Loves the idea of kids going to see rock 'n' roll icons and seeing the Impressionists, maybe for the first time. We've done such a slick job of eliminating the arts from the schools that Allen's effort is especially important.

California has a very commendable record of dealing with large natural disasters.

Is Main Street exclusively town, or is the county involved too?

He has done what you kind of expect an acting director to do, which is basically to mind the store. But he brings a lot of the qualifications you need for this job, and in the six months he has been acting as director, he certainly learned the immediate and considerable challenges FEMA is facing.

We're honored to be the architects for these projects. Working with staff and school officials, we've tried to design a building that's functional and easy to maintain. When this is done, we want you all to look forward to coming to school and going to the classrooms we build.

Comparisons of different artists are a good way to get people to see the artists in a new way. It's a jolt. There's a lot of curiosity about these objects (from Allen's collection). Not many people have seen them.

We know the losses are substantial. In 1995, they were about $1.8 billion. That was in all 58 California counties. We have 41 counties part of this (disaster) declaration. We know the damage in some of these areas is even more severe than it was in 1995.

It's going to cause major damage, and there's very little that can be done in the short term to reduce that level of damage.

Small towns around us are alive and doing well, ... Franklin is slower. People just happen to find us. The first thing we need to do is get the people here.