Chicago Tribune: Offer of buses fell between the cracks (re: FEMA & NOLA)

[Stephanie]

Offer of buses fell between the cracks

By Andrew Martin and Andrew Zajac
Washington Bureau
Published September 23, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, as images of devastation along the Gulf Coast and despair in New Orleans flickered across television screens, the head of one of the nation's largest bus associations repeatedly called federal disaster officials to offer help.

Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association said he spent much of the day on Wednesday, Aug. 31, trying to find someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort.

"We never talked directly to FEMA or got a call back from them," Pantuso said.

Pantuso, whose members include some of the nation's largest motor coach companies, including Greyhound and Coach USA, eventually learned that the job of extracting tens of thousands of residents from flooded New Orleans wasn't being handled by FEMA at all.

Instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, Landstar Express America, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0509230350sep23,1,1064399.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

[TroglodyteScholar]

1. Wow...just wow. n/t

[sabra]

2. but but but Nagin

:sarcasm:

[Stephanie]

4. here's what happens when you privatize government >

excerpt:

Though it was well-known that New Orleans, much of it below sea level, would flood in a major hurricane, Landstar, the Jacksonville company that held a federal contract that at the time was worth up to $100 million annually for disaster transportation, did not ask its subcontractor, Carey Limousine, to order buses until the early hours of Aug. 30, roughly 18 hours after the storm hit, according to Sally Snead, a Carey senior vice president who headed the bus roundup.

Landstar inquired about the availability of buses on Sunday, Aug. 28, and earlier Monday, but placed no orders, Snead said.

She said Landstar turned to her company for buses Sunday after learning from Carey's Internet site that it had a meetings and events division that touted its ability to move large groups of people. "They really found us on the Web site," Snead said.

[Patiod]

10. It WAS Nagin's fault

Faux "News" told me so!
And Blanco!
It was her fault!
Posse Commitatus!
And the Clintons should have repaired those levees! It was their fault!
Lalalala!
I have my fingers in my ears and I'm not listening to you! Lalalalala!

[indepat]

3. A microcosm of the neoconization of America: everything done is for profit

of contractor buddies?

[Stephanie]

5. That's their whole goal in life

Nothing should happen in this world that they can't take a slice of profit from it, including the air you breathe and the water you drink. And now, your life itself.

[damntexdem]

21. Well, sure, they want to take a profit from the air and the water; ...

but that doesn't mean that they want them to get to you clean.

[damntexdem]

22. Well, sure, they want to take a profit from the air and the water; ...

but that doesn't mean that they want them to get to you clean.

[damntexdem]

23. Well, sure, they want to take a profit from the air and the water; ...

but that doesn't mean that they want them to get to you clean.

[NashVegas]

42. Do MBA Degree Programs Need to Add Courses on Public Service?

So much for our liberal campuses.

[Ouabache]

6. A saga of Cascading Contractors while floodwaters cascade over the

Levees.

So who will FEMA and the pretzeldent hold responsible for NOT providing the services contracted for in this cascade of profiteering?

There ought to be a charge & trial bringing jailtime for SOMEONE in this.

[Dora]

7. I'm speechless. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

It's a good thing I can type.

THIS is why the privatization of public services is a BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD idea.

We must stop our silence when idiots argue that private business can do a better job than the government at providing services to the public. This is not the only example of jobs farmed out to private companies who don't do the job, but in fact pay somebody else to do it.

For Christ's sake - the delegation chain is four links long here. How much was/is FEMA going to pay Landstar for services they delegated to the limosuine company, and how much was Landstar going to pay that limosuine company? And the limo company, how much were they going to pay the travel management company? This nauseates me.

Smell smoke? That's from the fire of our tax dollars burning in the rubble of New Orleans. WE have been paying for services that the government is not providing.

It's ALWAYS about the return on investment and the delegation of responsibility with private companies. Private companies will never ever have our best interests at heart.

[Stephanie]

8. And it was a $100 million a year contract

that's a killer - literally

[Dora]

16. Jeebus, and I thought I was mad before. Shoot me now. n/t

[feminazi]

25. and for doing such a swell job

their contract has been quadrupled!!!!


"Landstar's regulatory filing also said that because of Hurricane Katrina, the maximum annual value of its government contract for disaster relief services has been increased to $400 million."

[JusticeForAll]

9. A limousine company!?!?

:wtf:

[lateo]

11. Ug...registration page...

[Stephanie]

14. try this

www.bugmenot.com

sometimes it works.

[bain_sidhe]

12. AH! So that's why FEMA told Blanco not to use HER busses

According to Kevin Drum, who got it from an article by Michelle Millhollon of the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Hours after the hurricane hit Aug. 29, the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a plan to send 500 commercial buses into New Orleans to rescue thousands of people left stranded on highways, overpasses and in shelters, hospitals and homes.

On the day of the storm, or perhaps the day after, FEMA turned down the state's suggestion to use school buses because they are not air conditioned, Blanco said Friday in an interview.

....The state had sent 68 school buses into the city on Monday. Blanco took over more buses from Louisiana school systems and sent them in on Wednesday, two days after the storm. She tapped the National Guard to drive them.

....On Wednesday, with the FEMA buses still not in sight, Blanco called the White House to talk to Bush and ended up speaking to Chief of Staff Andy Card....Card promised to get Blanco more buses.

...."I had security in the knowledge that there were 500 buses," she said. "Mike had emphasized the buses to me personally. That was not my first concern until I realized that they were not there."

Meanwhile, the state continued to send school buses into the affected areas.

One of Blanco's aides, Leonard Kleinpeter, said FEMA told him at one point that the state could stop sending school buses because the agency was going to bring in helicopters and use them instead of the commercial buses that still weren't there.

Blanco told Kleinpeter to ignore those instructions.

Can't have people (er, I mean evilpinkocommunistliberaltypes) doing "public service" stuff for free when your buddies could make a profit doing the same thing.

[sabra]

13. check out bugmenot.com

[Stephanie]

15. that's the Weds when she was calling Bush from early in the morning

and didn't get to talk to him until 2:30 that afternoon.

This also corroborates Nagin's story that he saw his goal as keeping the people safe at the Superdome for one or two days, and then his assumption was that he cavalry would arrive to get the people out of there. He had reason to think so.

[lateo]

17. A few of questions...

1. Who owns Landstar Express America?

2. What is their relationship with anyone at FEMA or the Republican party?

3. What is the name of the "travel management company" that was contracted via Landstar?

Wouldn't it be something if it was Haliburton?

[Stephanie]

24. good questions - looks like Landstar is publicly traded NASDAQ company

ttp://www.landstar.com/
_______________

http://www.landstar.com/InTheNews/Corporate/Officers/Default.html

Executive Officers
Henry Gerkens Henry H. Gerkens
President and Chief Executive Officer
Robert C. LaRose
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Michael Kneller
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Jeff L. Pundt
President, Landstar Carrier Group
Jim M. Handoush
President, Landstar Logistics, Inc.
Ronald G. Stanley
President, Landstar Express America, Inc.
Jim B. Gattoni
Vice President, Corporate Controller
Larry S. Thomas
Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Board of Directors

Jeffrey C. Crowe
Chairman of the Board - Landstar System, Inc.
Board of Directors - Silgan Holdings, Inc., U.S. Chamber of Commerce, SunTrust Banks, Inc and the Defense Advisory Board for the ESGR (Employer Support for the Guard and Reserves).

Henry H. Gerkens
President and Chief Executive Officer - Landstar System, Inc.

David G. Bannister*
Board of Directors - Allied Holdings, Inc., Nationtax Online, Inc., homebytes.com incorporated, SimonDelivers.com, Inc.

Ronald W. Drucker*
Consultant - Chairman, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. Board of Directors - B&O Railroad Museum, National Defense Transportation Association, L. D. Pankey Dental Foundation, SunTrust Bank- North Florida.

William S. Elston*
Consultant - Board of Directors - Southern Petroleum Systems, Inc.

Merritt J. Mott*
President and Chief Executive Officer - Rockford Sanitary Systems, Inc; T&M Fabricating, Inc.; Board of Directors - Rockford Sanitary Systems, Inc

Diana M. Murphy*
Managing Director - Chartwell Capital Management Company; Board of Directors - Raymedica, Inc., Enterworks, Inc., eMotion, Inc.

*Audit Committee member

________________


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[ItsThePeopleStupid]

31. so this is how it works

Form 8-K for LANDSTAR SYSTEM INC

15-Sep-2005

Entry into Material Agreement, Other Events


Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On September 12, 2005, Landstar Express America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Landstar System, Inc., hereafter collectively referred to as ("Landstar"), entered into an Amendment of Solicitation/ Modification of Contract (the "Amendment") with the United States Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA"), which amends the Solicitation, Offer and Award Agreement entered into with the United States Department of Transportation/FAA on October 1, 2002, as previously amended on January 31, 2003, January 1, 2004, and January 10, 2005 (as amended, the "Agreement").

Pursuant to the Agreement, Landstar agrees to provide emergency transportation services in support of U.S. federal government (the "Government") disaster relief efforts, up to an annual maximum amount of $100,000,000. These services include arranging, coordinating, monitoring and controlling shipments for emergency relief efforts from receipt of a request for shipment through final delivery. Due to the increased need for such services as a result of Hurricane Katrina, the parties to the Agreement entered into an Amendment to increase the total maximum value of orders for transportation services for calendar year 2005 from $100,000,000 to $400,000,000.

As of September 14, 2005, Landstar has received orders for various forms of transportation capacity under the Agreement in connection with Hurricane Katrina which are expected to result in revenue within a range of $125,000,000 to $160,000,000. Landstar management expects draws upon these orders to positively impact its revenues for the third and fourth quarters of the 2005 fiscal year and also the 2006 fiscal year.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/050915/lstr8-k.html

[barbaraann]

18. Everyone - print this article out, fold it up, and put it in your wallet.

Then you will have surefire ammunition the next time you get into an argument about privatization or what really happened in New Orleans.

[damntexdem]

19. Fell between the cracks? No, ...

FEMA is all cracks -- most of them privatized corporate welfare cracks. The offers fell onto the jagged rocks that resulted from all the cracks.

[damntexdem]

20. The offers fell between the cracks? No, ...

FEMA is all cracks -- most of them privatized corporate welfare cracks. The offers fell onto the jagged rocks that resulted from all the cracks.

[Roland99]

26. Layer after layer after layer after....

Was it like this under Witt?

[Stephanie]

27. NO

of course not

[Roland99]

28. Are there articles detailing how these changes were to put into place?

[Stephanie]

29. just searched DU

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0509.franklin.html

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/090705/witt.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1750018

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1749254

[Roland99]

30. *smooch*

[progressivebydesign]

32. Offer of buses fell between the cracks (GOP donors get contracts -Katrina)

<<Pantuso, whose members include some of the nation's largest motor coach companies, including Greyhound and Coach USA, eventually learned that the job of extracting tens of thousands of residents from flooded New Orleans wasn't being handled by FEMA at all.

Instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, Landstar Express America, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company.>>


http://news.yahoo.com/s/chitribts/20050923/ts_chicagotrib/offerofbusesfellbetweenthecracks

Please read that story. People DIED waiting for buses!! And who got the contracts??? While it may seem fairly innocent, I did research on who DID get the contracts. In light of how many people died waiting for transportation out of N.O., this is relevant as it relates to what is happening in Texas at this moment. Here are a few links to the companies that FEMA did PAY to provide transportation: http://www.mediaisland.org/print.php?sid=111 (look for Landstar Express) Now, the company that Landstar paid: http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=369&sid=200 That is Transportation Management Services, which made a cool 2.4 million on a GOP Convention in Philadelphia, apparently.

People DIED while the GOP continued to enrich their donors. DOnated buses! They passed on donated buses. They should be thrown in jail, the whole lot of them!

[LisaM]

33. Thanks for posting this

I had heard about the bus outsourcing early on, then of course the story vanished.

[donheld]

34. To me it looks like FEMA shirked it's responsiblity

It shouldn't care what the bus companies politics are. It needed to get the people out reguardless of politics. This to me proves that politics to these idiots is more important than people.

[Pirate Smile]

35. God damn them!

"Two days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, as images of devastation along the Gulf Coast and despair in New Orleans flickered across television screens, the head of one of the nation's largest bus associations repeatedly called federal disaster officials to offer help.

ADVERTISEMENT

Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association said he spent much of the day on Wednesday, Aug. 31, trying to find someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who could tell him how many buses were needed for an evacuation, where they should be sent and who was overseeing the effort.

"We never talked directly to FEMA or got a call back from them," Pantuso said.

Pantuso, whose members include some of the nation's largest motor coach companies, including Greyhound and Coach USA, eventually learned that the job of extracting tens of thousands of residents from flooded New Orleans wasn't being handled by FEMA at all.

Instead the agency had farmed the work out to a trucking logistics firm, Landstar Express America, which in turn hired a limousine company, which in turn engaged a travel management company."

[TahitiNut]

36. THREE levels of subcontracting, with pork and profits at each level ...

... SUBTRACTED from paying the people who actually DO THE WORK.

[jody]

39. Each level took 10-20% leaving nothing but minimum wage for those

who do the work. :puke:

[jody]

37. One fundamental principal overlooked, "you can contract out authority BUT

you cannot contract out responsibility!"

Bush and FEMA are responsible and congress must hold Bush accountable for that and other failures. That's just part of the job with being Commander in Chief, the title that Bush in a childish tirade claimed for himself alone.

[Trillo]

38. How to make money without doing anything(?).

1. Get a contract from the government.
2. Subcontract the actual work to another company.
3. Pay that subcontractor less than your contract.
4. Subcontractor starts over at item 2.
...
Everybody got their cut, and no one had to do anything, except the last contractor.

Is the above how our business system now works?

[indepat]

40. Rewarding patrons would seem a much higher priority with this junta

than an orderly evacuation saving lives.

[sandnsea]

41. US Chamber of Commerce

Here's the fuck buddy, right here...

"Landstar Express is a subsidiary of Landstar System, a $2 billion company whose board chairman, Jeff Crowe, also was chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the nation's premier business lobbies, from June 2003 until May 2004."

I've been blogging these Corporatization of Katrina stories for quite some time, I'll be sure and add this bus fiasco. There isn't anything, and I mean not anything, that hasn't been PR or profiteering.

I appreciate the Greyhound guy offering his services, but again, why do we have to rely 100% on either corporate PR or multi-million dollar profiteering contracts to get anything done in this country.

[democracy1st]

43. Nice

Just more info for my katrina file.

[progressivebydesign]

44. What would happen if journalists actually did the same work I did?

I mean, I'm just a Jane Schmoe out there.. and I came up with this excruciatingly damning bit of info to enhance the bus offer story. Can you imagine if journalists out there actually worked a bit harder...