Yes, and of course that may be part of why you were not found dead in your attic by the 82nd Airborne. The sort of people that blundered into desperate straits in the city and required rescue aren't the sort that go to community meetings, are they?
There are some people in every city who are incapable or unwilling to take the least responsibility. Some lack intellect or motivation, some are mentally or physically ill, many have no grasp of cause and consequence.
As a society, we are ambivalent about where government stands with relation to this non-trivial group of people, who are incapble of living as responsible free men, but to whom government cannot simply assert a custodial relationship. It was these people, who cannot or will not fend for themselves, but whom we can't fend for without ACLU lawyers crawling up our collective nose, who made up the bulk of the nonevacuated problem citizens.
And anyone who thinks this social element is unique to one city, one state, or one race, ought to call the local PD and see if you can do a night shift ride-along. A cop in his career interacts with so many of this stratum that he may lose the ability to interact with normal free citizens.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F