or the Sad State of the Unheeded Planner.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL, October 16, 2018 — It is as though the Archangel St. Michael looms over the Florida Panhandle, gazing upon mile after mile of devastation, while the lead article by columnist John Romano in the Saturday Tampa Bay Times plaintively asks:
“Why is Florida risking future hurricane misery?”
He then goes forth to blame the people of Florida:
“When it comes to storms, we’ve got the best experience misery can buy. We’ve been hit by major hurricanes in the Southeast (Andrew) and the Southwest (Charley). We’ve had hurricanes slowly creep south to north (Irma) and east to west (Jeanne). We’ve taken repeated hits (Opal, Dennis and Michael) in the panhandle every 10 years or so.
“So let me ask you this: Why are we so slow to learn? … The problem is our leaders get lax. We allow them to be forgetful.”
