Goodbye Rita; Hello Future

Factoring in Rita's sojourn through the Caribbean and Gulf, it has been two weeks none of us will ever forget. I've written before of shared experiences. It just doesn't get more shared than this.

All of us at KPLC are exhausted but proud of the emergency coverage we've provided. We're honored that you have entrusted us with documenting (on air and online) the first draft of this chapter of Southwest Louisiana's history. So many of you have written to thank us for providing the area's only broadcast and Internet streaming video coverage of Rita's approach, passing and aftermath. Your kind feedback means the world to us. There's still lots more work ahead for all of us, and rest assured we at KPLC are well into our second wind.

There are so many people we want to thank. Our employees. All the folks at Liberty Corporation who have demonstrated with people and equipment and dollars that we've not been in this alone. Our talented visiting journalists and technicians from sister stations. And, our awesome friends at Christus-St. Patrick Hospital who opened their doors to us at the height of the storm's passage and gave us shelter, support and encouragement so we could concentrate on the job of keeping you informed.

Let's not forget the advertisers you see day in and day out on KPLC and kplctv.com, even when there is NOT a hurricane. These are the businesses which make it possible for your local TV station to respond decisively to a life-changing event such as Hurricane Rita. As they open their doors, please let them know how much you appreciate them. We certainly do.

There are many more people to whom we are indebted. Once SWLA gets fully back on its feet, we'll make sure we leave no "thanks" unturned.

Till then, there will continue to be lots of stories to be told. You can be assured you'll hear and see and read them on KPLC and on kplctv.com. Please keep the people most impacted by Rita, those whose homes and livelihoods have been lost or seriously impacted, in your thoughts and prayers.

I'd like to take a few minutes and look ahead. Not at the "getting the power on" part. I mean further down the road when we look around and realize that Hurricane Rita is no longer consuming (for most of us) most of our waking hours.

Southwest Louisiana stands at a crossroads none of us could even imagine six months ago. There are unique challenges but there are unique opportunities too. First came Katrina, which brought thousands of evacuees our way. Many of them (you) are staying here, a welcome addition to our community. We don't like the circumstances that uprooted them (you) from lives and homes, but we're thrilled to have them (you) here as our new neighbors.

Then we found ourselves in the crosshairs of a major hurricane of our own. And I do mean crosshairs. After wandering thousands of miles, Rita couldn't have done a better job nailing SWLA had she used a compass, night goggles, a micrometer and a pick-axe.

A little perspective. First, there's been so much talk of "whether to rebuild New Orleans."

Of course New Orleans should and will be rebuilt. It is and will continue to be Louisiana’s premiere city, our heart and soul. It is a historic and strategically important port city at the mouth of the U.S.' primary inland navigable river system. The levee surrounding New Orleans should be rebuilt and strengthened. At the same time, suburban sprawl and other development of Louisiana's entire fragile coastline should be severely curtailed to protect not only the environment but the population centers to the north which have been unduly exposed to tropical storm systems.

But here's the reality. The consolidation of the Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Northshore areas into one metropolitan region that you've heard so much about since Katrina has been happening for years. Katrina only accelerated the process and brought it to everyone's lips. The New Orleans area has for decades been a slacker among America's cities in terms of generating "creative class" jobs, retaining its own brightest minds, and attracting the most talented workers and entrepreneurs from elsewhere. Hitching it more formally to LSU-centric Baton Rouge can only help turbocharge New Orleans out of its lethargy and help address some of its pervasive social ills.

One can't put New Orleans or Baton Rouge or Lake Charles into proper perspective without taking a big step back. Here's some news if you haven't been paying attention: American cities no longer primarily compete against each other for new business and talented workers. The playing field is now global. And rather than individual cities competing, it is economic regions, each defined by a "super-region" surrounded by associated sub-regions.

Like it or not (Louisianans are proud and don’t necessarily want to hear this), New Orleans/Baton Rouge/Northshore comprises an economic region which is a satellite to the Houston, Texas super-region. This should not come as much of a surprise. Houston is an economic behemoth, a creative-economy powerhouse with a "GNP" larger than most nations. It is the heart of an economic region which extends south to Mexico, north halfway to Dallas, and east halfway to Atlanta, which is the super-region to our east.

If you think Lake Charles and Sulphur are somehow separate, wake up and smell the coffee. Not only are we joined at the hip, we're part of a 5-parish region. And that region is part of a larger region which includes Lafayette/Acadiana and Alexandria/CenLa. Call it the "Cajun Triangle." That's us. And we're all lucky to be just one more part of the dazzling Houston super-region. Whether we turn out to be a leader and carry our own weight or be a laggard and let the other regions do the heavy lifting for us is a decision only we can make.

So, what about Katrina and Rita? Well, they moved the checkers around a bit but the board game remains the same as it was before the storms hit us. The Houston super-region is competing with the Singapore super-region which is competing with the London super-region which is competing with the Sydney super-region. The winner(s) of this cut-throat game will thrive. The loser(s) will become economic footnotes.

Don’t feel any pressure.

The winners will be the ones who react the quickest and most decisively to natural or other threats, including hurricanes, and build their cities to best withstand those threats. In our case, that means imposing hurricane building standards for coastal cities and towns, controlled coastal development, and once and for all devising a meaningful public/private coastal insurance strategy which isn't riddled with hidden agendas and ready to topple under its own weight.

It means making education not just a priority, but THE priority…doing a better job of raising and educating our kids and preparing our workforce. Maybe you’re as sick as I am of seeing China kick sand in our educational face.

It means committing to an honest and constructive strategy of regional development with a focus on emerging creative businesses and entrepreneurship. It means weaning ourselves from our pattern of jumping from one "savior" industry which falls over the transom into our lap to the next and confusing those with meaningful economic development.

It means taking stock of our assets and liabilities and drawing a shared vision of our future; one which is at once pragmatic and audacious and in alignment with the communities and regions with which we will share the Houston super-region's future.

Katrina and Rita have blurred the lines which have traditionally been drawn between communities in South Louisiana and Southeast Texas. While that's a bit disorienting right now, let's understand that nature never closes a door without opening a window.

What has happened brings with it both the opportunity and the challenge of taking control of our own future. We can choose to see gloom and uncertainty out that window. Or we can choose to reach out to harness a fresh breeze of opportunity that's blowing just beyond our fingertips.