[Politicalities]

Blame anyone but yourself, Ray. Why is a fleet of over 200 buses sitting in floodwater up to the grille when they could've taken tens of thousands of New Orleanians to safety?

[Echo Talon]

[Jeff Chandler]

Ask yourself: What if the exact same circumstances were to apply to say, Salt Lake City. How would their residents have behaved. Hmmm?

[WasDougsLamb]

Here we go with the he did it she did it crap. Why is it everyone wants to blame someone else? He dropped the ball as well. He should of insisted that EVERYONE get out or you are on your own and provided buses for those who did NOT have cars. You cannot tell me that all those people did NOT have cars. The ones they show under water belonged to someone and they had PLENTY of advance notice to get out. The only ones I feel bad for are the old ones and the hospitalized/impaired ones. The others had or should of had a little common sense.

[guitarnick40]

Some of Mayor Nagins priceless quotes from his infamous CNN interview:

[Travis McGee]

Mayor Nagin should not be condemning the leadership of others.

Here's the southeast Louisiana evac plan supplement, most recently revised in 2000. Go to page 13, read paragraph 5. It states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

[Paleo Conservative]

[Truthsayer20]

Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full day to decide.

In other words, Blanco wanted to consult with her handlers at the DNC before making a simple decision. Is it any suprise that a former Clinton crony has now been appointed by Blanco to serve as some kind state disaster coordinator? I bet the good folks at DNC headquarters we busy coordinating a political strategy with their stooges in the media last week when people were dying.

[South40]

The Revised, 2000 edition of the Southeast Louisiana Evacuation Plan on page 13, paragraph 5 states:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating.

Moreover, section D. Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities, page 11, paragraph 7 states:

7. Parishes: Conduct and control local evacuation in parishes located in the risk area and manages reception and shelter operations in parishes located in the host area.

STATE OF LOUISIANA EMERGENCY OPERATIONS PLAN

[skr]

Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin said...

Why wouldn't he want to be in that meeting? Why would he have to insist on a private meeting? This sounds as though he was having two subordinates work out something he was only supervising.

[gpapa]

Blanco and Bush met privately at his insistence, Nagin said, after which Bush came out and told Nagin that he had given Blanco two options, and she requested a full day to decide.

Option 1: Direct the National Guard of Louisiana and request immediate help from other States, get to New Orleans and get the people out, i. e., issue a Mandatory Evacuation order using her powers as Governor & CIC of the State of Louisiana. Bush would provide active military units where necessary to supplement security and relief efforts coordinating with the Governor herself.

The first option above I laid out is speculative. I suspect the real option is what we are seeing unfold right now. Whether it will be successful only time will tell.

Option 2: Federalize the disaster effort, at least in New Orleans and environs. A tough call for the Governor, as she would be giving up her authority to control events in her State. Politically it could be fatal. She chose not to do so.

The second option we know actually happened when the President presented her with a legal proposal to federalize relief and security efforts in the Parishes of her choosing. Whether that option was presented to the Mayor is an open question, not withstanding his rant of the Governor's 24 hour delay in making a decision. I suspect the reason that the Mayor was left out of the face to face discussion between the Governor and the President has something to do with the fact that they are responsible for security matters on a National and State level. The Mayor can request help but he can not make decisions about Troop deployments.

[AmericaUnited]

When your enemies are trying to knife each to death, there's only one thing to do... grap the popcorn.

[Joe Boucher]

This mayor and this govenor have shown themselves to be inept and in over their heads.

Both should be in charge of some condo association not high office.

[Fresh Wind]

Found this excerpt (indirectly, from a weather blog) from a 2002 Times-Picayunes series Washing Away:

In an evacuation, buses would be dispatched along their regular routes throughout the city to pick up people and go to the Superdome, which would be used as a staging area. From there, people would be taken out of the city to shelters to the north.

Some experts familiar with the plans say they won't work.

"That's never going to happen because there's not enough buses in the city," said Charley Ireland, who retired as deputy director of the New Orleans Office of Emergency Preparedness in 2000. "Between the RTA and the school buses, you've got maybe 500 buses, and they hold maybe 40 people each. It ain't going to happen."

The plan has other potential pitfalls.

No signs are in place to notify the public that the regular bus stops are also the stops for emergency evacuation. In Miami Beach, Fla., every other bus stop sports a huge sign identifying it as a hurricane evacuation stop.

It's also unclear whether the city's entire staff of bus drivers will remain. A union spokesman said that while drivers are aware of the plan, the union contract lacks a provision requiring them to stay.

[theophilusscribe]

"You two have to get in synch. If you don't, more people are going to die.”

Oh yeah, these guys will save the day.

[conservativecorner]

Why didn't you deploy these buses Mr. Mayor?

[Salvation]

What about all the New Orleans' buses, Mr. Naggin?

You could have started evacuating people on your own!

[Salvation]

There he goes again. May Nagin naggin someone else.

[zeaal]

The citizens of LA have so much on their minds, but certainly one day the Governor should be recalled and if an election occurs before that then she needs to be replaced.

[Nita Nupress]

I just can't forget and "move on" when it comes to the failure to evacuate those people out of the Superdome. In the N.O. disaster plan, it was designed to be a "staging area," and once the evacuation routes closed, a "refuge of last resort." Instead, people waited in line all day to get in the dome instead of sitting on buses, being transported to shelters. I was looking at a recent satellite photo of the downtown area and noticed what look like buses or trucks within a block of the Superdome.

Will someone please tell me these aren't buses or trucks that could have been used to evacuate those people?! (Click on photos)

First, here's an old photo from Google Earth of the vehicles in question:

Here's that same photo up close:

And finally, here's the same area from a photo taken on 9-3-05: