School-buses showdown: Mayor Nagin vs. Russert

WorldNetDaily ^ | 9/12/2005 | Unsh8kableFaith

[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?

[Uncle Vlad]

Trumped, perhaps, but I bet you nodded your head and thought, Yeah, they'd absolutely do that.

[Swordmaker]

I don't remember any case where a whole fleet of ACs moved across the globe in 24 hours.

Let's see... across the globe implies half way at least... 12,000 miles. Hmmmmm... 24 hours...

I would REALLY like to try waterskiing behind the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan at 500 MPH... could be fun.

[wouldntbprudent]

Pretty sure they would have to have a CDL license union or not.

NO's evac plan, posted elsewhere on FR, stated specifically that the authorities could/must waive any requirement for CDL license. The idea was get whoever you can to drive the busses.