"many of the people attempting to do boat rescues, are private citizens. they don't expect to be shot at, even if they aren't hit, in the course of that action. so even if it happens once, they all back off."
we don't need a bunch of john boats - we need a bunch of busses taking people out.
Yankee stadium clears out 55000 every nite in NYCtraffic - why cant we get half this out in 5 days over empty roads - why are these people being denied passage?
OK, this is a legitmate issue you have posted. I don't know what is going on really at this convention center. there is food and water there, the photos are on this thread. but the evacuation effort, I don't know what's up with that.
one fair criticism of FEMA, that I also have, is why they don't have regular press conferences every 4 hours to detail to the media what is going on at which locations: "we are moving food and water here, buses here, hospital X evacuated to the airport, etc" - so someone could ask them "what is the plan for the convention center". there are enough media members at the key locations around town so that if they got this information out, people could be informed.
55,000 people exit the stadium ans take either public transit or personal vehicles to their homes or other destinations. Now, except for the public transportation, personal vehicles and homes to go to, your analogy works.
The boats are for rescuing people in the flooded areas. There's still people trapped in their homes.