Posted on 09/17/2005 10:35:29 AM PDT by THEUPMAN
RITA BEAMISH Associated Press Writer
As far back as eight years ago, Congress ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a plan for evacuating New Orleans during a massive hurricane, but the money instead went to studying the causeway bridge that spans the city's Lake Ponchartrain, officials say.
The outcome provides one more example of the government's failure to prepare for a massive but foreseeable catastrophe, said the lawmaker who helped secure the money for FEMA to develop the evacuation plan.
"They never used it for the intended purpose," said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. "The whole intent was to give them resources so they could plan an evacuation of New Orleans that anticipated that a very large number of people would never leave."
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.onlineathens.com ...
HIRING OF FIRMS UNDER REVIEW
CAUSEWAY PANEL LOOKS AT PROCESS
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
June 3, 1998
Author: STEVE RITEA St. Tammany bureau
Estimated printed pages: 3
A month after it appeared that their longtime engineer had the inside track on the design contract for a new bridge, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway officials have appointed a group of their own to examine how such contracts are awarded.
Commission Chairman Ronald Goux, who responded to complaints and questions from a handful of residents at last month's meeting, announced Tuesday that the committee would make sure contracts are awarded according to state laws and the causeway's requirements.
The three-member committee will be composed of Causeway Commission members Paul Spitzfaden, Frank Simone and Causeway Engineering Director Bryan Clement.
Goux said the committee will report at the commission's August meeting.
Mandeville resident Raye Casey, who criticized the commission's hiring procedure last month, said she doubted the committee would do any good.
"If they really tried to bring in someone totally objective . . . then that might be a good idea," she said. "They're all the good old boys."
Anne Barnes, the widow of former Causeway Commissioner M.A. Barnes and also one of those who complained last month, said she was taking a wait-and-see approach. "I would like to see what they come up with," she said.
Though a feasibility study on a new bridge hasn't been completed, bridge officials prepared a resolution in May that would have allowed longtime engineer Krebs, LaSalle, LeMieux Consultants of Metairie, and Gulf Engineers and Consultants, and Burk-Kleinpeter Inc. to design a new bridge. Those firms also are doing the feasibility study.
Jeannie Bell, the newest member of the Causeway Commission, said in May that the resolution was "premature," and that she had not even seen a formal presentation from their engineers. She also questioned the commission's hiring practices.
Bridge officials did not seek proposals from other companies before drafting the resolution, but Goux said no one was receiving preferential treatment. He later removed the resolution from the commission's May agenda.
The completion of the bridge feasibility study has also become a source of controversy.
At Tuesday's meeting, Bell said she was frustrated by delays in the study, which was originally scheduled to be handed out last month.
"What did we get for our money?" Bell asked. "If we have a contract for $500,000, shouldn't we get it?"
The commission has spent close to $400,000 of $500,000 they received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a study of possible hurricane evacuation routes across the lake. Once the first phase of their study is complete, Goux said FEMA should be providing $500,000 more toward the second phase.
Causeway engineers defended the delays.
"It's a lot more complex than what we originally envisioned," Clement said.
Krebs, LaSalle, LeMieux President Shelby LaSalle said that although their study is 95 percent complete, they were awaiting the outcome of a study by the Regional Planning Commission.
LaSalle said it was in everyone's "best interest . . . not to release that product until all of the information is complete."
Causeway officials estimate it should be complete in the next few months.
Goux said members of the Jefferson Parish Council have also asked them to consider a proposal that would involve building a Causeway overpass in Metairie, eliminating the south shore toll booths, and then having commuters pay their tolls at the end of the bridge in Mandeville.
http://www.nola.com
The New Media will be shining some light on Dem corruption in LA, but the question is...how much impact does the New Media have on public opinion and decisions people make in the voting booth? The CBS News document fraud case was a rather obvious, amateurish fraud and CBS had to react to all the accusations of fraud. But the corrupt Dems in LA have been carefully covering their tracks for decades and it won't be so easy to nail them with definitive evidence of criminal activity. But I agree that some good investigative reporting will happen here and this will have some impact on the future politics of Lousiana.
FLOOD INSURANCE COMMENTS IRK LA. DELEGATION
STATE LEADS IN 'REPETITIVE FLOOD LOSS'
Times-Picayune, The (New Orleans, LA)
November 13, 1998
Author: BILL WALSH Washington bureau
Estimated printed pages: 2
WASHINGTON
Some members of Louisiana's congressional delegation took issue Thursday with an administration proposal to limit federal flood insurance subsidies or cut them off entirely for people who often find their homes under water.
Although Louisiana accounts for the single largest chunk of federal flood subsidies aid, delegation members said the state has made enormous strides in recent years in protecting homes and businesses from high water.
Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said that communities have instituted zoning and building requirements to discourage development in flood-prone areas. He also said that owners themselves have been more careful, raising their homes and businesses high above the ground to keep floodwaters at bay.
"We do a lot of things down here to make places that are otherwise inappropriate to live in, appropriate," Jefferson said. "I don't believe we could support a position that would penalize people for living in a city that is below sea level."
Earlier this week, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, James Lee Witt, said that government-sponsored cut-rate flood insurance should no longer be offered to homeowners who have filed two or more claims exceeding the value of their property, especially if they have refused to takes steps to lessen the threat of damage.
Figures from FEMA show that Louisiana tops the list of claims filed for "repetitive flood loss," which includes two or more claims in 10 years. In Louisiana, owners of 16,989 buildings have filed claims for repetitive losses totaling $538 million. Texas is a distant second with 10,588 repetitive claims, according to FEMA.
Witt suggested that people in flood-prone areas like Louisiana haven't taken the necessary steps to prevent damage, like elevating their homes or moving them to higher ground. He said FEMA should charge people in high-risk areas the fair-market value for flood insurance, instead of the lower, government-subsidized rates.
"People need to accept the responsibility and the consequences of their choices to live in high-risk areas," Witt said in a speech Tuesday in Washington.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Witt's concerns have some merit and are worth considering.
"Taxpayers cannot continue to support something that doesn't make financial sense on either side," Landrieu said. "I know that is somewhat difficult because people get attached to where they live. I do think it's a fair discussion to have and I would look forward to a part in it."
But a spokesman for Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Chackbay, said Witt is unfairly singling out Louisiana.
"What he seems to be saying is it's OK to build on the San Andreas fault or in Tornado Alley, but if you live near water in Louisiana, you shouldn't be building," spokesman Ken Johnson said. "That is the whole purpose of insurance."
Johnson said Witt's comments are part of an emerging administration policy to stop building in coastal areas. He said Tauzin would oppose such a move.
"It's a foregone conclusion that insurance rates will go up," Johnson said. "But it's totally different to say you can't buy it at all. We'll fight any attempt to stop people from getting insurance."
http://www.nola.com
I do believe there is a large population that has been on welfare for so many generations they know nothing else.
It is the flip side of a man who is a fifth generation farmer on land their family has owned and worked for a hundred years. They do not know how to NOT take care of themselves.
In many cases helplessness and dependence is the ONLY thing in which they have been schooled.
They are rewarded by the government for having children out of wedlock and not working. It is what they know and it is time to teach them something else.
Already preparing their responses for the hearings I see.
Mismanagement of funds and IMO embezzlement.
Heads should roll....
Ping
FYI...just noticed on the History Channel tonight, 8PM and midnight, EST a program about the building of the causeway..obvious done pre-Katrina..
Yea, before it's all over said and done the "ditz" Landreau WILL punch the POTUS through frustration with her handling of the situation and the "watch dog" endeavors of the media bringing the underhandedness of croneyism in Louisiana into the radar screen.
Mr. VITTER. Mr. Speaker, today, I reluctantly rise in opposition to the Cunningham-Spence-Buyer-Moran-Ortiz amendment to the Veterans/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill for FY 00, H.R. 2684. While I believe the world remains a dangerous place and consider the selective service essential to ensuring the United States Armed Forces possesses adequate manpower for national emergencies, I cannot support legislation which cuts vital hurricane funding protection and environmental research for South Louisiana.The gravamen of that exchange is that Cunningham amendment to the bill, H.R. 2684, was defeated, and the FEMA Management and planning account would retain funding for a NOLA evacuation plan. A little over a month later, the bill having been considered by the Senate (S. 1596), it was reported out of conference.By striking $5 million from the FEMA Management and Planning account, the Louisiana coast will be unable to implement a buoy system to monitor hurricanes as they approach our coasts. Furthermore, the FEMA Management and Planning account includes funding to develop a New Orleans hurricane evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm. Surely, providing $1 million to take steps toward implementing an evacuation plan for New Orleans is a small price to pay both in terms of lives and money.
In addition to the hurricane funding cuts, Congressman Cunningham's amendment would threaten to cut $1 million in funding from the University of New Orleans Urban Waste Management Center's budget. The UNO Urban Waste Management Center not only identifies the economic impact and benefits associated with various recycling programs, but it also provides additional educational institutions and national government agencies important waste management assistance.
...
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Chairman, I ask for a yes vote on the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham).
The question was taken; and the Chairman pro tempore announced that the noes appeared to have it.
cr08se99H [[Page H7912]]
Click here: 106th Congress - September 8, 1999 - House
Navigate to: 21 . DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING - Page H7912
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND ASSISTANCEThe bill became Public Law 106-74 on October 20, 1999. The Public Law does not recite anything about an evacuation plan. At first I thought this odd, but then more carefully reading the statment of the conferees, they note concurrance with the House report language....
The conferees concur with House report language regarding an evacuation plan for the New Orleans area and direct FEMA to work with the Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Task Force and the Louisiana One Coalition on the preparation of this evacuation and recovery plan and report.
cr13oc99H [[Page H10023]]
Click here: 106th Congress - October 13, 1999 - House
Navigate to: 69 . CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 2684 - Page H10023
The Committee directs FEMA to develop an evacuation plan for a Category 3 or greater storm, a levee break, flood or other natural disaster for the New Orleans area; including the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, Lafourche, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles and Terrebonne. FEMA should incorporate the feasibility of a vertical evacuation into multi-level structures and identify evacuation problems and infrastructure improvements and is directed to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Louisiana Office of Emergency Preparedness, New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, and Terrebonne Readiness and Action Committee in the preparation of this plan and report.That looks to be an order to FEMA.House Report 106-286 : Ch. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND ASSISTANCE
I was looking into Terrebonne Readiness, and concluded it's a local agency that has a vested interest in evacuation. But I happened on a very interesting article that describes Terrebonne's evacuation plan, as well as its vulnerability to hurricane.
May 29. 2005 12:02AM
Hurricane season begins Wednesday -- Are we ready? - By LAURA McKNIGHTHOUMA -- With a rough hurricane season predicted, Terrebonne Parish officials and residents are again praying, hoping and wishing for another year of eluding "the big one." Terrebonne residents again face predictions of a busy hurricane season -- including three to five major storms -- with no real hurricane protection. And with chunks of land vanishing into the sea, Terrebonne loses more of its natural buffer against storms each day.
Armed with a new State Police evacuation plan and some improvements to the levee system, Terrebonne officials and emergency groups say the parish is as prepared as possible for whatever comes our way. They encourage you to be, too.
...
Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter remembers myriad traffic problems during evacuation for Ivan -- evacuees traveling from east to west instead of north, cars abandoned on U.S. 90, evacuees running out of gas on the roadways, wrecks and broken down cars that blocked roads, and a lack of communication between parishes on their plans. The new plan offers a flexible framework for agencies to coordinate a mass evacuation tailored to each storm, according to State Police Troop C spokesman Matt Trahan.
The plan should lessen congestion caused by evacuees traveling east-to-west through south Louisiana, he said. Trahan said not only were roads filled with New Orleans area evacuees, but also with evacuees from Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
"Steps have been taken to help out with that," he said. They include having troopers monitor certain locations and directing traffic from the east northward on Interstate 55 and Interstate 59.
Contraflow, used for the first time during Ivan, will be triggered 30 hours in advance of a Category 3 or higher storm on I-55, I-59 and Interstate 10, according to the plan.
Larpenter said if everyone cooperates, as Terrebonne will, the plan should work. "Its all about teamwork, cooperation and working in harmony," he said. "It has to be coordinated."
Terrebonne Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Michael Deroche, Parish President Don Schwab and Houma Police Department spokesman Lt. Todd Duplantis said the parish would adhere to the State Police plan, which will give Terrebonne residents ample time to evacuate.
http://www.houmatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050529/NEWS/505290324
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.
Everytime I have seen/heard Breaux interviewed about this---he has been totally anti-Fema..anti-Bush...
NOW we know why...he has a lot to answer for...hopefully, a subpoena is heading his way, also...
New Orleans has:
A Democrat Mayor
A Democrat City Council
A Democrat Chief of Police
Louisiana has:
A Democrat Governor
A Democrat Lt. Governor
A Democrat Attorney General
24 of 39 Louisiana State Senators are Democrats
67 of 105 Louisiana State House Representatives are Democrats
A Democrat Representative in the US House from New Orleans
And one of the two Senators in the US Senate is a Democrat.
SO YOU CAN SEE WHY IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1230846/posts
Clark, Slater working for crisis management firm of ex-FEMA director Witt
Associated Press | September 29, 2004
Posted on 09/29/2004 3:25:56 PM PDT by HAL9000
LITTLE ROCK — Former NATO commander Wesley Clark and former Cabinet secretaries Rodney Slater and James Lee Witt, all from Arkansas, are forming a crisis management dream team.
Witt used his experience running the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a firm to help clients handle large-scale emergencies. The former Yell County judge and director of Arkansas' emergency management office, ran FEMA under the Clinton administration.
Now at his side at James Lee Witt Associates on a part-time basis are Clark, a retired Army general who unsuccessfully ran for the 2004 Democratic nomination for president, and Slater, transportation secretary under Clinton.
The Washington, D.C.-based crisis management consulting firm has about 50 employees and was founded in 2001.
Clark is a vice chairman for the company and will devote his work there to domestic and international security issues. Slater, who grew up in Marianna, also joined the firm last week as a vice chairman and will work on transportation and critical infrastructure issues.
Clark hit the ground running, having already booked a trip to Grand Cayman to offer the company's services for coping with cleanup issues from Hurricane Ivan. The island's legislature agreed to hire the company to help the nation rebuild and prepare for future disasters, said company senior vice president Barry Scanlon.
Clark said the work at Grand Cayman is in line with his general duties at the company.
"I will be working across the spectrum of preparations, assessments, risk assessments, evaluations for natural and man-made disasters and post-disaster mitigation, planning and efforts," Clark said Tuesday.
"He's very well-respected," Scanlon said. "It will help us grow the firm internationally and domestically."
Clark's office said Wednesday that his work with Witt's company is part-time work that won't detract from his time running Wesley K. Clark and Associates LLC, a Little Rock-based strategic advisory and consulting firm. The former presidential candidate will also continue to operate his own political action committee and campaign for Democratic nominee John Kerry through the Nov. 2 election.
Witt's company is expected to open an office in Little Rock next month.
Slater will keep other irons in the fire, too. He will keep his position as partner for Patton Boggs LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based public policy law firm and campaign for Kerry, as well.
"I'm very excited about the opportunity to work with James Lee Witt and General Clark," Slater said. "I know them both to be leaders in their respective areas of interest, and transportation is a critical part of any emrgency management challenge, so I look forward to applying my own expertise there."
Slater said he hopes to find common ground with his work for Patton Boggs and with Witt.
Witt will continue his work as president and chief executive of the International Code Council, a nonprofit organization that develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings.
Bush already started the indictments before Katrina....William Jefferson, the FEMA folks....
This is SOP in N'awlins. I just wonder whose cousin got the job.
You have a great web site, my friend.
What is the "New Orleans Regional Planning Commission"? I wondered ...
As mandated by its enabling legislation, the RPC is the legal entity whose mission is to promote the general welfare and prosperity of the entire region by harmonizing the activities of federal, state, parish, municipal and other governmental agencies in the region.For the most part, their role in "harmonizing" seems to be limited to planning of transportation and other infrastructure for "normal operation," and not to disaster mitigation. Of course, transportation infrastructure has capacity that is a factor in evacuation planning.The RPC was created in 1962 by the Louisiana state legislature and local governing body authorization. The RPC is one of eight regional planning bodies in the state established to fulfill federal and state requirements for regional comprehensive and economic development planning.
But on a more genral note, is it a local or FEMA responsibility to develop evacuation plans? The presence of Congressional mandate to FEMA to develop an evacuation plan muddies that water up.
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