster is shaping up to effect upcoming elections is some areas of the Coast. The loss of apartments and housing, many which provided homes for the elderly and retired have resulted in many of the Coast's elderly to move away. Many of these same people worked as poll workers during elections. Harrison County's election commission is finding that many of their poll workers are no longer in the area. The election commission is also worried that the new state-supported electronic voting machines will also cause problems as the training for the new machines is more complex and the retirees may have difficulty with the process.

A year of progress is how Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway summed up what is happening in his city since Hurricane Katrina. Biloxi is making the best headway toward recovery among the hardest hit cities on the Coast, but there remains much to be done. (More Here)

Senator Trent Lott is ramping up his efforts to make the insurance industry more responsive and  responsible in light of his experiences from Hurricane Katrina. The New York Times who interviewed Lott recently said Lottwas angry about the insurers’ “insensitivity and outright meanness” in rejecting many homeowners’ claims. Lott has inserted a provision into legislation, signed by President Bush last week, which directs the Department of Homeland Security to investigate potential fraud by the insurance industry. Lott is also drafting legislation to challenge the industry’s exemptions from antitrust laws and had asked his staff to investigate the industry’s tax rates. (More Here)

GulfCoastNews.com received a prestigious award during the Online News Association annual meeting held in Washington, Oct. 6-8. During award ceremonies Oct. 8, GCN received the ONA Excellence in Service Journalism Award for small websites for its GCN Survivor Connector Database.

"This is truly a deep honor," said Keith Burton, GCN's owner and editor. "The GCN database was created to help people that were relocated from evacuations during Hurricane Katrina, but I never realized at the time how it would help so many people." (More Here)

The lack of housing on the Coast stemming from Hurricane Katrina was the focus of an economic development symposium meeting held last month in Biloxi. The Sun Herald reports that during a meeting of the Hancock Bank Economic Symposium held earlier this week at the Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, a panel of experts, including the state treasurer, a top business leader and a nationally renowned economic consultant, told a crowd of almost 1,000 that the successful and rapid recovery from the effects of Hurricane Katrina hinges on one issue: housing.

Nearly 80,000 housing units are needed over the next five years, according to panelist Anthony Topazi, president and CEO of Mississippi Power Co.

Also needed are the people to build the homes. An estimated 10,000 construction workers will be will be required to build the home. Temporary housing will have to be found for the workers to help rebuild the Mississippi Coast.

Hancock County still has a lot of Katrina debris remaining. This week the county's Board of Supervisors approved a contract to a Jackson firm to pickup the debris that is in the county and its cities.

Meanwhile, in Biloxi, Mayor A.J. Holloway wants to use some of the Katrina recovery money to remake the city's downtown area at Vieux Marche. The mayor wants to widen the current one-lane roadway to two lanes. The Vieux Marche was once the city's main downtown business area. During the 1970's the narrow roadway was covered by a canopy as part of a failed urban renewal project. After the canopy was removed in the late 1990's the area has recovered somewhat but the mayor feels more can be done.

The first major Coast tourism event since Katrina came and went early in October. The 2006 Cruisin' the Coast drew over 4,000 registrants and over 12,000  to 15,000 overall participants in the weeklong event. The event draws thousands of car lovers, hot rodders and custom cars and trucks to the Coast each October.

Last year's event was cancelled due to the damages from Katrina. The event packs area hotels and motels, which are still in short supply. Many of the participants stayed in motorhomes since the Coast's hotel industry is still in the progress of rebuilding, only about half the rooms are available. Many participants expressed some shock over how much the Coast had changed and how much was still gone, over a year after Katrina. Many of their landmarks Cruisers used to navigate are no longer in existence. And there are no gasoline stations anywhere on the Coast's beach highway from Biloxi to Pass Christian. (More Here)

The Sea Coast Echo reports that the Hancock County School Board voted unanimously, Oct 5, to evict a FEMA trailer park from school-owned property at the former site of Gulfview Elementary. Since last October, nearly 100 trailers have been housed at the site, and hundreds of displaced residents are living in the park. The agreement with FEMA to house the trailers was made in the confusing days after the storm when housing for hurricane victims was critically needed. A county official signed the right-of-entry to the property under an emergency declaration, and FEMA soon moved the trailers onto the property. The school board contends, it never signed a lease with FEMA and the trailers are hindering the school districts rebuilding plans. As to where to put the residents in the park, that will have to be worked out.

The Mississippi Department of Health is reporting that a new poisonous spider is being found in sizeable numbers on the Coast. Officials are cautioning residents to be on the lookout for the Brown Window spider while working around their homes and cleaning up from debris still left by Katrina. (More Here)

Hancock County's board of supervisors will focus on renovations of the existing county courthouse. Plans to build a much larger annex perhaps out of the city of Bay St. Louis are now described as "long range plans." News reports of the new large annex suggested that the county intended to move most of the services and primary offices into the new annex once it was built. But there are yet many hurdles to the plan and even a site for the annex has not yet been determined. The Mississippi Constitution requires any relocation of a county's seat of government outside of its current city to be voted by county residents and approved by at least 2/3 of the voters. In Article 14, Section 259, the Mississippi Constitution states: "No county seat shall be removed unless such removal be authorized by two-thirds of the electors of the county voting therefor; but when the proposed removal shall be toward the center of the county, it may be made when a majority of the electors participating in the election shall vote therefor." Mayors in both Bay St. Louis and Waveland oppose the plan. (More information Here)

Biloxi is getting two more condo towers. These will join the over 21 condos that are being planned by developers for the city over the next several years. Already, condo tower development is changing the city's skyline. More are to come. This is despite very little restoration of beachfront businesses and and just a handful of homes. But the condos are a harbinger of what the future of Biloxi will be like along the beach highway.

Cleanup of the Coast's shoreline along a three-county area is nearing 50 percent completion. Hurricane Katrina left tons of debris just offshore and in waterways along the Coast. To date, and nearly halfway through a 90-day shoreline cleanup schedule in Harrison, Jackson and Hancock Counties, nearly 24,000 cubic yards of soggy debris have been pulled from the shallow waters, including bays and estuaries. The debris clearing is part of a multimillion dollar U.S. Coast Guard-directed effort funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to make the beach area and shoreline one-half mile into the Gulf safer for public use. (More Here)

The total number of people living in FEMA issued travel trailers and mobile homes continues to decline.  Currently,  nearly 93,000 people are still housed in 33,307 FEMA provided trailers in Mississippi. Since the FEMA trailers have been issued, 15,500 have been returned, according to FEMA officials contacted by GCN. This means people are returning to their homes or finding alternative living resources. There are still some people receiving FEMA trailers. This is because some apartments are being rebuilt or have been shut down that people were living in since the hurricane. This is particularly true for some elderly Coast residents.

The Biloxi City Council finally adopted the Renaissance Renewal rebuilding plan, which will open the door for the city to apply for more than $300 million in federal recovery grants. Several councilmen had resisted adopting the plan as is calls for major changes to how East Biloxi and the Point Cadet area would be rebuilt. The hurricane has changed forever that area of the city, which was once largely populated with small wood frame homes and low to moderate income families. Many of the residents have moved from the area into other parts of the city or have left entirely and the chance that they will be able to return is doubtful.

The construction site for the $338 million Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge is a flurry of activity with cranes both pulling the old bridge apart and others pounding into the water new pylons for what will eventually become the new bridge. Barring weather and unexpected material delays, the bridge is scheduled to open with two lanes on November 13, 2007. The remainder of the bridge is supposed to open April 16, 2008. (More Here)

Replacement of the U.S. 90 Bay St. Louis bridge is on schedule, according to MDOT. The contractor has started laying the horizontal beams on pylons. The old bridge has been removed entirely. The bridge is expected to be opened to two lane traffic in May 16, 2007 with final completion scheduled for November 13, 2007.

The federal government is picking up the tab for the ferry service that has begun service across the Bay of St. Louis between the cities of Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis. Gulf Regional Planning Commission's last traffic count on the U.S. 90 bridge in 2005 showed that 19,000 cars used it daily. Depending on bad-weather days, the ferry will run for 212 days, until two lanes are open on the new U.S. 90 bridge. Plans are for 17 departures daily, to leave every 45 minutes. Both the Bay St. Louis bridge and the Biloxi-Ocean Springs bridge are being replaced. The bridges were destroyed by hurricane Katrina are are key parts for the busy U.S. highway 90.

Some good news for Bay St. Louis. Finally, after more than a year since Hurricane Katrina street lights along Highway 90 are going up. The lack of lights has been disheartening to many area residents and the new lights will bring another element of normalcy back to the area.

Just over one year after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, one of the nation's largest emergency response agencies has found that survivors living in “temporary” trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi are 15 times more likely to take their own lives than people in the rest of the United States. The survey by California-based International Medical Corps, a veteran of more than two decades of overseas relief operations that responded domestically for the first time with Katrina, also found that the rate of depression among those residing in the trailer parks is seven times the national average. (Much more Here)

Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway says his city will allow modular homes to be placed on home sites in the city as long as the homes meet fire codes. Modular homes would help speed the replacement homes lost from Hurricane Katrina. Many cities do not allow such homes as they were once considered "trailers." But changes in how modular homes look and how they are engineered now making them competitive with tradition stick-built homes.

MDOT and city officials in Bay St. Louis say it will take months to rebuild the Beach Boulevard in Bay St. Louis. The road was washed away in the city's downtown area by Katrina. Problems include acquiring property from some owners along the roadway, and the discovery of an ancient Indian settlement, which will have to be surveyed by archeologists.

A year after Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi Hotel & Lodging Association reports, nearly 55 percent of pre-hurricane hotel rooms are now back online. In Biloxi, 64.6 percent of the casino-resort rooms – 4,066 of 6,292 – are back in operation, but only 23.5 percent of the non-casino rooms – 691 of 2,935 – are operating.

“This is certainly encouraging news,” Mayor A.J. Holloway said of the report, “but it also shows just how far we have to go.” The Biloxi numbers were buoyed by the August re-opening of the Beau Rivage and Grand Biloxi, resorts that together accounted for more than 2,000 rooms.

Hurricane Katrina did more than ravage the Coast and resident's lives. Katrina accelerated the way everyone remembers the Coast, especially in Biloxi as long-time landmarks are being removed.

The most recent landmark is the Broadwater Tower, which began its life as the Biloxi Hilton Hotel on the beach. Work crews this week have demolished the 10-story hotel, which was part of the former President Casino operation. (More on this story Here)

As the Coast now moves into its second year from Katrina, there are many questions regarding how the area will proceed in its recovery. Clearly Biloxi will lead the way with its money-generating casino industry and Keesler Air Force Base. Jackson County and its cities are also doing well, but there is still much loss along their shoreline too. The recovery for Gulfport and areas west into Hancock County remain the greatest concerns. Reports continue to show that the much of the federal relief money has yet to hit the ground. And some of the hardest and most difficult decisions for public officials remain. How high to set build heights? Where to put new water and sewer lines that will help cities grow? How will it be paid for? What can be done about the skyrocketing insurance rates? How can affordable housing be found?

In the last year, political leaders have had to handle big picture issues, such as getting the debris removed, solving emergency problems on a daily basis, and more. But as the Coast moves toward its next "post-Katrina" year, the hard work will come. The work of details, which is never easy.

The reopening of the Beau Rivage August 29, the Coast's largest casino, is being seen by some as a barometer of the Coast's recovery. The huge resort employs thousands of residents across the Coast and its reopening is an important part of getting people back to work. But it is not true that the casinos that have reopened indicate that the Coast is anywhere near normal. Vast areas in a 70 mile swath along the beach from Jackson County to Hancock County remain in very bad shape. Very little has been rebuilt. There is still not a single gas station, or store that has been rebuilt along U.S. 90, and only one beachfront restaurant has been reopened. A handful of private motels have reopened, but they remain scarred by the hurricane.

At over a year after Katrina, MDOT has yet to repair the lights on the I-110 bridge and on Highway 90 in Biloxi, or removed the debris along the intersection at I-110 and Highway 90. Butch Brown, the director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation told GCN in August that his agency has been contacted by Beau Rivage officials who he said had "some issues" with him. Brown made his comment, with some amusement, during the recent reopening of the Biloxi Grand. The I-110 and Highway 90 intersection are adjacent to the huge casino. Even a mighty casino company seems to have little impact on MDOT, a agency widely criticized for poor performance.

The high cost of insurance that has come as a result of Katrina is severely inhibiting rebuilding. Developers and local officials are trying to find ways to get around the problem. The state's windpool insurance for businesses recently was increase 268 percent. Homeowner windpool insurance increased 90 percent. The state's windpool insurance is the insurance of last resort for homeowners and businesses when the private insurers do not offer coverage.

A plan by FEMA officials to move families living in small travel trailers into larger, more permanent, mobile home parks is meeting resistance from public officials in Pascagoula. City Manager Kay Kell said some zoning and other decisions need to be addressed regarding mobile homes.

The changes wrought by Katrina are being felt in school enrollments in the region. The six southernmost counties lost 6,125 students between last year and this year, with the greatest gap in Biloxi, which lost nearly 1,500 students. Biloxi school officials believe the destruction and loss of housing in East Biloxi, including two elementary schools, as well as the loss of nearly 1,000 homes at Keesler Air Force Base, accounts for between 600 and 800 of those students.  The Bay-Waveland, Harrison County, Moss Point and Pascagoula districts are down more than 800 students from before Katrina. Pass Christian, which lost most of its homes and businesses in the storm, is down nearly 500 students.

The loss of students for schools also is an indicator that whole families are no longer living on the Coast. These include parents who are likely no longer working in the jobs they once had, or operating businesses they once owned.

Rebuilding homes and lives on the Coast nearly a year after Katrina is not going well in many of the worse stricken areas. In communities from Waveland to Biloxi, there remains large areas where nothing is happening. These areas represent whole neighborhoods where once houses stood. There are also large areas where not even a FEMA trailer can be found. Even in Biloxi, which is acknowledged as progressing the fastest on recovery, most of east Biloxi on the Biloxi Peninsula show very little new construction is underway. At issue for the rebuilding are the new building height restrictions, which would put homes up in the air with difficult entry and exits, and higher insurance. The insurance issue is severely impacting businesses particularly small businesses whose profit margins would now be consumed by the higher insurance rates. The higher homes are too much for the elderly and disabled as the steps would make the homes too difficult to enter and would require ridiculously long ramps to enter. The building height issue is particularly noticeable in the model homes built for the Governor's Recovery Expo in August at the Coast Coliseum. None of the nearly 30 homes, only slightly elevated, had handicap entries. (Photo right)

In east Biloxi, many of the lots where small wood-framed homes stood are too small to build upon as required by the city's building code regulations. The previous structures were grandfathered-in and the lots no longer qualify. This problem also exists in other communities.

There are some bright spots. Biloxi officials have done an excellent job on almost all fronts toward recovery, as also officials in Jackson County. But moving west to Gulfport, the progress begins to diminish. Gulfport has yet to restore street lights along Highway 90 as Biloxi has done. That city still has huge piles of concrete and other Katrina debris along roadways, and downtown repairs have stalled. The situation grows worse as you move farther west. Long Beach has yet to restore water in many areas destroyed by Katrina, and nothing has been rebuilt along the beach communities through Pass Christian, which is still mostly a town devoid of what a town should have. Rebuilding in the communities in Hancock County is also going very slow. Look anywhere along the Coast's most devastated areas, and nearly a year after Katrina, the overwhelming loss remains appalling.

A 268 percent increase in wind pool insurance rates for businesses could hurt recovery on the Coast, say area business leaders. Businesses would like to see the state legislature provide some relief. Biloxi attorney Ron Peresich serves as chairman of the legislative and government affairs committee of the Gulf Coast Business Council, said the council has been looking into the wind pool rate increases and has been working with the Legislature and Senate special insurance committee appointed by Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck. Peresich said legislation is being drafted to appropriate part of the gambling revenues for the wind pool to offset the rate increases.

Don't look for speedy repairs to the Coast's transportation infrastructure any time soon. The Mississippi Department of Transportation is notoriously slow to do needed work, and that remains the case nearly one year after hurricane Katrina. MDOT will not begin rebuilding U.S. Highway 90 until 2007, which means residents and visitors will have to endure the bumpy temporary repairs the agency has made. (More on this story here)

With thousands of people still living in FEMA trailers, concerns that homeowners will soon have to file bankruptcy are growing. Many banks and mortgage companies have worked hard with homeowners to help them with extending home loan payments to help avoid foreclosures. This has helped keep the foreclosure and bankruptcy reports low since Katrina. But a recent study shows that a bankruptcy storm may occur in the near future. This is light of the problem homeowners are having in getting insurance settlements and receiving grant programs money to rebuild. As the time it takes for homeowners to rebuild their lives grows, many homeowners in the most devastated areas are now finding they do not have the resources to recover. There is also evidence that the new bankruptcy laws, which tightened requirements to file for bankruptcy, may also be keeping people from filing. The study found that bankruptcies typically escalate after a hurricane.

There are striking differences in the speed of the recovery along the Coast. The smaller cities of Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Pass Christian, D'Iberville and Long Beach face serious challenges and their recovery will trail that of Biloxi and Gulfport, and Jackson County. There are also issues in the smaller communities that remain so serious that their futures are uncertain, but even there, hard work and money are helping to make progress, mostly as a result of volunteers and the work of faith-based groups.

D'Iberville looks as if it will soon become a city of apartments. D'Iberville lost nearly 50 percent of its homes from Katrina, but in the post-Katrina days now, developers are targeting the city for what will be an apartment boomtown. City planning officials and council members have approved at least four new apartment complexes and three other multifamily housing developments are in the pipeline. No new apartments have been completed or begun since Hurricane Katrina, but most of the new apartments or townhomes will be located along the city's traffic arteries near Lamey Bridge Road, Gorenflo Road and Lemoyne Boulevard.

FEMA officials tell the Mississippi Press that the agency will sell and auction FEMA trailers to Katrina survivors. FEMA says it is doing this to help residents. FEMA's sales program is beginning with applicants living in commercial trailer parks and on private sites. Eventually, the trailers will be offered for sale to the general public.

GCN continues to hear that federal Katrina relief money is still not arriving quickly enough to help local communities rebuild damaged infrastructure.

The need for volunteer help from organizations and faith-based groups is still needed. As the major debris has been removed, there remains many homeowners who need help clearing their homes from downed trees and many families are short on resources. Many people still are stressed from months of living in small trailers and there some folks who know that have to move on to other communities.

 Both single family homes and apartments are very badly needed. The actual construction underway  of new homes, or replacement homes for those lost from Katrina are very few, when compared to the total losses. Whole neighborhoods are still nothing more than empty lots and weeds.

The Coast's smaller communities also still face budget issues for next year due to the loss of property taxes from homes destroyed by Katrina. This loss impacts their ability to obtain federal grants issued to help them make repairs as many of these programs have local matching requirement of up to 10 percent of the grant, money that the communities do not have. But the state is trying to help find that money to help. While it is true that billions of dollars are to be spent on the Coast's recover, this is not to say that the work will move swiftly in all areas..

The speed of recovery varies largely as one moves to the smaller cities on the Coast, especially in Hancock County and Pass Christian in Harrison County. The Old Town area of Bay St. Louis, which represented the true heart of that city, is rapidly becoming a ghost town. Residents and businesses have yet to return and the damages there from Katrina are severe. There are some businesses that have reopened on Old Town Bay St. Louis, but they are finding it hard to get by as people are not visiting the area.

Thieves are increasingly stealing copper and other metals around the Coast as metal prices increase. Some area homeowners have seen all of their copper wiring and pipes stolen from the homes that are being rebuilt. Police say the thefts are becoming common. The scavengers are also targeting power company and phone company wire. The recent theft of Biloxi's alloy-clad Golden Fisherman was one example. Another theft of wire along the Popps Ferry Causeway several months ago severed the fiber-optic line used by CableOne, cutting TV and Internet service from Gulfport to Pascagoula.

Damages to the Coast's barrier islands were substantial from Hurricane Katrina. East Ship Island was especially devastated. The hurricane washed away sand, trees and the wildlife and experts say continued erosion could result in East Ship Island disappearing.

Coast area schools and cities are finding out the hard way that insurance coverage after Katrina is part of the latest legacy of the hurricane. Officials are reporting that insurance costs are extraordinarily high, ranging from $500,000 to $700,000 more than prior to the storm. Local municipalities are also finding insurance costs sharply higher, and for some of the smaller communities, insurance costs may be too costly.

Wages at the Coast's casinos are higher than before Hurricane Katrina. Wages for dealers and other workers at the Coast's five reopened casinos are up 30 to 40 percent. Jobs that paid $8 dollars before the storm are now paying $12 or more. Casino officials say the increase in wages and salaries is because there are more jobs to fill than people to fill them. The cost of living is estimated to be as much as 30 percent.

Questions regarding Gov. Haley Barbour's position on illegal immigrants in the state are clearer. In an article by Sid Salter published in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Salter writes on the lack of housing and laborers that are needed on the Coast. Salter quoted Barbour saying it "would be much worse if it were not for Hispanics. It's totally against Mississippi's interests if these workers were not here." The governor's statement seems to be at odds with the high level of unemployment on the Coast, which he blamed on people receiving hurricane unemployment relief money. Most of which has stopped. The governor's comments are also contrary to existing federal law.

Before Katrina, around 2,000 Hispanics lived on the Coast. Since the hurricane, it is estimated that as many as 40,000 immigrants, many illegal, may be living in the area, but nobody really knows. This 40,000 clearly are living in the remaining rental homes and apartments in the area, displacing residents that would be in those homes and apartments instead of  trailers or out of town, and if they could afford them.

Since the hurricane, rents for apartments and the available rental homes have skyrocketed beyond the affordability of many Coast residents. But it is common for immigrant workers to be housed in large groups that could pay the higher rental rates. GCN observed an attempt by one contractor to put as many as 15 to 20 Hispanic workers in a home in a Biloxi single family residential area that he had rented. When residents complained to the rental home's owner, the owner was unaware that the renter had subleased the home and evicted the workers. But with property owners receiving rents at much higher rates, many owners are likely just looking the other way as zoning and housing regulations are ignored.

Immigrant labor, many illegal immigrants, are said by area business and political leaders to be needed to rebuild the Coast from Katrina's damages. Estimates of illegal immigrants in the state range to as many as 100,000 statewide, far higher than the amount reported in the 2000 census. The exact number is almost impossible to establish. The high number of immigrants does cost the state. State Auditor Phil Bryant estimated earlier this  year that taxpayers are footing the bill for illegal immigrants in the state to the tune of $25 million.

A shortage of surgeons on the Coast has area leaders worried over a potential medical crisis developing. Many area doctors left after Katrina and there is a serious need for medical personnel at area hospitals. Trauma care surgeons are especially in short supply, which often results in emergency patients having to be shifted to hospitals in the area that are farther away. Many doctors that remain say they are seeing a huge increase in patients, many without insurance. Doctors also report that they are having trouble finding support staff and office personnel and there is a high turnover of the people they do have. All of this has many doctors struggling with high patient loads with delays in getting appointments common.

Coastal residents are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, agitation, nightmares and weight loss. Nurses in free clinics and mental-health workers who have been treating residents on the Mississippi Gulf Coast said those fears are common because people are living in cramped mobile units, and their children are free for the summer without the safety nets that school provided. Some parents are still reeling from guilt, having subjected their children to riding out the storm. Health officials throughout the Katrina Disaster Zone are noting an alarming rise of suicides. This includes residents and first responders such as police and firemen who live in the region. Katrina is also causing an increase in the divorce rate in communities even where the population has declined. Also, pharmacies are reporting more people taking anti depressants. The slow progress of recovery, rebuilding homes and lives are taking their toll on residents all through the Katrina Disaster Zone.

GCN has been reporting for some time that the loss of property tax revenue from destroyed homes would cause a severe impact on several local governments.