OPINION:
The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, wants to blame President Trump for the situation in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. She should look in the mirror for the official responsible.
In 1989 I was in San Francisco during and after the Loma Prieta earthquake. For almost a decade prior, under the auspices of Mayor Dianne Feinstein there were drills and practices for just such an event. The mayor, who was a native San Franciscan and is now a U.S. senator, knew all too well about the history of earthquakes, such as the one in 1906, and took steps to ensure that order was preserved on the local level. Well, Puerto Rico has had a history of hurricanes. Where were the procedures that should have been implemented for such an occurrence, an occurrence which history had shown takes place on an almost predictable basis over the past century?
Puerto Rico itself has been misgoverned over the past generation and local politicians such as the San Juan mayor and her predecessors have driven Puerto Rico into bankruptcy. Not one U.S. president, from Bill Clinton up to and including Donald Trump, has been responsible for the chaos in Puerto Rico. That blame lies at the feet of those entrusted with the governance of the island.
MIKE MCADOO
San Francisco
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