WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Newark There seem to be no limits to the vengeful pettiness of President Trump and his administration. Nowhere is that clearer than looking at the deliberate obstacles placed in the way of Puerto Rico’s recovery – or lack of it – from Hurricane Maria in 2017 or now the earthquake of 2020. I’m watching the …
San Juan Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico a little over two years ago on September 17, 2017, with more force as a Cat-5 storm than any in the recorded history of the island. In San Juan, the damage seemed slight and hardly noticeable. Once on the highways crisscrossing the island to Ponce, the second largest …
San Juan Travel is always an adventure, a mixture of blessings and curses, and our visit to Puerto Rico at year’s end as been all of that. We found Ponce interesting, as Puerto Rico’s second city. We stayed in an AirBnb near the water where the views were industrial, but we could hear the sounds …
Ponce We hadn’t been to Puerto Rico over the last fifteen years. Tickets were too pricey to Mexico and Columbia, so why not see how they have come through the recovery from Hurricane Maria, touch base with our friend and comrade, Willie Cosme, and check out some places on the island we hadn’t visited …
Cardiff FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration, has released an after-action report on its performance in Puerto Rico, and it met the disaster with a disastrously bad response. Responding to Hurricane Irma’s devastation of the Virgin Islands, they had emptied out their warehouse in Puerto Rico of almost all supplies as they tried to respond. …