Where's the money?

As we mark the two years since Hurricane Helene devastated WNC, we can acknowledge that there has been progress. And recently we've seen the promise of more money and more recovery.

However, our impacted communities and neighbors have been neglected for the last two years at the national and state levels by our elected leaders, who voted to provide money but then were either too incompetent or too slow to actually get the money out to the communities that needed it.

Note that NC has 56,000 homes that are still damaged or destroyed. Many counties still have mountains of debris or are waiting to be reimbursed for the recovery work they have done.

The lack of action from those who were tasked with taking action is more than disturbing. Some might call it criminal.

Michael Whatley:

• Was appointed by Trump as the "recovery czar" 

• Never contacted town, city or county officials

• Didn't fight to get us more money. Federal money promised equals about 16% of the estimated damage, compared to 78% and 73% allocated for previous hurricanes (Sandy, Katrina, Maria)

• Didn't fight to get the money out to us. Even though the federal government allocated $1.1 billion for recovery, there are hundreds of millions of dollars still not spent

• Still advocates eliminating FEMA.

Remember that Whatley was also a lobbyist for energy companies, padding his own pockets while raising costs for us.

At the state level, Tim Moffitt, Jennifer Balkcom, and Jake Johnson supported the legislature as:

• Money was allocated but dozens of projects were never started and the money that was eventually released did not reach communities fast enough

• Hundreds of millions of dollars are still unspent -- administrative delays, procedural bottlenecks and misaligned timelines are to blame.

At the same time, NC faces a recovery gap of between $30 and $45 billion. Where is that money going to come from, especially with the current GA's focus on reducing or eliminating taxes?

Let's not forget that Jennifer Balkcom:

• As state rep, was tasked with handling recovery. Her leadership should have helped mitigate the delays and bottlenecks

• Has seldom, if ever, met with those impacted by Helene

• Has hindered the release and spending of critical recovery dollars

  through her lack of leadership and policy positions (such as cutting Medicaid, which has limited access to healthcare and reduced the availability of healthcare in rural areas)

• Has taken money from Duke Energy and voted in favor of their proposals -- raising costs for us.

We need leaders who are more responsive to our needs and less concerned about making money for themselves. The Democrats running in this election have lived through these insufficient recovery efforts and are fighting to get WNC residents what they need to recover from this unmitigated disaster. See the Democratic candidate slate.

Early voting starts on Oct. 15 and election day is Nov. 3. We need to "vote in numbers too big to suppress and win by numbers too large to contest." Get out and vote!

Respectfully,

Carolann Connor ccnana0920@gmail.com