[ProxyAccount]

Mayor's orders:

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CIVIL DISTRICT COURT FOR THE PARISH OF ORLEANS

STATE OF LOUISIANA

CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

PROMULGATION OF EMERGENCY ORDERS

WHEREAS, the National Weather Service has indicated that Hurricane Katrina will likely affect the Louisiana coast with hurricane force winds and heavy rainfall by this evening;

WHEREAS, because of anticipated high lake and marsh tides due to the tidal surge, combined with the possibility of intense thunderstorms, hurricane force winds, and widespread severe flooding, Governor Kathleen Blanco and I, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, have each declared a State of Emergency;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, as the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, pursuant to the authority granted by La. Rev. Stat. 29:727, do hereby promulgate and issue the following orders, which shall be effective immediately and which shall remain in effect until the earlier of five days following the date of this issuance or the declaration by the Governor that the State of Emergency no longer exists:

1. A mandatory evacuation order is hereby called for all of the Parish of Orleans, with only the following exceptions: essential personnel of the United States of America, State of Louisiana and City of New Orleans; essential personnel of regulated utilities and mass transportation services; essential personnel of hospitals and their patients; essential personnel of the media; essential personnel of the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriffs Office and its inmates and essential personnel of operating hotels and their patrons. Unless covered by one of the aforementioned exceptions, every person is hereby ordered to immediately evacuate the City of New Orleans or, if no other alternative is available, to immediately move to one of the facilities within the City that will be designated as refuges of last resort.

2. In order to effectuate the mandatory evacuation, at the direction of the Mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Director of Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans or any member of the New Orleans Police Department, the City may commandeer any private property, including, but not limited to, buildings that may be designated as refuges of last resort and vehicles that may be used to transport people out the area.

The City Attorney is directed to file this declaration promptly in the office of the Clerk of Court and with the Secretary of State.

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Note part 2, "In order to effectuate the mandatory evacuation, at the direction of the Mayor, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Director of Homeland Security for the City of New Orleans or any member of the New Orleans Police Department, the City may commandeer any private property, including, but not limited to, buildings that may be designated as refuges of last resort and vehicles that may be used to transport people out the area."

[gitmo]

What is the date / time of that declaration?

[dufekin]

The mayor and governor apparently did not authorize any particular people (such as bus drivers) to commandeer city or school property (such as buses) to effect the evacuation of the car-less, poor, and infirm. He instead specifically excluded "personnel of regulated utilities and mass transportation services" (presumably including bus drivers) from the evacuation order, implying that they must remain IN the doomed city rather than helping others to leave.

[sgtyork]

I appreciate the work that went into your and Sonar's posts. It would be useful to know the date and time of the Mayor's orders.

[shield]

Maybe I've been reading to much today, I don't see a date....WHAT'S THE DATE ON THIS.

[raygun]

Well, that's cute isn't it? What is Nagin's huge gripe? Oh, yeah the beauracracy and yet, what was he doing the day before the hurricane hit? Oh, that's right consulting lawyers concerning his authority to act. Well, gee that sounds like beauracracy to me.

What did Blanco do several times now? Seems like she issued a whole bevy of Executive Orders. Me wonders why these two people are engaging in beauracracy in their own state?

What was Charles Melancon's gripe on Nightline Friday night? Oh, well, gee, something about Blanco not filling out the forms correctly or something. Ted Koppel was asking who's responsibility it was to evacuate the people, who's responsiblity was it to ensure food, water and toilette facilities at the Superdome? Who's responsibility was it to ensure that protocol and procedure was followed such that there's be no question concerning Posse Comitatus - which Ted emphatically declared Melancon would be the first to protest about and that Melancon damn well knows it. Melancon said the whole circumstances were ridiculous. This is an emergency, you don't sit around dotting the I's and crossing the T's, you send EVERYTHING.

Interesting that Louisiana officials are obsessed with their own worthless bearacracy. That its worthless is eminently evident from the esteemed (not) Mary Landrieu's comments:

"If one person criticizes [our sheriffs], or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me - one more word about it after this show airs and I - I might likely have to punch him - literally," Landrieu railed on "ABC's "This Week." The threat of physical violence, by the party that protests violence is not the solution to anything.

That pretty much sums up the caliber, class and quality of Louisiana's elected officials. I just can't fathomn why both the Mayor and the Gov felt it so necessary to follow protocol, procedures as dictated by Louisiana beauracracy, after all, it was an emergency and action is just taken, is it not? Aaron Broussard (Parish President) says on national TV that beauracracy is murding his citizens. But interestingly enough, Broussard knows the beauracracy sufficiently well (or not well enough as the case may be) to get himself subpeanad and indicted (along with a Parish judge) 18 Aug 05 for corruption and bribery.

You know what the top nut on the fruit cake is? Blanco appoints as her emergency response advisor, none other than former FEMA head, and Clinton appointee James Lee Witt. And not just a former FEMA head, but the very person who crafted the very beauracracy that was absolutely not followed whatsoever. On 3 Jun 04, IEM, Inc., a Baton Rouge-based emergency management and homeland security consultant, announced they will lead the development of a catastrophic hurricane disaster plan for Southeast Louisiana and the City of New Orleans under a more than half a million dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In making the announcement today on behalf of teaming partners Dewberry, URS Corporation and James Lee Witt Associates, IEM Director of Homeland Security Wayne Thomas explained that the development of a base catastrophic hurricane disaster plan has urgency due to the recent start of the annual hurricane season which runs through November.

All that notwithstanding, what is the one thing Blanco did not do? That's right, not cooperate sufficiently with the established protocols, and procedures of the very beauracracy that FEMA is required by Law to follow. These people are either incredibly, monumentally, and collosally stupid, or they're wise as serpents, and sly as fox in the chicken coop.