Posted on 09/12/2005 7:47:36 AM PDT by Unsh8kableFaith
The mayor, questioned by NBC's Tim Russert on "Meet the Press," claimed he could not find drivers for the metro and school buses, which were left to flood in the post-hurricane deluge.
"Sure, here was lots of buses out there," Nagin said. "But guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane, you know, pending down on New Orleans. We barely got enough drivers to move people on Sunday, or Saturday and Sunday, to move them to the Superdome. We barely had enough drivers for that. So sure, we had the assets, but the drivers just weren't available."
Russert did not let up on the question, continuing into this exchange:
RUSSERT: But, Mr. Mayor, if you read the city of New Orleans' comprehensive emergency plan-- and I've read it and I'll show it to you and our viewers--it says very clearly, "Conduct of an actual evacuation will be the responsibility of the mayor of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas. Special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific life-saving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedure as needed. Approximately 100,000 citizens of New Orleans do not have means of personal transportation."
It was your responsibility. Where was the planning? Where was the preparation? Where was the execution?
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
For those with continuing questions about the prepositioning of assets and relief, see my other post titled, "Federal response to New Orleans was 'faster' than after Hugo and Andrew."
-U.
If he had started the evacuations when the National Hurricane Center had first warned them to do so, he would have had plenty of drivers.
Next lie, Mr. Mayor!
Can somebody point me to where this happened?
I don't remember any case where a whole fleet of ACs moved across the globe in 24 hours.
With hurricane Andrew, the MSM didn't have the hatred of W's father as they do for W.
I'll go $10 at 10:1, and I'll probably lose my $10.
On second thought, no way.
Yea, but it was a living, breathing document so "mayor" can be interpreted as "chief executive," as in "chief executive of the United States."
Don't forget, though, that this is a liberal city. So he would have tried to make drivers drive for free. If he'd offered reasonable compensation, for example $15 per head payable at the destination in Houston, you'd see drivers making multiple trips, and stuffing the buses until there was no room left for standees.
Was I the only one watching the progress of the hurricane on the Weather Channel days prior to it making land fall? In fact, didn't we see the progress of that hurricane for over a week? They evidently don't have cable in the Mayor's house!
sucker bet
Very specialized profession, driving buses that is. No way could you get one of the people needing to leave town and asking them to man the buses.
No wait. I thought the problem was women drivers who were afraid to drive the buses.
No wait. They needed Greyhound buses.
No wait...
What bolshoi! All he had to do was offer them a little incentive. Like a ticket to Vegas and spending money.
And what happened to the lack of toilets argument? That won't hold, uh, water anymore?
All together now: "Admiral Nagin notified me,
He had to have the Greyhound
In case they had to pee..."
Ray Nagin: School Buses Not Good Enough
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin garnered a ton of publicity with a profanity-laced interview he gave to WWL radio last Thursday, where he blasted President Bush and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for not coming to rescue his city in time.
However, Nagin's most newsworthy comments - where he explained why he didn't use hundreds of city school buses to evacuate his city's flood victims - went almost unnoticed.
Turns out, Nagin turned his nose up at the yellow buses, demanding more comfortable Greyhound coaches instead.
"I need 500 buses, man," he told WWL. "One of the briefings we had they were talking about getting, you know, public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out of here."
Nagin described his response:
"I'm like - you've got to be kidding me. This is a natural disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
While Nagin was waiting for his Greyhound fleet, Katrina's floodwaters swamped his school buses, rendering them unusable.
-Gee! Maybe Mayor Nagin sees the writing on the wall...is that why he BOUGHT a home in Dallas and has enrolled his daughter in Dallas schools?
Hmmm...the plot thickens.
Mayor Nagin speaks out
By Gordon Russell
Staff writer
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09_10.html#078692
In a stark reminder of how drastically Hurricane Katrina has impacted the lives of New Orleanians, Mayor Ray Nagin has purchased a home for his family in Dallas and enrolled his young daughter in school there.
Nagin, who spoke with The Times-Picayune by telephone from Dallas, where he has been since Wednesday, said he planned to return to New Orleans on Saturday. He said he will remain in the Crescent City while his family lives for the next six months in Dallas, making occasional visits to his family when possible.
Hummina hummina hummina!
I was mapping it. I had it going left of NO. Which would have had NO right in the middle of that big nasty part.
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