More than two months after hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, roughly 10 people a day are still coming to Colorado from the devastated region. That’s according to Rep. Debbie Stafford, R-Aurora, an ordained minister who works with the evacuees and is under contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to find long-term housing for them.
Many of the newcomers are arriving via Texas, where tens of thousands sought refuge immediately after the storm. About 3,000 or so evacuees came to Colorado in the early days after Katrina. Some have now left, but others have taken their place. Two of the most critical needs are cars and housing. Auto dealers are being asked to help the cause. Anyone with vacant quarters can contact Stafford at the state Capitol.
Only about 800 Katrina victims have found permanent housing in Colorado so far. Some who have been in temporary housing are being asked to leave. As the ski season opens, people who offered their mountain condos to Katrina victims now want them back, said Stafford.
With the holidays approaching, many evacuees remain unsettled. Some are just now realizing what they lost and are struggling to deal with the trauma. So now is a good time for the public to be generous with donations or volunteer activities.
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Gov. Bill Owens submits his 2006-07 fiscal year budget to the Joint Budget Committee tomorrow, nearly two weeks before he will appear before the budget writing panel to pitch his final-year agenda. The budget will reflect priorities for his eighth and last year as Colorado’s governor. Owens’ office isn’t hinting about what those priorities might be, but spokesman Dan Hopkins said the proposal will be fiscally conservative. Owens will follow the unveiling of his budget with an appearance before the JBC on Nov. 28.
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Meanwhile, legislative leaders from both parties meet at the state Capitol Tuesday to review proposed legislation from the dozen or so interim committees that met this summer. One bipartisan measure from the Transportation Legislation Review Committee would prohibit private entities from using eminent domain to seize a right of way for a private toll road. In conjunction with that measure, Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany revealed that Republican lawmakers will attempt to change the state constitution in the coming legislative session to make it more difficult for local governments to invoke eminent domain.
McElhany cites the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation, and a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that left it up to states to decide the ultimate public purpose of the Fifth Amendment. Other states are contemplating similar legislation. “Seizing somebody’s home and giving it to another private entity or developer for purposes of economic development or to generate more tax revenue is not a legitimate public purpose as contemplated by the Fifth Amendment,” said McElhany.
Stay tuned for a good fight.
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Ray Slaughter, a former state prosecutor who has headed the state’s Division of Criminal Justice for six years, is taking a job with the National Criminal Justice Association starting Jan. 1.
Slaughter, a former chief deputy attorney general, will serve as a co-director based in Colorado but also will travel to Washington frequently, said Lance Clem, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. NCJA is the national lobbying arm for states on criminal justice matters.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@ nverpost.com) is a member of The Denver Post editorial board.
