CARLTON FLETCHER: Disaster brings out community’s best, worst

And we could be heroes … just for one day.

— David Bowie

As I’ve viewed firsthand the devastation that mother nature wrought on this region Monday and Tuesday, seen destruction on a level we’ve never seen in this community in any of our lifetimes, I can’t help but think of a Bruce Springsteen song … “My City of Ruins.”

The Boss wrote that song in the aftermath of the 9-11 terror attacks, as he looked out over the gaping hole where the Twin Towers once stood, proud and tall. For those here who haven’t seen the devastation in the Rawson Circle area, along the Avenues in the central part of the city, the mass destruction of what once was the beloved “lime sink,” the Merry Acres and Cromartie Beach areas and many other neighborhoods throughout the city, prepare yourself for the same kind of reaction that Springsteen felt.

As the city Fire Chief Ron Rowe said on the day after the storm hit, “The whole landscape’s different now.”

But in any disaster area, there are heroes. Many of them are trained to accept that mantel — the firefighters, police officers, first responders and the like — but so many more of them are the ordinary people who find it in themselves to do extraordinary things.

I’m a little ashamed to say that one of the most memorable moments I’ve had as I’ve skirted around the periphery of all this destruction and chaos was coming into work Thursday morning and seeing the traffic light at 11th Avenue and Jefferson Street working. The grin on my face was Christmas morning as a 6-year-old-ish.

Even so, I couldn’t help but think of the different law enforcement officers who stood at that busy intersection for two days straight, some of them older even than I, sending waves of frustrated and impatient commuters through in a timely manner while crews worked around them to get the electricity flowing again.

And may God send his sweetest blessings to linemen and volunteers from all the surrounding cities and communities who’ve come here to help Albany in its time of greatest need. Most of us will never forget you. Sadly, though, we often forget the linemen from right here in our community, the Albany Utilities crews who are working night and day to try and — as City Manager Sharon Subadan said — “Not restore but rebuild” our electric infrastructure.

As is so often the case, we belittle these highly skilled individuals who have been trained to do the things very few of us would even want to attempt, and then when we need them, we curse them for not getting their job done faster. These guys are at the top of my hero list right now.

There are so many others … City Commissioner B.J. Fletcher and her partner in crime Makeba Wright, a special investigator in the city attorney’s office, directing snarled traffic at busy intersections and collecting and delivering food to victims and workers in all sectors of the community … church groups coming into strangers’ yards and working to remove trees and debris that in many cases had overwhelmed the property … Public Works crews putting in overtime to help haul tons and tons and tons of material to the landfill so that electric crews could get to the areas they needed to be … businesses donating resources … neighbors helping neighbors … people being their best selves.

I’ve also seen and heard from so many selfish people, admittedly some of whom built up days of mounting frustration, who’ve want to know why “my neighborhood” or “my house” or “my sector of the city” is being overlooked or ignored by the people who were working to restore power or clean debris.

I’ve watched people Albany Police Chief Michael Persley called “gawkers” drive into storm victims’ yards — invaded their by God personal space, their homes — just so they could see what all the fuss was about. (I applauded when one homeowner so violated told a carful of lookie-loos, “If you came to help, thank you. Grab some tools and join in. If you just came to get a look at other people’s disaster, get your ass out of my yard.”)

I also heard this exchange: “I don’t know what they’re doing, but I heard if you came down here and told them you were affected by the storm, they’ll give you free food stamps. So I’m getting in line.”

Yes, I’ve seen the best and worst of people in the last few days. And, as a parting shot, if you’ll forgive my shining a light right here where I work — and if you won’t, trust me, I won’t care less — I have to let you know what kind of people The Herald has going into the city’s devastation and reporting on what’s going on.

Three among our news staff have been without electricity since Monday night. Their homes suffered various levels of damage, and they’ve faced the same insurance, cleanup and replacement issues that their fellow citizens have. But except for an hour for one, who was stuck in traffic; a couple of hours for another, who was blocked in by felled trees, and the better part of the first day by another, who was also confined by devastation in his own yard, these three — Jennifer Parks, Terry Lewis and Brad McEwen — have been on the job.

Jennifer has a small child (and a husband, Jack, who sometimes qualifies). Brad has two young kids. Terry has a cat. All have relied on the kindness of family and friends just to get from day to day. And yet their love for their profession and their desire to fulfill the duties of that profession out of respect for you, this paper’s readers, has brought them to the job every day.

Few beyond their closest circles will take notice. But I’ll put those three among my heroes of the highest order.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected]. Follow @ABH_Fletcher on Twitter.