LawTalkers - View Single Post

Replaced_Texan · 09-14-2005, 03:45 PM

Ignore the fact he's a Democrat, tapped by another Democrat, and just admire State Representative Rick Noreiga:

Quote:

Noriega, who returned to Texas from Afghanistan Aug. 2, had been trying to make dinner plans with Mayor Bill White when he got a call from the mayor's office on Aug. 31.

"I'm thinking we're going to decide if it's going to be Italian food or Mexican food," Noriega said.

Instead, the mayor asked Noriega to join in on an 8 a.m. logistics meeting the next day, saying he wanted to tap into the lieutenant colonel's military experience in preparing to house evacuees.

Noriega told White he'd do whatever was needed, although he didn't realize at the time the magnitude of the effort White wanted to put together.

Noriega arrived at the convention center at 11 a.m. on Sept. 2. By 6 p.m., the George R. Brown was operational, with nearly 1,000 beds set up and a team of plumbers working to install 80 showers.

The next morning, the shelter was up and running.

"There's a lot of anxiety when you see buses roll up and no one knows what to expect," Noriega said. "This is a four-star shelter. It's been quite remarkable."

[...]

Manning the shelter is a round-the-clock duty. Noriega has only been home once in the past 12 days.

And as soon as he and his wife, Melissa, put their son to bed and were enjoying some quiet time, the phone rang. It was a conference call with the Red Cross, which lasted until after 1 a.m.

[...]

White tapped Noriega to run the facility just as he was about to return to his job at CenterPoint Energy.

The mayor asked CenterPoint's CEO if Noriega could be assigned to the evacuee effort at the convention center for 30 days.

"I still have a mission to serve," Noriega said.

Noriega breaks the mission into phases: The first was taking care of evacuees' immediate needs. Last week was focused on social services. This week he is in "demobilization," preparing to close the shelter as guests — that's what they call evacuees at the convention center — return to their homes or become Houstonians.