Posted on 09/10/2005 9:00:31 PM PDT by Colonial Warrior
In a stark reminder of how drastically Hurricane Katrina has impacted the lives of New Orleanians, Mayor Ray Nagin has purchased a home for his family in Dallas and enrolled his young daughter in school there. Nagin, who spoke with The Times-Picayune by telephone from Dallas, where he has been since Wednesday, said he planned to return to New Orleans on Saturday. He said he will remain in the Crescent City while his family lives for the next six months in Dallas, making occasional visits to his family when possible. It’s not clear where Nagin will be living: His home along Bayou St. John suffered massive flooding, the mayor said, although he has not inspected it. In a brief but wide-ranging interview, the mayor reflected on the tragedies of the past two weeks, acknowledging that he may have made some mistakes but said that he hopes others in positions of authority – including President George W. Bush and Gov. Kathleen Blanco -- are scrutinized as closely as he and his staff have been. “I’m not pointing any fingers at anyone,” Nagin said. “But I was in the fire. I was down there. Where were they? I’m confident the truth is gonna come out. But I want everybody’s record analyzed just as hard as mine. “Listen, this was unprecedented. Nothing has ever happened like this. For people to sit back and say, ‘You should have done this, you should have done that’ … it’s Monday morning quarterbacking. They can shoot if they want, but I was there, and I will have the facts.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Great line!
Since the Times-Picayune no longer has a printing press, one has to wonder if they're still a "newspaper." Or are they just another blog like Drudge or Captain's Quarters?
Furthermore, one also might ask when the TP is going to examine its role in the Katrina distaster.
Were they aware of the evacuation plan? Did they ever ask local officials about evac plans for the have nots? And the busses. Have they yet published (online or on paper) any pics of the flooded busses?
Just some more grist for the mill.
(Kathleen Blanco's lawyers will be burning midnight oil for months.)
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In a brief but wide-ranging interview, the mayor reflected on the tragedies of the past two weeks, acknowledging that he may have made some mistakes but said that he hopes others in positions of authority – including President George W. Bush and Gov. Kathleen Blanco -- are scrutinized as closely as he and his staff have been.“I’m not pointing any fingers at anyone,” Nagin said. “But I was in the fire. I was down there.
Where were they? I’m confident the truth is gonna come out.
But I want everybody’s record analyzed just as hard as mine.
Sorry...it was my fault you misunderstood me; my writing wasn't clear.
#47 - empty bus fleet proximity to the Superdome.
We are fine, just exhausted and emotionally drained. We are about 8 miles from Armstrong International Airport. We literally missed the devastation by 10 or 15 miles. Our house had only very, very minor damage. In fact, we are putting it on the market today or tomorrow. We have a friend selling a house in Baton Rouge and we had been planning on moving there in a year or so anyway. The market is hot now so we are gonna give it the old college try.
Any FReepers knowing anyone down here who wants to buy a house in Ormond please FReepmail me. I will check my Freepmail periodically.
I am beginning to think along the same lines, cajungirl. (Even after my little rant earlier in this thread.) I am not defending his actions (or inaction), but I think there's a lot more to this story.
Buy a house in an area that now has relocated Louisiana voters? He could run for mayor. Pretty smart...
Look out, Texas!!
We do know about the Landrieu's
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1477043/posts
The Landrieu family members are surprisingly well placed in the unfolding of the entire history leading up to this event:
Mitch Landrieu is the Lt Governor and brother to Mary Landrieu the Senator. Perhaps the more significant family member is their aunt Phyllis Landrieu the defacto leader of the Orleans Parish School Board.
It was Phyllis Landrieu who stonewalled the discussion about using the school buses for evacuation, and it was Phyllis Landrieu that threatened to sue School Board President Sanders for refusing to sign the work order that hired Alvarez and Marsal to run the schools. (Coincidentally, it was Aunt Phyllis Landrieu who nominated Sanders to be President, undoubtedly expecting him to follow her bidding.)
It is rather odd that Auntie Phyllis lowered herself to serve on a city school board, when she could have served in a much more challenging position. Actually, she is a Washington, DC lobbyist.
I did not know that auntie was a lobbyist.
I did read somewhere in the fog of the aftermath of the storm that the drivers of the yellow buses were mostly women and wouldn't drive without guards on the busses prior to the flood.
I can understand the difficulty with the busses in the evacuation. Nobody in his right mind would have put unqualified drivers driving those buses prior to the flooding. ANd if the drivers wouldn't drive, weren't available, who would have driven them?
We had an evac last year of NO and it took hours and hours to get to BR from NO. One person told me it took 13 hours. The nightmare of using those buses for an evacuation was probably a thing that made the decision not to use them. I don't know if they were used in the last evacuation.
But drivers are also contracted from what I read. I don't know if it is true but some said their contracts did not address driving for evacs. And lastly, the drivers themselves were probably evacuating. So were they even available. Heck, everyone with a car was leaving.
How long has it been .. 1-2 weeks??
That didn't take long ..
Where did he get the cast to buy a house?
.....Why was there a breakdown at the federal and state level only in Louisiana? This didn’t happen in Mississippi. That’s the question. That’s the question of the day.”.......
He gets it. This paragraph gets to the very essence of the problem
Only ones left to vote will be looters, thugs and the dead. But, I'll bet that the absentee ballots are on their way out 2 per person.
My favorite line from your referenced article.......
New Orleans's would-be reformers thought they had elected a responsible leader in former cable executive Nagin and instead they got a classic "cable guy" with a million excuses and the same lousy service.
That link doesn't show any proof of what you say...I can't find it....??
Never mind---I clicked on the TIMES link you had on top.....
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