Posted on 09/02/2005 8:01:12 PM PDT by george76
Edited on 09/02/2005 8:06:13 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
This AP photo shows scores of New Orleans school buses sitting in flood waters after Hurricane Katrina - sitting where they sat instead of being used to evacuate thousands of poor people before Katrina hit.
Why are scores of school buses sitting in the flood waters of New Orleans today? Blame New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who is one reason things have gotten worse, not better, in his stricken city since it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. His laissez faire approach to looting allowed the looters to become increasingly armed and violent, interrupting rescue and recovery operations.
But even before Katrina hit, he failed his poorest citizens horribly. He told them to evacuate the city - and then gave his city's poorest residence no way to do so.
Nagin lashed out at federal officials yesterday for the government's relief efforts, pleading for the government to round up "500 buses" to send to New Orleans to evacuate survivors.
But Nagin, who ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans before Katrina hit, ought to be made to answer this question: Where are the buses of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority? Under water? Destroyed? Why?
Excellent rant!
I laughed at that, too.
I don't blame Bush for any of this disaster, but I think he missed 2 opportunities:
1. The sight of 100 or 1000 Amphibious landing craft moving thru the flooded streets of NOLA, plucking people of any color from rooftops while flying the American Flag would have been something all of America could have been proud of, and probably moved Lousiana into the Republican camp, as well as many black people from other states.
2. Word of soldiers firing 50-cal. bursts into looters - shoot a few down like rabid dogs - would get around to other potential looters, and give our soldiers some good target practice.
We needed a John Wayne response, and so far, it looks more like a Jimmy Carter response.
I am disappointed & discouraged, while our enemies are elated & encouraged.
The local news just showed him bashing Bush and never mentioned his failures.
They're showing this picture and discussing it on MSNBC now.
The busses were running, but just weren't utilized
I caught that too...I guess he doesn't realize that the "poor people" that he's always carping about wouldn't understand exactly what it is he's trying to say. Either that or he's on the "learn and use a new word daily" program.....LOL
Thanks for that! Such a sad story!
I've seen estimates of some 80% of the city's population having evacuated in order to escape the storm. The true number may be higher, may be lower, but I think we can all agree that figure is accurate for the most part.
Therefore, some 20% of 485,000 did not leave town. That's about 97,000.
Drilling down further, approximately a third of the city lives at or below poverty level; one can presume that a large chunk of these people do not drive cars, or at least do not drive cars fit to drive hundreds of miles out of harm's way.
I'll be conservative and say some 30,000 people were without means to drive or fly away from the city. We know that there are a heck of a lot more people than that who did say, so my figure is absurdly low, but I'll stick to it.
Now, could 30,000 people be driven away in the face of an approaching storm? That assumes, of course, that 100% of the people able to drive or fly away do so, which is never the case.
Anyway, 30K people have 72 hours to get out of town. Is there an event any of you can think of that called for the removal of 30,000 people from a major metropolitan city in 72 hours time?
The convoluted point I'm trying to make here is, what could Ray Nagin have done differently to stave off this disaster? Deputize a large portion of the population, arm them and have them forcibly go door to door, evicting people at every turn? The guy's primarily hired, as are most mayors, to fill potholes, attract business and such.
Talk about those city buses? Ferrying people to the Superdome, a facility designed to withstand 200 mph-plus winds, a seemingly sensible plan at the time and to all interested.
Common sense suggests that the city, inundated with water and therefore paralyzed, would need extensive assistance from state and federal resources. The order of magnitude of this disaster was that great, and those of you braying about "local control" and "solving one's own problems" have taken leave of your good senses in this instance.
Also, can anyone verify for me that Ray Nagin has "abandoned" New Orleans? Every resource I've checked, including locals who, you know, may know such things better than most of you sitting smugly a thousand miles away, swear Nagin has been in the city for most of the past week. One just told me he'd heard that Nagin, "is not leaving the city until the last person is pulled out."
Yeah, I'm angry. New Orleans is far from perfect, but this hyper-criticism of Ray Nagin is terribly misplaced. Direct it where it belongs, which in my opinion starts in the governor's mansion some 80 miles to the northwest of New Orleans.
By the way, when the President himself said he was disappointed with the relief response so far, do you really think he was referring to Ray Nagin not figuring out how to fire up some school buses in the hours preceding the storm?
Get a clue.
maybe he felt them too dangerous no seat belts
HERE IS THE THREAD THAT DISCUSSES THE GALVESTON PLAN AND LACK OF NEW ORLEANS PLAN. Check post No. 39.
A blogger did the math, and determined that it would be possible to evacuate 100,000 in just two days.
1. Each bus carry 66 people
2. A safe place would be about a 2.5 hour trip; figure 6 hour round trip
3. 3 alternating drivers per bus so that they keep running
4. 4 trips in a day means a bus can evac 264 in a day; 528 in two days
5. 190 buses and 570 drivers could possibly have gotten out 100,000 people.
The unknown would be how good the plan was to keep the roadways moving. If it was slower going, it would take more buses. But the jackass, finger pointing mayor let the buses just sit there. The kid who stole one showed how to remove 80 people in just one bus.
This plan was the responsibility of the city. Every city makes their own plan. Every county has a plan. Every state has a plan.
I heard it. He is no Rudy.
I'm not sure of the details. I only heard it first on O'reilly in passing. You can hear the terror in all the voices that report from their. You'd think Geraldo would be a calming voice but it appeared he's trying to stir up or instigate some kind of riot.
Glad you made it out safe.
"He will be offered a job by Greyhound or he will be arrested for grand larceny, at the request of the school board."
He gets arrested, I'm coming up with money for his legal defense fund. I think the kid should become the next Mayor of New Orleans.
"Nigan should be put on suicide watch. To hear from O'reilly about the 80 seniors in the nursing home who died was hard. Deriliction of duty."
I hear that - thought they drowned - just awful. However, I thought they were in the next Parish over (could be wrong - reading FReepers and 1/2 listening doesn't always work too well
After Bush met with Nagin today, he seemed to cool his rhetoric. However, if his statement is picked apart it shows the utter incompetence of the governor. Neither of which were up to any challenge beyond DUmocrat fundraisers at election time.
Yeah, I forget who it was on SNL (Cheri Oteri??) "I understandify!"
Sure is.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.