I picked this up off DownhillBattle. Some people were taking the totally smart step of setting up a low-power radio station at the Huston Astrodome where thousands of people who fled the Gulf Coast ended up. It's the right idea, but it's being blocked by local administrator, and apparently for the most ugly of reasons.

Wired News: Astrodome Radio Station Blocked

Support poured in from wireless nonprofits like the Prometheus Radio Project. All levels of government seemed excited by the idea, including Houston's Mayor Bill White, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and federal agencies like the FCC and FEMA.

But late Sunday evening, the troubles began. According to KAMP, Rita Obey, a local official from Harris County Public Health Services, gave them a laundry list of prerequisites. The most notable of these was the command to procure 10,000 personal, battery-powered radios -- and batteries.

"She said she was afraid of 'people fighting over the radios,'" said Liz Surley, a KAMP volunteer. "She made us promise not to play any rap music, because she thought it might incite some of the evacuees to violence."

This is fucking outrageous. After more hoop-jumping -- to the point of the volunteers bringing in their own fucking batteries to power the transmitter when they were told that the Astrodome (the fucking Astrodome) couldn't supply the power -- the this Obey woman still blocked the project. She "did not see the utility" for a radio station when the Joint Information Center (aka the people in charge; aka whitey -- ooh, did I say that out loud?) can use the stadium loudspeaker system to communicate with the people.

Just to be clear, it's apparent that the local Hefes don't see the need to provide the displaced community with its own means of communicating with itself. They believe that because they can squawk at them with the PA system, the community's needs for information have been met. I hope I'm projecting the racial bias, but I think there's a good chance I'm not. Sounds a lot like "keep that Jungle Music off the air, and for god's sake don't let them start doing their own news." I'm disgusted.

Anyway, there's a semi-happy ending here. They're set up to broadcast from the parking lot. And running Drupal. That's a happy thing. I'll send an email to see if they need any website help.