Posted on 09/09/2005 11:06:37 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Think local officials are less to blame for deaths in New Orleans than federal officials? In the most jaw-dropping story of the week, UPI has the police chief of Gretna, Louisiana, admitting that he closed off one of the major arteries out of New Orleans on Monday, before the storm hit:
"We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit.
"All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down," he said. The bridge in question -- the Crescent City Connection -- is the major artery heading west out of New Orleans across the Mississippi River.
He added that the small town, which he called "a bedroom community" for the city of New Orleans, would have been overwhelmed by the influx. "There was no food, water or shelter" in Gretna City, Lawson said. "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people. If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged."
The Cresent City Connector is identified as the evacuation route to the west by the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan which was written in conjunction with the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness.
The reason the bridge was shut down is right there.
The Cresent City Connector is identified as the evacuation route to the west by the City of New Orleans Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan which was written in conjunction with the Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness.
"Was the bridge itself federal, state, or parish? Who owns it? "
Sent!
According to interviews I saw from the Superdome in that time frame they had water but were having sanitation problems.
I vividly remember an interview I saw on Thursday evening with a woman who was complaining that there was only water to drink and that the MREs tasted bad and weren't "proper" food.
Plus, I know how the media and the victim industry love to exaggerate.
Quite frankly, I believe that if anyone died of dehydration in the Superdome, they actually died of neglect, because such people were probably elderly people who could not walk and whose need for help was ignored by those around them.
I would also suspect that there were thugs hoarding food and water that was supposed to be distributed equitably.
My sentiments exactly. They paid him to do a job. Its not his fault that others did not do their jobs.
I love all these folks quibbling about the stupid bridge.
In times of trouble, when God reaches down and pulls the plug on your technology and you have to get back to basics, you have to get back to basics. And sometimes the choices are hard.
The chief did what was right for him and his in a bad situation.
We are not talking dense foot traffic. We are talking a few groups at a time that were not allowed to leave.
You are full of it.
Oh, and fifty square feet is a five by ten space. You are conjecturing that on a large bridge, fifty people or so in a scattered movement would pack themselves into a five by ten space, or about the floor space of two elevators.
I don't think so. More bullcrap from you.
Huh? 45-50 sq ft? 10-12 sq ft per tire? I'd say you're off by a factor of five, at least.
OTOH, I could see how walking would be heavier than the same weight on a vehicle in part because the body is falling with each step, not rolling on a tire.
""There was no food, water or shelter" in Gretna City, Lawson said. "We did not have the wherewithal to deal with these people. If we had opened the bridge, our city would have looked like New Orleans does now: looted, burned and pillaged." "
And the food and water ran out. Once again, that's from a Louisiana cop who was THERE.
And it would have helped sanitation issues if people COULD HAVE FRIGGIN' LEFT.
They were turning back small groups. This wasn't about bridge safety.
Yep. Q.E.D.
Welcome to Free Republic.
No, it shouldn't. He did the right thing.
He's spinning because he has nothing else. This was indefensible given the dire circumstances.
I know all that. I asked expecting an answer as to who has jurisdiction over the bridge. You obviously have an answer for others' arguments but evidently do not have the actual answer for my question. thank you.
Agreed.
That bridge could have handled, at the very least, the volume of a single-file stream of people walking breakstep. Of course, they wouldn't have to walk single-file, but at the very least, that kind of volume could have made it out.
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.