Some leaders wonder why Louisiana isn't housing more (Governor Blanco comedy of errors)

KLFY ^ | September 3, 2005

[johnmecainrino]

BATON ROUGE, La. As hurricane victims are being moved hundreds of miles from home, the president of the New Orleans City Council is demanding to know why Louisiana isn't housing more of them.

Oliver Thomas says Louisiana has many government buildings and gymnasiums that could be made into shelters. But instead, he says people are being even more uprooted and sent to places like Georgia and Utah.

Thomas believes exaggerated fears of violence have kept some Louisiana cities from offering more help.

But the mayor of Baton Rouge says the problem is managing large crowds, that too many people in one place would lead to a lack of food and staff.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco says she's trying to find more shelters in the state, but that all existing locations are full.

But state Senator Cleo Fields says that's not the case. He points to the abandoned England Air Force base as an example of a large in-state location that the governor should open to evacuees.

[stocksthatgoup]

Nice catch.......

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Blanco is a joke.

No facilities at LSU? Shreveport? C'mon...

[Truthsayer20]

These New Orleans "leaders" are worried about one thing and one thing only. Their political power base is being scattered all over the country.

[SauronOfMordor]

Thomas believes exaggerated fears of violence have kept some Louisiana cities from offering more help.

Exaggerated? BWAHAHAHA!!

The Leftist mindset amazes me sometimes. When the people who have first-hand observation of pathology react accurately, it's got to be because they're "just ignorant"

[rineaux]

EAFB. Yes, Alexandria could use the revenue. the base is slowly turning into a nice and quite retirement area. I know they too would be excited to have these folks settle there.

I must admit, it's nice to hear from someone from the city council.

[SauronOfMordor]

Don't worry. They will be sure to get them all absentee ballots. And the evacuees will all be sure to vote Dem in their host cities as well

[nopardons]

bttt

[leadpenny]

I wonder why "blockhead" is still in office?

[Nathan Zachary]

"Thomas believes exaggerated fears of violence have kept some Louisiana cities from offering more help."

Or maybe, like Baton Rouge, their welfare rolls are already bursting at the seams, and they just can't afford more without some assistance, and just don't have any housing available either. Perhaps Blanco brain should distribute some of that reconstruction money to these LA townships so they can build some. Maybe take some levee money and build some Casino's in those other townships, since the ones the levee committee build in NO are no longer bringing in any revenue.

[kcvl]

Thomas believes exaggerated fears of violence have kept some Louisiana cities from offering more help.

Mayor of Monroe, Louisiana said he was asked to send buses to pick up people from N.O. He told them he didn't want those thugs in his city!

[heylady]

And you don't think these politicians will work their hardest to get absentee ballots to all of the people. That's their major concern.

[Poodlebrain]

There are also empty barracks aplenty at Ft. Polk. It's not like the Army ever tears those things down when new facilities are built.

[Uncle Joe Cannon]

What you say is true. Dispersing these people like this may have HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE consequences in Louisiana politics for many years to come. The fact is, many of them simply will not come back once dispersed.

[Dharmic]

If there is a "take 'em to task" sentiment growing with regards to the handling of the situation, ... Blanco and Nagin should get "front of the line" privileges to be called on the carpet.

Nagin's spews are obvious attempts to divert/deflect attention from NOLA's lack of will to follow-up or facilitate the tardy evacuation order. It was incumbent upon him not only to say "get out," ... but to also marshal the means to move those without independent ability to do so. This should have all been in writing and would have been triggered by the utterance of the evac order.

Likewise, upon word that NOLA was being evacuated, Blanco and Co. should have been able to make one or two phone calls to have "boots on the ground" and wheels rolling in order to head 'em up and move 'em out. Having said that, you could bet that probably more than half of the designated evacuees would have, ... or did, ignore the order to go. There is an attitude among some folk in the area that because they have escaped in the past, they could ride this one out. They gambled, and many lost.

While there were no doubt many innocent victims, ... there were probably just as many who chose to tempt fate, either because they felt they were "inconvenienced" or because they thought that whatever happened "the government" would save their posterior. In this case, the sad truth is that many abandoned common sense.

Disaster preparedness just becomes plain "disaster" if it isn't taken seriously.

[Right_in_Virginia]

...the president of the New Orleans City Council is demanding to know why Louisiana isn't housing more of them.

NO has a City Council? -- This is news. I wonder where they've been.

[rineaux]

Your kidding? Mayor of Monroe, Jimmy Mayo (to his posse) is AfAmer. if he were white, they would hang him in the media. double standard I guess.

[AmericaUnited]

I saw this sentiment being posted in Rush's column and it bears repeating.

The left, liberals, local and state RATS can muster up some big resources to get all of these poor/welfare people to the polls to vote for them, but are AWOL when it comes to getting those same resources in saving their lives.

[JudgemAll]

Democrats: Party of waste Food fights are no commedy in this tragedy

What an appologetic ignorant genocidal waste of people culture and cult. DEMOCRATS AND THEIR FRENCH FRIENDS ARE THE CULT OF PEOPLE WASTE ABORTION AND GENOCIDE!!!!!

[kcvl]

Mayor James E. “Jamie” Mayo is a native of Morehouse Parish. In 1975 he graduated from Bastrop High School, where he lettered in baseball, basketball and football. In 1979 he graduated from the former Northeast Louisiana University (now ULM), where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. While attending NLU, Jamie was a star point guard for the men’s basketball team which advanced to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). In 1982, he married the former Angela Washington. Jamie and Angela are the proud parents of two children: Jared, a sophomore at Grambling State University; and Ashley, a sophomore at Neville High School.

Mayor Mayo has over 20 years of business experience with companies such as State Farm Insurance, Metropolitan Insurance, Allstate Insurance, and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation. Mayor Mayo also serves as a board member of several community organizations such as: The Salvation Army, The Ouachita Enterprise Corporation (OEC), The Ouachita Council of Governments (OCOG), and Chairman of the Board for The Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC). Mayor Mayo is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Mayor Mayo is the recent recipient of the 2002 Trailblazer Award from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation; the 2002 Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Award; and the 2002 University of Louisiana at Monroe Alumni Award; among other notable recognitions.

Mayor Mayo has always longed to be a leader by serving those who are in need. In 1995, Jamie was first elected to the Monroe City Council where he filled the un-expired term of the late Councilman Charles Johnson. Jamie was re-elected to the Monroe City Council in 1996 and 2000. He was selected by his peers to serve as Monroe City Council Chairman for two years. In 2001, while serving as City Council Chairman, he was appointed by the Council to serve as Interim-Mayor for the City of Monroe following the untimely death of the late Mayor Melvin Rambin. On October 20, 2001 Jamie Mayo was officially elected Mayor of the City of Monroe. Recently appointed to Monroe-West Monroe Trust Authority to fill unexpired term of George Rorex.

He also cleaned out Pecanland Mall of thugs.