Okay, an ethical question about bus evacuation

[LTR]

I saw this in my local paper this morning:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/sep05/352639.asp

Buses taken over: Managers at two French Quarter hotels teamed up to hire 10 buses to carry their 500 guests to safer ground, but federal officials commandeered the vehicles and told the guests to go to the convention center with other evacuees, one of the managers said. Peter Ambros, general manager of Astor Hotel at Astor Crowne Plaza, said Thursday the guests had been waiting on the street for the buses for more than four hours Wednesday night.

Okay, the problem I have with this is that they were somehow able to hire buses. Fine and dandy. What I have an issue with is that federal officials stopped them from leaving town and forced them back into the city to wait at the convention center.

The way I see it is what exactly is the problem with just letting them get out of the city? Does anyone else have an issue with this act? And no, this is not a class warfare thing. This is an ethical thing. Why is our government forbidding people to leave New Orleans?

[Lars39]

1. I can't find it now, but there was an article this am about quarantine.

Hope somebody saved the thread.

[RandiFan1290]

2. Everyone wants out

They should have commandeered those busses before they were able to be hired.

[LTR]

5. Yeah, but if our own government is having a hard time...

...getting people out, then perhaps some people should take matters into their own hands.

I don't view what the two hotels did as greedy and selfish. They took matters into their own hands, and the quicker they can get out, the better.

I don't trust our government bureaocracy to handle being efficient with the buses anyway. Just get them out of there, whatever it takes. No sense sending more people to the convention center.

[Big Kahuna]

3. These cities really are prisons.

It's like "Escape from New York".

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. I imagine the guests at the hotels...

are not hours away from death. I bet they have had food and drink within the last few days. People at the convention center are on the verge of death. They need to get out first.

"Astor Hotel at Astor Crowne Plaza"
Sounds like a nice hotel.. I'm sure they had tons of snacks and bottled water on stock. And, I didn't read the article.. So, maybe they didn't.

[Fleshdancer]

6. Can it be confirmed that these busses were used to help anyone get out?

I can be convinced that taking the busses and using them to help the most in need was an ethical decision as long as it can be confirmed that the busses were indeed used for that purpose. If the busses sat somewhere and weren't used, then heads should roll.

[LTR]

7. That's the problem I have

After seeing the government response, I don't trust them to be efficient with the use of the buses. I don't care who's on the buses - if busloads of people want to leave, let them.

[applegrove]

8. In a neocon world..it is a good thing when wealthy tourists pay $25,000

to hire busses. The Bus company makes a profit so it is a good thing. It is a pleasant thing for the rich to vote on because it means they will be segregated from the poor - by virtue of the private market rescue.

If you can pay for it - you get a better life all the way around. The poor will not get good service (even in a disaster) so thus the pressure to do anything to not be poor - like talking like a repuke to get all those jobs with money or signing up for the army.