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Friday, September 9, 2005
Disaster Planning: Katrina's lessons
In our federal system of government, states have large responsibilities. The dividing line can be blurry between the federal, state and local duties.
So, Republican arguments about shared blame for Hurricane Katrina's losses have a reasonable basis. No matter how abysmally the federal government performed, some of the missing preparation, planning and construction work might have been carried out by states and cities.
Acknowledging that reality has obvious implications for Washington state. It's absurd for national Republicans to tut-tut about municipal and state shortcomings in Katrina while many GOP leaders here try to sink the state gasoline tax funding that could save thousands of local lives in a disastrous earthquake. Without the gas-tax increase under threat from an initiative, the state has no prospect of replacing the state Route 520 bridge across Lake Washington or the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Administration apologists overemphasize it, but they're right: Katrina carried lessons for the future. Leaders in this state should take notice, and fight the folly of Initiative 912's attempt to roll back the state gasoline tax increase. As elsewhere, our state government has responsibilities.
Tell us what's on your mind.
 | |
| Should the Alaskan Way Viaduct and state Route 520 Bridge be replaced? | |
 60.7%Yes |
22.8% Yes, but not with state gas tax dollars |
| 14.0% No |
2.6% Don't know or don't care |
| Total Votes: 272 | |
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