Why didn't the New Orleans city government have a plan?

[Wcross]

Why didn't they have a plan in place for a large hurricane? The city is below sea level, they are on the gulf coast, the odds are that one day your luck is going to run out.
They could have brought in porta-potties for the people at the super dome before the storm. They could have brought in water and food. They could have evacuated people using city buses and school buses.
My question is simple, why didn't the city government have a plan and use it for situation that they knew would happen sooner or later?

[The Traveler]

1. They did

It just didn't work very well. Insufficient resources. Too much damage to surrounding areas. Insufficient federal response.

[bribri16]

92. The plan for evacuation worked well EXCEPT no provision for ones who

didn't have a way out. The evacuation was orderly and most thought that they had dodged a bullet. Even the people who CHOSE not to leave thought that they had made it through. Then the levee broke. From then on it was a national disaster for which our government was totally unprepared and incompetent to handle and mainly non-caring.

[silibertad]

2. no kidding

That pic of all the school buses on Drudge says WAY too much.

[Spazito]

10. LOL, yes, I am sure those who LOVE Drudge would be commenting

favorably and spreading the right-wing crap that it was the Mayor's fault, good luck on that.

[thedailyshow]

12. yeah, like 150 buses in that pic is enough

Say there's about forty to sixty seats on each bus, that would only carry out a total of anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000 New Orleans residents. That's not enough, especially in that traffic. What would be the logistics for that one?

[silibertad]

16. granted

But 6-8K fewer people suffering is better than zero. That's all I'm saying.

[nyhuskyfan]

25. Again, where are they bringing them?

The city government can only control things within its boundaries.

If the Federal government (FEMA) had a plan in place to evacuate poor citizens out and bring them to Houston (for example), then those busses would have come in very handy. But FEMA only did anything afterwards -- when it was too late.

[silibertad]

36. anywhere but there n/t

[nyhuskyfan]

49. This was posed as a city government issue...

You want them to load 150 busses full of people with no place to bring them and drive around New Orleans city limits until a tree falls on them or the bus tips over in the wind.

If there were safe shelters to bring people to all around Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, etc. then it would be a great plan. But the plan has to be FEDERAL since it involves taking people out of city limits.

[VolcanoJen]

99. And TV cameras showed the world the starving, thirsty, suffering...

... victims, hour upon hour, while the media raged and people chanted for help and waved signs and begged.

With a city underwater, it was time for the Feds to bust out the big guns. The helicopters, the planes, the boats, the military, the food drops.

They did nothing. Bush reluctantly returned from vacation and still nothing happened. In the meantime, his FEMA and Homeland Security Chiefs acted like "Baghdad Bob" and insisted to the media and the world that people in NOLA had access to food, shelter and water. The world watched in shock as they showed their incompetence and disconnect.

But if you want to be upset about some buses, I suppose that's your right as an American.

[EFerrari]

23. And that's assuming those vehicles would START.

Drudge? Gimme a break.

[Igel]

72. You're saying NOLA only

busses 12-16k students per day? That strikes me as unlikely.

What about public transportation buses?

[nyhuskyfan]

19. Where is the city gov't supposed to take people in busses?

A Category 5 Hurricane was bearing down on the entire area. The busses were useless, unless they were going to take people somewhere safe -- which was somewhere not in New Orleans (and out of the jurisdiction of the city gov't).

This type of undertaking belongs on the federal level.

[LisaM]

32. Plus, who is supposed to drive all the buses?

Presumably the bus drivers had all been evacuated too. School bus drivers are not, to the best of my knowledge, emergency responders. They are hired by the school district.

[The Straight Story]

90. Where was the federal/state goverment supposed to take them (nt)

[txindy]

55. Yeah, it says that school bus drivers are not emergency responders

That's why the Guard responds to disasters and, believe it or not, prepares for them beforehand. Now, where are they, again? Oooooh, yeah, they're in Junior's sandbox of lies and greed, getting blown up. The trucks to evacuate American citizens from danger zones are also with them. Getting blown up. Glad we got that cleared up. :eyes:

Golly, it's too bad FEMA was taken over by HS and sucked all of the resources, personnel, and funds from the states that were used to help in disasters. More BIG GUMMINT. From the party that represents the bloated underbelly of corporate and gov't greed - the republicans.

Type fast. :popcorn:

[moondust]

86. Did Gump Bush or FEMA or Chertoff say anything about buses?

If you want to point at those buses and blame the mayor then you must also blame the FED as well. The FED has buses. The FED has C-130 aircraft. The FED has tons and tons of stuff with which to transport people. And they knew as much or more about what was coming as the mayor did. The FED has a hell of a lot more at their disposal than the mayor and I didn't hear a f'ing word out of them.

[stillcool]

3. Because as in Florida...

disaster relief and national emergency's are FUNDED and MANAGED by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT....but by all means blame the black mayor

[silibertad]

8. why does color matter? n/t

[EFerrari]

34. Have you been WATCHING the news this week? n/t

[Name removed]

50. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[alcibiades_mystery]

80. You're joking, right?

You're still gonna pull that "color doesn't matter" shit? That's so PRE-KATRINA. Get with the times, Mistah Bossman.

[elehhhhna]

11. is that so? link if possible?

i am not clear on the chain of responsibility

[stillcool]

56. my apologies for hot fingers....

no time to be flying off...and that's exactly what I did... as I back-peddle I apologize

The Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (LHLS & EP); formally the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness (LOEP), was created by the Civil Act of 1950 and is under the Louisiana Military Department. In 1976 LHLS & EP via the Louisiana government reorganization, was moved to the Department of Public Safety (DPS). In 1990 LHLS & EP was transferred again to the Military Department. In 2003 the Agency name was changed to the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, reflecting the additional responsibilities to the State and her citizens.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_emergency#The_United_States

[elehhhhna]

62. thank you.

[Wcross]

37. It wasn't a disaster until it hit.

I would hope that any city would have a master plan, somewhere in a glass case that says- "In case of (likely disaster scenerio inserted here) break glass". I would imagine San Fransisco would have a plan for dealing with a major earthquake. I imagine Buffalo, New York would have a plan in place for a major snow storm.

What does the mayor's race have to do with the question? I asked a simple question. Why didn't the city have a plan? Why haven't they had a plan in place for decades on how to deal with a hurricane?
I

[nyhuskyfan]

65. The Hurricane plan was fine...

The plan for the Hurricane on a local level was to order a mandatory evacuation of the city and to open the Superdome as an emergency shelter. Done and done. The Hurricane itself wasn't the problem.

The problem was the aftermath. The Federal government was not there with relief and emergency management. If only they had a Federal Emergency Management Agency...

[Lefty48197]

89. That's a bunch of crap.

We all knew the hurricane had reached a category five, and we all knew it was going to strike somewhere along the Gulf Coast, from Houston to Pensacola. We can't expect all of those cities to start evacuating their citizens. That would affect several million people needlessly. It is clearly a federal issue to help evacuate people when they begin to pinpoint the strom's landfall. That's when it becomes FEMA's job to get the workers and the transportation vehicles in place to help evacuate.

[Spazito]

4. They had a plan, they also had assurances from FEMA that

everything was in place to deal with the plan immediately after the hurricane passed. The funding for the levees to be strengthened, which was part of the plan, was cut by bush and congress. You CANNOT force people from their homes, there were buses going street to street to pick up people before the hurricane hit.

I just love how the right wing meme of 'it is all the Mayor's fault' keeps popping up at DU, on AAR, on all the right wing spewing talk shows, must be just coincidence, huh.

[Wcross]

57. Regardless of the mayors racial identity- where was the plan?

Why didn't they anticipate needing porta-potties? Why didn't they stock some back-up supplies?

[nyhuskyfan]

67. The Superdome has bathrooms

Portapotties would have just created more places to have human waste indoors. If they put them outside the Superdome, I think the Hurricane might have kinda, sorta blown them away.

[Spazito]

82. Where in my post did I mention the Mayor's race????

Please point that out for me. And as to the answers to your other questions, look at a post further down.

[Tyranny_R_US]

5. Didnt FEMA have a plan or what about the Army corp of engineers?

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. Whatever plans they had

probably did not take into account 3000 National Guard units and their equipment being in Iraq.

Having the buses is not enough. Unless FEMA has set up a place to take the evacuees to.

[nyhuskyfan]

7. Evacuate them where?

The city government is responsible for the city itself. All of New Orleans was in the path of a hurricane so there was zero percent of their jurisdiction that was safe to evacuate people to. They had plenty of busses -- but nowhere to take people.

The process of evacuating a city the size of New Orleans is a massive undertaking -- which is why organizations like FEMA and DHS exist.

Also, Clinton created Project Impact -- a division of FEMA that specialized in disaster preparation and just these very things you mention. Bush cut it in March of 2001 -- didn't waste any time.

[12345]

9. I agree. While I believe that the federal government's response

sucks (for lack of a better term), my husband and I said before the hurricane hit, "Why are they sending them to the Superdome." Seemed like a lousy plan if a Category 5 hurricane was forcast to hit New Orleans.

[kikiek]

26. Well where do you put people that can't leave? Couldn't get out of town.

At least that was above sea level. The federal govt should have helped with a planned evacuation of the population. They knew there would be a huge pct of people who wouldn't get out on their own and have no where to go. They didn't care.

[12345]

42. I heard that they took people on buses to the Superdome.

Seems like, if they're on buses, you could take them anywhere but New Orleans. We might not have all of the info.

I know that many people didn't have the resources to leave, and I don't fault them. I do feel that someone should have been responsible for getting them out of the city. I just don't know who.

[kikiek]

52. The highways were jammed couldn't get out of town anyways. No where

to bring them either. Bottom line is we are in big trouble if any of use need help like that. Your job, life and house are wiped out in a second. If you rent you don't have anywhere to go I guess.

[Wcross]

63. Thats another issue- why not both directions?

I was watching the evacuation and they were not using both sides of the interstate- it looked like it was grid-locked.

[kikiek]

74. They did but not soon enough.

[nyhuskyfan]

33. Becauses houses would collapse...

The Superdome was likely to remain standing -- had no windows that could be blown out -- and at least prevent people from being crushed to death.

[12345]

46. But why not get them out of the "bowl".

All I heard about before the hurricane was the potential for New Orleans to flood. Why not just get them out?

[nyhuskyfan]

61. They have to go somewhere

The flood was the second part of the problem. The first was the Hurricane itself. If you have people or busses wandering around randomly in a Category 5 Hurricane or outdoors in a Lousiana campground, they are likely to be killed.

Plans to evacuate an entire major city belong at the federal level since it requires many more resources than the local government can handle. Including other places to bring them. That's why FEMA is there.

[Wcross]

66. But they put them in there without a plan.

Why didn't they put in porta-potties and maybe some food and water? Why didn't they have the infrastructure to support 25 thousand people for more than a week?

[Spazito]

69. At the time, they were expect to be there TWO days

because 1: the levee was still standing and 2: FEMA had promised support and aid would be there IMMEDIATELY after the hurricane passed.

[LisaM]

13. The states and cities are starved for funding

everyone knows it; they've been scrambling for years. They have been systematically starved by the Bush administration.

[Erika]

28. tax cuts for the rich at the price of public safety n/t

[MADem]

14. Had ACOE had the funding to secure those levees to Cat 5

They sure as hell would not have NEEDED one. There'd be the usual hurricane bullshit and angst and the odd death, but the city would have survived.

The failure to fund the levee hardening to withstand a CAT 5 is the issue, and has been for years...and it was pointed out in glaring, clear detail in a 2001 memo from FEMA.

What can you do when the shit hits the fan? They had ten pounds worth of planning and were expected to fit it into a five pound paper bag.

The bag broke.

[Igel]

77. Yes, but nobody actually had a plan for upgrading them.

They were supposed to start the study evaluating the need for upgrading the levees, how to go about doing it, and identifying all the various problems, this year or last, and conclude the study in a couple of years.

Well, now we know what many of the problems are. We don't have to wait until 2008.

[SofaKingLiberal]

15. Suppose there was a terrorist attack?

Why didn't the Federal Government have a plan?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

31. Yes. What if a terrorist blew up the levee? This is the response from

Bush? Happy with it? Good enough?

[McCamy Taylor]

17. They did. It is called "Evacuation. Order."

However, New Orleans has a lot of poverty, and not everyone had the resources to evacuate. Cant you just imagine the GOP Congress's response were the City of New Orleans to come forward with its hand out and say "PLease we need a couple of billion dollars for an emergency evacuation plan for our poor citizens in case a hurricaine strikes'?

[Stinky The Clown]

18. This was not just a 'city' issue ...... it was a NATIONAL issue

Can you name one major city anywhere in the country that could respond adequately to having ****100%**** of its citizens without electricity, water, food, shelter, and the basics of human life? One?

This is one of the things the National Guard is for.

This is one of the things FEMA is for.

This is one of the things the Congress is for.

This is one fo the things the PRESIDENT is for.

Now think about that .... the city .... the National Guard ..... FEMA .... Congress ...... the President.

Of that list, only the city even tried.

[librechik]

30. exactly--the same thing would happen in any large city

all the talk about Homeland Security is just BS, not only were existing successful agencies undercut by it's creation, Bushies made sure it barely had enough money to run itself, let alone branches across the country.

This bunch is here, apparently, to destroy America, to as Norquist says, cut us smaller and smaller until he can drown us in the bathtub. And they are succeeding very well at their goal, so far!

[kikiek]

20. What city could respond to that level of a disaster without fed help?

Why didn't FEMA respond in advance with evacuation help.Help get buses and shelters set up. How would the state be able to do that in short notice for 1/2 a million people? Hell the buses quit running on Sat as did the trains. How were people going to get out? The plan wasn't for the city or state to be on its own.

[EFerrari]

21. They had a plan. What they didn't have was a standing army,

a navy or an air force.

MendacityCentral is going to try to blame the locals, you don't have to be Kreskin to know that.

F*ck FEMA and f8ck Bush.

[achtung_circus]

22. It's called FEMA

because responding to major disasters is beyond the resources of local or often state governments.

It's FEDERAL.

[Erika]

24. The FEMA director assured a federal plan was in place

He did so prior to Katrina hitting. The breaking of levees on navigable waters is a federal, not a state, jurisdiction. The feds held the purse strings, not the state. The feds were responsible, not the state.

Bush cut federal funding for the levees.

I am astonished by the attempt to blame the city and state when the feds held the jurisdiction.

[craigolemiss]

27. They have a plan ---and about item # 5 is

Call FEMA---

but when you call and get voice mail at FEMA--then what--when no one else in Washington or Crawford will take your calls ---when you get a secretary that says leave a name and # and someone will get back to you--then what--??????

[DistressedAmerican]

29. Talking Points! Talking Points! When Will The Right Stop Spewing?

Answer me that?

[Erika]

35. They know Bush blew it and are trying to cover his ass

They can't. This was a FEDERAL disaster.

[DoYouEverWonder]

38. Because National Emergencies are the responsibility of Homeland Security

The mayor could only do so much and he did his fucking best.

Go to hell.

[Erika]

41. Exactly. Navigable waters come under federal jurisdiction

FEMA assured the mayor and governor the feds had it all covered.

[DoYouEverWonder]

44. Then they kept telling them help was coming

and then nothing came.

[Erika]

48. day after day. It came on the 5th day n/t

[DoYouEverWonder]

59. Even then it was just enough for a good photo op

to coincide with Bush's arrival.

[slackmaster]

98. The hurricane damage is a regional emergency

Not a national one.

[wakeme2008]

39. they did and they moved ppl up into

the higher floors of building and made it thru the cane,,, it wasn't until later that the levees broke and all their plans started coming apart

[AnnInLa]

40. Well, let's see

What are the logistics for evacuating whole hospitals with all of their life-saving equipment, bedridden patients, meds for the patients, nurses and doctors for the patients, beds for bedridden, oxygen....on a school bus?

What are the logistics for evacuating the tremendous amount of nursing homes filled with the very sick, elderly and mentally unstable, and the keepers/helpers to go along with them, along with their beds,oxygen, etc...on a school bus?

What are the logistics for evacuating the prisons/jails there with their guards, and what...balls and chains to keep them from escaping...on a school bus?

What are the logistics for demanding that school bus drivers...not trained people to deal with the above populations....but school bus drivers, paid minimum wage, not evacuate their families and take care of their homes themselves, but stay and be responsible for these populations? Wow..that wacky Nagin...where WAS his head?

[Erika]

45. Flooding from navigable waters is federal, not state n/t

[Garbo 2004]

100. Actually fed funding for those plans were cut. Part II of the Hurricane

Pam exercise in 2004 was to include planning for those who could not evacuate due to poverty or infirmity:

Just last year, FEMA hired a private company, IEM Inc. of Baton Rouge, to help conduct an eight-day drill for a fictional Category 5 hurricane in New Orleans named Pam. It included staging a helicopter evacuation of the Superdome, a prediction of 15 feet of water in parts of the city and the evacuation of 1-million people.

But the second part of the company's work - to design a plan to fix unresolved problems, such as evacuating sick and injured people and housing thousands of stranded residents - never occurred because the funding was cut. http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/03/Worldandnation/One_question_builds__.shtml

[MrBenchley]

43. Tell us, cross...

Do you ever get tired of parroting right wing talking points?

[Name removed]

75. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AnnInLa]

81. Cross: Ever notice how these posters never have stars by their names?

wonder if they will donate to the red cross?

[MrBenchley]

93. We have a number of posters

who never seem to do anything but parrot dittohead rubbish and attack Democrats....

[Boo Boo]

47. A plan for what? What to do when 80% of NO is under water?

No local government can deal with disaster on this scale. Where were they supposed to keep the porta potties? Everything is under water.

This is what FEMA is for. This is what plans at the State level are for. Bush's tax cuts have cut State budgets to the bone; they've cut Fed agency budgets to the bone; he has appointed people to positions that they are utterly unqualified for---so that now, when the local authorities turn to FEMA, for instance, looking for the outside help they need (their local capacity has been destroyed), that help isn't there.

George Bush's operation is primarily focused on manipulating the image of the President---it is a propaganda operation. The Bush admin is a facade, behind which, is a rapidly crumbling capacity to respond to crisis.

[Erika]

51. The FEMA director is a lawyer specializing in estate planning

appointed by Bush. What a effin joke.

[Spazito]

58. and to add to that, was fired from his last effin job for

INCOMPETENCE!

[Erika]

64. W sold us out through his incompetency and the

incompetency of his appointees.

[LSK]

53. because it is a job too big for one city government thats why we have FEMA

That is why we have national government. For situations like this more than any other reason.

You can ask the same question of why we dont have city militaries?? We dont, because some tasks are far too great for just a city to handle.

[Eloriel]

54. What the fuck makes you think they didn't?

What, because you didn't get your very own copy or something? Good grief, man. Let's blame the victims (or try to) in a few MORE ways, shall we?

[BootinUp]

60. I doubt a city has the funds to deal with something on this scale.

We're talking about 20% of their population.

[rzemanfl]

68. Looks to me like they had a plan and followed it as best they

could. They didn't have a plan to get people to the shelters which was a huge fuck up, but had the levee held they probably would have made it.

How many porta-potties would you need for thousands of people for five days??? Few people defecate in porta-potties at public events, they have gone at home or hold it. How would they keep them from blowing away in the storm?

The levees were fucked up by the Feds. End of story.

[sescob]

70. Even if they did

There is no way N.O would be prepared for 80% of the city being under water. It's beyond their capabilities. The bigger issue is why, after 9/11, can't we mobilize the federal govt QUICKER to take care of this? What if this had been a dirty bomb set off by terrorists??

[Tatiana]

71. They did.

You know what they say about hindsight, but the following articles are from 2004...

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-09-28/cover_story2.html

The Federal Emergency Management Agency shook up its way of distributing disaster preparedness money when it introduced its Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant program in 2002. Given the program's criteria, Louisiana appeared to have been a shoo-in for federal dollars for 2003, the first year the program began awarding money. Instead, Louisiana got nothing.

<snip>

In 2002, Louisiana did receive a $250,000 PDM planning grant, the only PDM money it has received. Fifteen parishes applied for 2003 grants, a FEMA spokesman said. But last year, the nearly $60 million pot of federal PDM money went to 31 other states and Puerto Rico. Texas received the biggest share, more than $8.8 million, followed by California ($6.1 million) and Florida ($5.3 million).

more....

http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2004-09-22/cover.html

Among emergency specialists, "mitigation"--the measures taken in advance to minimize the damage caused by natural disasters--is a crucial part of the strategy to save lives and cut recovery costs. But since 2001, key federal disaster mitigation programs, developed over many years, have been slashed and tossed aside. FEMA's Project Impact, a model mitigation program created by the Clinton administration, has been canceled outright. Federal funding of post-disaster mitigation efforts designed to protect people and property from the next disaster has been cut in half, and now, communities across the country must compete for pre-disaster mitigation dollars.

As a result, some state and local emergency managers say, it's become more difficult to get the equipment and funds they need to most effectively deal with disasters. In North Carolina, a state regularly damaged by hurricanes and floods, FEMA recently refused the state's request to buy backup generators for emergency support facilities. And the budget cuts have halved the funding for a mitigation program that saved an estimated $8.8 million in recovery costs in three eastern N.C. communities alone after 1999's Hurricane Floyd. In Louisiana, another state vulnerable to hurricanes, requests for flood mitigation funds were rejected by FEMA this summer.

[rustydad]

73. Please take note!

Large cities simply can not have a working plan for a disaster like this. Lets say a 100,000 people either have no car available for evacuation or are too sick or old to make a trip. What so you do? How do you plan for evacuating the disabled, those in the hopitals? I live near Los Angles and everyone knows that sooner or later the big quake is coming. Is there an evacuation plan. NO. The real issue is that FEMA is a worthless bullshit organization. My sons worked for years for the Forest Service as firefighters. Now those guys know how to respond. In a major wildfire they can have thousands of firefighters, fire engines, logistics, all in motion within hours. The have contingency plans for any event. They have plans for air support ready to go. FEMA was always bad, bush killed it. Blame is easy but in this case it all can be laid on bushs desk. He is the worst murderer in human history IMO. Bob

[enki23]

76. they did have a plan. and they implemented it.

everyone knew it would never be good enough if the levees were overtopped. everyone knew you could never forcibly evacuate everyone beginning several days at least ahead of every potentially threatening storm. it would happen almost every year, or every other. imagine the outcry from business interests alone. it would never have been allowed to happen. what they needed was a better levee system, and significant emergency assets situated within a relatively safe distance of that part of the coast. having lousisana's *ACTIVE* national guard home and ready at least. that much we could have done. they could have mobilized that a hell of a lot faster.

or, failing all that. we could at least have had some fucking leadership from our callow, fratboy "president" who spent the night at a fundraiser while new orleans drowned. impeachment is too good. this is criminal, though that's a disgusting understatement. we don't have any words sufficient for this.

[Individualist]

78. Why didn't Bloody George have a response

and send help immediately?

[Dastard Stepchild]

79. They did have a plan as of 07/2004

To the best of my knowledge, the details of the plan were hammered out over a year earlier because of hurricane fears last summer.

--snip--

"Various levels of government — from local to federal agencies — will meet between July 19-23 to work through the logistics of dealing with hundreds of thousands of homeless flood victims, a paralyzed infrastructure and an environment poisoned with chemicals and littered with debris.

"We have never sat down with our federal counterparts and thought this out," said Sean Fontenot, an official at the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "

--snip--

"The key is to look at the variety of local, state and federal plans and weave them together for a catastrophic hurricane," said David Passey, a Federal Emergency Management Agency regional spokesman."

--snip--

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2004-05-17-no-hurricane-plan_x.htm

Here's another article about the plans:
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2004/06/09/43008.htm?print=1

[demgurl]

83. I think the better question here is why that fucking asshole *.....

did not do enough. This was not a 9/11 catastrophe that hit out of the blue. He knew and what did he do? Not a damn thing. God damn criminal.

demgurl

[Wcross]

84. I was questioning the preperations-not the aftermath.

I am sickend by the delay on the federal Level- it is inexcusable. I really want to know why they hadn't planned for something they knew would hit them some day.

[bpilgrim]

85. EVACUATION is the plan for a cat 5 hurricane which REQUIRES massive fed

assistance.

the real question is why did our fed gov abandon NO and other cities and states in it's hour of need when we all knew what was coming?

fyi: this nonsense is a RW talking point


http://media.globalfreepress.com

peace

[earth mom]

87. Do NOT put this on the city of New Orleans shoulders!

That is a Right Wing talking point! :grr:

[Lefty48197]

88. It's a federal issue.

It's President DipShit's responsiblilty to address the disaster.

[bpilgrim]

91. FUCK THAT: The neoCON horrific plan TRUMPED everyones, hello?!?

look back over the past 5 fucking days they TORTURED a AMERICAN CITIES!
http://news.globalfreepress.com/gallery/index.php?cat=19

wtf r u spreading this kinda RW BULLSHIT in the friggin MIDDLE of this on-going TORTURE?!?

get real

peace

[aikoaiko]

94. State and local officials could have gotten most of the poor out

ahead of time. The mayor and governor could have commandeered all buses and put state LEO in the drivers's seats. Thats what gets done in other states.

All they had to do was drive them 1 hour out of town (inland), leave them at a high school gymnasiums, and go back for more.

Why didn't they? Probably because it would have cost money and they hoped the storm wouldn't be as bad as some predicted.

Pre Katrina, the locals failed the NOLA populace. Post Katrina, Bush and his Fema failed. Theres plenty of blame to go around.

Of course, the simpletons in the party would have us take a "we can do anything wrong position", but that not how I am a democrat.

[carpe diem]

95. you clearly didn't see the log jam of traffic trying to get ...

out of NO...they may have gotten a few buses out of town but there's no way they could have gotten them all out and then make RETURN trips...pure fantasy ....real easy to plan all this out after the fact isn't it?

[aikoaiko]

96. 800,000 other people got out via highways

even 2000 more buses, if they were to get that many from statewide, wouldn't have made much more of a difference on the roads. And not all the highways/roads were turned to one-way. Pure fantasy -- not quite.

I'm not saying it would have been easy, but I am saying it could have been done. Just like fortifying the levies years in advance could have been done and a better rescue response could have been done.

Why is it so hard accept that leaving people in NOLA was a bad decision?

[slackmaster]

97. They did have a plan

A bad, incomplete, inexcusably inadequate one.