Answers to some questions

Are there lots of planners down there? Are people kind and helpful? Is there an esprit de corps? What does the place really look (smell, sound) like, anyway?

There is not much of a esprit de corps because I we never really see each other. Only the rule-bound engineers sit in the reading room and they are not particularly passionate about their mission. How excited can one be about laying out new cement?I really don't see the others enough to have bonded much.

There have been reports about hostility to FEMA workers, but I have not felt any. I was at a museum the other day and the attendant asked my what I was doing down here. After I explained she asked me who I was with and I said, FEMA pays my salary; the state set the guidelines for for my work; on a day to day basis I will interact with citizens and local government officials the most; and I was hired by a private company. Then she said, "Put your money away." (I had placed a $20 on the table. For a moment I was not sure if she was kicking me out of the museum or letting me in for free. She smiled warmly so I decided it was the latter.)

On the surface people are very friendly. I think under the warmth, there will be an underlying mistrust of foreigners, as is natural working in small isolated areas. In most of the counties, there is not a culture that values participation. We will see how that plays out with government officials and other stakeholders.

The city looks and smells like a small city. It is bursting at the seams from the extra population, but it was not hit hard by the hurricane. Out in the rural areas near the city, the only evidence of upheaval is some large downed tree limbs.

Highly selective my ass

I just found out that the person who interviewed me and offered me the job has a job title of "administrative assistant". God help Mississippi.

Daily life

Life in Biloxi is pretty sane. The population has swollen with people that are part of the recovery effort. Roads and restaurants are always crowded.

I am in a relatively small unit. There are maybe 50 Long Term Recovery Staff people and these are the folks I see most often. Maybe half or fewer of those are planners.

I am not sure how many more planners there are in other parts of recovery. All the units (e.g. assistance for individuals, assistance for municipalities, debris removal) operate independently. When I am at federal headquarters (the joint field office) I see these units either working or going for training, but I don't interact with them so I can not comment how they work.

One of the few units I have interacted with are the trainers (diversity, Equal Opportunity Office, ethics, orientation, sexual harassment) who seem professional and organized. Some are retired and come back when needed and others are still active.

The other unit I have interacted with is the TAC coordinators (sorry I don't know what the acronym means). They are responsible for processing all the paperwork and HR activities. Most of them are working for a consultant as well and process the multiple forms I need to turn in every week.

ABCs

Someone today said a sentence that went something like,
"The DRTF needs a A/N if PA has a ODC"

There are lots of acronyms here and to keep them straight we were given a 154 page booklet.

It covers everything from AAA (Agriculture Adjustment Administration or American Automobile Association) to ZWA (Zonal Wind Anomaly).

Extra points for anyone the first person who can describe what a MEL looks like or
or find ANZUS on a map. Answers coming next week.

Confusion

The confusion level is not as bad as I thought it would be. The main federal headquarters, the Joint Field Office, is in an old department store that had been closed for five years. They threw up a gate around the perimeter; hired BlackWater Security to guard the place, all called it headquarters.

Then again, there is someone who has been in the office for almost a week and just figured out that he was not supposed to be there. He was supposed to be helping at some othe office. Oops!

The Plan, The Plan!

While returning to the Long Term Recovery Office, I ran in to an engineer who said he was going to a training the next morning on orientation to the JFO and government ethics. Having nothing better to do and fascinated by government ethics I attended the training.

While the morning was the standard routine, it turns out that in the afternoon was an essential orientation for all Long Term Recovery personnel. They described the overall process that will happen.

We will be writing Long Term Recovery Plans in support of local and state recovery efforts (and Federal money). The Governor has identified the areas that the plan will cover: housing, infrastructure, schools and education, human services, environment etc. Each county has been assessed on two levels, the level of damage from the hurricanes and the level of local capacity to lead the recovery. Counties either receive no assistance, limited assistance targeted to specific areas ( e.g. housing), or the complete package.

We will be base in teams ranging from two to twenty people. Each county will have a team lead and various planners, engineers, architects and others. We are shooting to have a preliminary report in a little over a month. The report will cover a vision and guiding principals for recovery.

Cleared for Purgatory

Cleared for Purgatory

I managed to get in touch with the security person and returned to Joint Field Office (JFO) to start the security clearing process. It turns out I did not need the 10 page form I was told to fill out. The form, now in the recycling bin, asked for the address of all the places I have lived for the past 7 years, including the names and phone numbers of my roommates to verify the information. Same for employers, education and countries visited. After filling out the requisite (shorter) paperwork, I went to another building, surrounded by abandoned commercial buildings. The only operating businesses were a check cashing joint and the FBI fingerprinting office.

The time spent waiting for security clearance is called purgatory. You are not allowed in any of the buildings except for the Reading Room. Reading is a bit euphemistic, as there is only one copy of one booklet in the reading room. What’s worse, we all received copies of the same booklet when we first got there. I am in purgatory right now.

Catch 22

I landed in Biloxi today and made my way to the EAP’s office. I was met by a burly guard that told me, in no uncertain terms, that I could not be on the premises until I checked in with the feds and got my security clearance. I was told to report to the federal offices and given the address and phone number of the switch board.

When I arrived at the federal office building, I was told by a less burly but equally insistent security guard that I could not be on the premises unless I was escorted by someone. “Who did I come to see?” he wanted to know. I of course did not know. I was told to go back to the first building.

Hmm, a dilemma.

At this point, I called my supervisor’s number. Disconnected!
I then called the second supervisor and asked to speak with Leda, my contact. Evidently, it was not Leda’s number.

The person kept asking me, are you a contractor. I did not know what to say. I kept trying to explain that I was working for EAP and they were working on a contract. I was told to call EAP. (I of course thought I was calling EAP!) Eventually, the person gave me the name of someone at the government offices.

I called the switchboard and asked for my contact and was placed into voicemail. I left a message and called the switchboard back and asked if there was anyone else I could talk to. They also kept asking if I was a contractor. I explained and they told me to call EAP. Eventually, they agreed to transfer me to someone. The phone rang, and rang and rang.

This ends the first dispatch from Biloxi. I am going to my hotel room and trying again tomorrow.

I just wonder how many others there are like me going back and forth the five miles between the government office and EAP’s office, tying to get in somewhere.

homeland security

I am told that I must show up with my background and security forms filled out. I am also told I will arrive and not be allowed to enter the work area for 3 or 4 or 5 days while they run my finger prints. While this seems excessive for planning and preservation work, it is in reality a very good idea. It has not received much media attention, but terrorists and communists have been infiltrating the American Planning Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. What could they do, you ask? Compare these scenarios.

Scenario One:
Good Planner - Based on our analysis of opportunities and threats, our sticky note exercise and voting with multicolored dots, I think you should probably not put the school or other important buildings below sea level.
Citizen Stakeholder - While that sounds logical, we are going to ignore you and put the school on the below sea level lot because the mayor's brother owns the land and wants to sell it to the government at a high markup. Thanks for providing such good food at the meetings.

Scenario Two:
Evil Planner - The nuclear power plant should be built right by the weakest levee.
Citizen Stakeholder - Are you sure?
Evil Planner - Yes, they taught me about this in Planning school. Having a nuclear power plant will create electron magnetic fields that will hold the levee in place.
Citizen Planner - OK, sounds good to me.

Scenario Three
Good Preservationist: Here is my report. I have spent weeks researching this building. It has much historic value and has a high degree of integrity. We should try not to destroy it when we rebuild.
Citizen Stakeholder: Thanks for telling me that. I will probably ignore your advice, but it was nice of you to put so many pretty pictures in your report.

Scenario Four:
Evil preservationist: This cinder block monstrosity must be preserved at all costs.
Citizen Stakeholder: This is an ugly gas station. It is already destroyed by the hurricanes.
Evil Preservationist: It does not matter if it is ugly, it was built 50 years ago and is a great example of concrete masonry construction and is associated with an early pioneer of automobile fuel dispensing. It is eligible for the local, state and national register under criterion B and D. It must be saved.
Citizen Stakeholder: OK, I guess we will have to reroute the highway and destroy the remaining wetlands in the state.

Eve of Departure

I head out tomorrow morning at 8am. I still have not heard back from my bosses, but I did get a confirmation from the travel agency.

I talked to a friend, David, that is in the Gulf Coast and he knows my boss and ensures me that he exists. That is good.

David explained that writing a Long Term Recovery Plan is a service that FEMA provides to municipalities that volunteer to participate. The process is roughly:
1) Gather stakeholders
2) Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
3) Identify a vision for the community
4) Identify capital projects to pursue using disaster recovery money.

Perhaps I should send this description to the people who hired me.

More silence

After I was hired, I was given the name of two people in Biloxi who I was supposed to find after my plane landed. Are they my supervisors? Anyway, I wanted advice about what to bring, finding housing and more details about what I would be doing, so I called the first person. I left her a message three days ago and have not recieved a call back. I called the second person today and her phone just rings and rings.

Also, I have been waiting for a confirmation of my flight. The company approved travel agent was supposed to send me an email three days ago. No word. I called again this morning and was told someone would get back to me today. Nothing.

Departure beckons

I received my assignment today. I will be based in Biloxi. I will be writing long term recovery plans. When I asked what was involved in such plan, I was told to type it in to Google.

Also, I arranged to have a few more days before I leave.

I talked with the travel agency. They are arranging a flight and rental car and lodging. I feel like royalty. Perhaps there are people who pay my taxes for me too.

A number of people have asked me about my expectations. Overall, I am excited to go. In part because I can use the money, but also because I want to help with the recovery. On top of that, I am a sucker for an adventure - I will do anything that makes a good story. If nothing else, I am guaranteed that.

I expect it to be chaotic and frustrating. Lots of disorder and stress and small progress. I am trying to keep my expectations low.

I fear for the quality of my co-workers. I mean, it may be great, who knows. The potential problem is that there are not too many people that can take off for three months at a moment's notice - at least aside from new graduates (greenies), incompetents (inkies) or the twice blessed (double troubles).

We shall see.

Silence and then noise

A number of days passed and I heard nothing. I called my contact and asked him what was happening. He said that if I did not hear anything by the end of the week he assumed the opportunity passed me by.

I did not hear anything that week, but on Thursday of the following week I received a call. It was John from the consulting firm.

"We have a position for a community planner. Are you interested?"

"What would I be doing?"

This is an exact quote..."You know, like, whatever community planners do."

"OK, I am interested."

"Could I start Monday?"

"No, how about two weeks. I have to get things ready before I can go."

"We need someone really soon. How about Friday?"

We had a deal.

I was transferred to a supervisor. He welcomed me to the firm and told me I would receive my assignment in two weeks, mentioning Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida as possibilities. I told him I was supposed to board a plane in one week. Well, in that case I would receive my assignment sooner.

The next day John called back to tell me had sent me an email with all the details. I was starting on Monday, right?

"Friday."

"Right, Friday."

And so I was hired.

The correct call

Two days after they told me not to expect anything soon and one day after they called to see if I wanted to be an engineer, they called to ask about my experience as a city planner.

That, I told them, I could do.

We discussed what towns I had worked in and they said they would enter me into the computer.

The urgent call

The next day around 1:30 I received a cell phone message, a land line message, an email message and a text message on my phone. Call us! EAP had a position and I needed to call them by 3:00 pm.

I called.

They wanted to know about my experience handling hazardous material. The best I could come up with was cleaning out the fridge. It was not good enough. Then the staff person wanted to know about my engineering skills.

I am a city planner, at least this is what my resume says. I do city planning work. I schedule meetings and look at census data and tell local governments where they should allow new houses. I am not an engineer. My last experience with engineering was in high school when I had to build a toothpick bridge, which collapsed on its weigh to the testing station.

I told them I did not know engineering.

OK. Thanks. Goodbye.

False starts

As my other work projects wrapped up, I called them to check where things were at.
I was told they had just called up several preservationist. They were ahead of me in the list in the computer because they had applied before me. They did not have any other openings in the system. I hung up.

The next day I called the same person back. "Was I the next person in the system or were there still others in front of me?" I was told life was not so simple, there was not a list, the computer wieghts all applications based on skills.

OK, well how often are they calling up planners and preservationists?
It changes all the time?
Weekly, monthly?
Can't say.
What is the range?
You can't say.
In the past couple of months, how often have they called people up?
Not meaningful.

Then, in a hushed tone he told me that the scuttlebut around the office was that there would not be openings soon.

Thanks. Goodbye.