FILLMORE : FEMA Director Again Cancels Visit
A visit to Fillmore by the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was canceled Wednesday, the second time in the last week that James Lee Witt has had to change plans to survey the quake-damaged city.
Witt was scheduled to tour downtown Fillmore but instead was dispatched to Japan to help officials there in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the city of Kobe.
“We are disappointed, but I guess it’s more important that he is in Japan than here,” said Fillmore Mayor Linda Brewster.
Last week, Witt’s visit to Fillmore had to be postponed because of the heavy rains that hit Southern California.
Fillmore officials said they had planned to show Witt the improvements the city has made in revamping the city’s downtown. At least three-quarters of the commercial buildings in Fillmore were either damaged or destroyed during the Northridge earthquake.
Since then, some of those buildings have been rebuilt and others are being repaired.
This would have been Witt’s second visit to Fillmore. He toured the city last year, shortly after the Jan.17 earthquake.
Officials have not rescheduled his visit.
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