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September 30, 2005
Giving Props to City's Solid Waste Department & HPD
With Hurricane Rita, the Houston area escaped with a near-miss. To be sure, there were problems - total gridlock on the highways, motorists out of fuel and stranded, and a totally shut down city for 3 days. Tragically, these difficulties even proved fatal for some of our citizens.
Houston was largely inconvenienced by Rita, and it's interesting to note some of what happened:
- We did not receive mail for several days -- whatever happened to the U.S. Postal Service mantra of rain, sleet, or snow? Apparently non-hurricane doesn't apply.
- Gas stations and grocery stores were down for days. The stations ran out of gas, some of the stores lost power and their food spoiled, but pre-storm business closings occurred largely because they had no employees around - understandable.
- TSA airport screeners didn't show up for work. Last time we checked, airport security is an essential emergency service -- can you say 9/11?? Houtopia ended up down at the George R. Brown with screeners flown in from Dallas and a bunch of great Houston volunteers doing the job. Our two cents -- fire those screeners who didn't show up to work last Thursday and Friday.
On the flip side, two things stood out in the wake of Rita:
- Our garbage was picked up exactly on time. Apparently, a certain, shall we say, unbalanced Council Member read the riot act to Solid Waste Department Director Buchannan over a perceived lack of service in her district. We've heard precisely the opposite from everyone else -- garbage collection has resumed without a hitch. Kudos to Mr. Buchannan and his department.
- HPD was everywhere. Police presence was amazing throughout the storm window. Only a few incidents of looting seem to have occurred, no doubt due to strong policing throughout the crisis. Cheers to Chief Hurtt and his officers.
Posted by houtopia at September 30, 2005 02:54 PM