OT: Mayor of New Orleans lashes out at feds (MP3)

[Phantasm]

 

Originally posted by thelurker His city? It was his city last Friday, when he didn't order an evacuation. It was his city that didn't use city or school buses to help get people out. It was his city that had no actual plan to evacuate an area that, sooner or later, everybody knew would need one. His "name-dropping" is nothing more than trying to shift blame to other people. The fact is, he is the elected leader of this city, and when leadership was needed (before they got hit), he couldn't provide it.

 

 

I know that it's easy to point fingers at politicians but Nagin is a pretty genuine mayor. Here's some more info.

 

Regarding the busses... if he's the mayor of New Orleans, he has control over orleans parish busses. But, if the busses are with the drivers, and 80% of the city is under water, wouldnt' that implicate that 80% of the busses are flooded? So, the busses under his control were definately available, but all other busses would require the governor to make the request (which she did eventually.)

 

Regarding no evacuation plan... the city/state has enacted a highway contraflow plan that worked fairly well to get everyone out. It involves making all lanes of I-10 westbound to facilitate escape and routing some traffic west and some north. The bigger problem with evacuation is that 1) many people don't leave, since we've been being preached to about the "big one" for years and it never comes and 2) there's a large poor population in the city that have trouble getting themselves out. Consider the logistics of the city paying to evacuate 30,000 people who don't have a car and can't read above a 3rd grade level. (I'm estimating, of course, but I'd say that's a fair starting estimate.)

 

His name dropping was the first thing to get results. After he blew up, a lot of the things that he accused teh state and federal govt. of not providing showed up probably due to enormous public response.

[Phantasm]

 

Originally posted by thelurker They ordered the evacuation on Sunday. They gave no plan, had no directions for what areas should use what roads, and did it 48 hours later than they could have. Time was the single most important thing in a safe evacuation. The roads would not have been jammed right away, more people would have left when they were told, busses could have made more than one trip in & out to get people to safety. No mayor wants to "jump the gun" and evacuate when there is no a chance the disaster could be avoided, but this threat was looming on Thursday, and there was not one news source or weather source talking about any last minute "possible safe way out" for NOLA. In fact, they were all convinced that the storm would be category 5 when it hit. The people there were damn lucky it wasn't. The deaths and devastation would be even worse!

 

 

They had been advising people to leave much sooner than sunday. They also told people NOT TO GO TO THE SUPERDOME. Nagin himself got on the radio and said, "i do'nt know how to make it much clearer than this. Get out of the city. Do not go to the Superdome."

 

Regarding the roads being jammed, trust me when i say once they suggest evacuation the roads clog fast. I left on Saturday and it took me about 5 hours to get to Baton Rouge (normally an hour drive.)

[Phantasm]

 

Originally posted by Craigv At any rate, as a leader, he is stupid for badmouthing anyone. His job now is to lead his city. We civilians can badmouth, and we can question why the response is so slow. He can question later. But not now. Now is time for him to do what he was elected to do.

 

 

He asked people to leave early.

 

He asked people to take those who could not take themselves.

 

He asked people if they were foolish enough to stay to have an axe in case they needed to escape from their attic.

 

He warned people the superdome was not to be used as a shelter and that provisions would be scarce.

 

He asked for state and federal support and none came.

 

He was told the levee breach (which killed more than the storm, allow me to assure you) was going to at least have a fix attempted and it was not.

 

After days of lack of federal and state response, the city is under siege by people that could be better described as animals with guns. Now the situation is out of control and by the time the military does show up it will require force to put down the uprising.

 

Since nobody answered his pleas, he was forced to do what politicians never do - place blame on those who said they would send aid but did not.

 

It's easy to look at this from far away and make something else of it, but due to the fact that the govt. is not providing support with national guard and military it's endangering more lives and homes. My home did not flood badly but now stands more danger of being ransacked by looters who aren't being contained and are arming themselves.

[thelurker]

 

Regarding the roads being jammed, trust me when i say once they suggest evacuation the roads clog fast. I left on Saturday and it took me about 5 hours to get to Baton Rouge (normally an hour drive.)

 

 

Yes, I'm sure the roads clog fast, and I feel for being stuck in that kind of traffic, but if people had 72 hours to truly deal with it (after being ORDERED to leave), they are less likely to say "Well, I'd just be stuck in traffic, anyway".

 

I'm sure they did tell people to not go to the Superdome, but thousands did because they figured "what are they gonna do, turn me away?".

 

Phantasm, you are obviously a responsible member of society. You did what you should have to insure your own safety, and that of your significant other. Unfortunately, there are many folks that will do the absolute minimum, maybe less, to take care of themselves. Best of luck, and hope you find the trailer/camper you were looking for!

[thelurker]

 

Regarding the busses... if he's the mayor of New Orleans, he has control over orleans parish busses. But, if the busses are with the drivers, and 80% of the city is under water, wouldnt' that implicate that 80% of the busses are flooded?

 

 

Those buses were running fine BEFORE the storm. That's when they should have been put to use!

[thelurker]

 

Consider the logistics of the city paying to evacuate 30,000 people who don't have a car and can't read above a 3rd grade level. (I'm estimating, of course, but I'd say that's a fair starting estimate.)

 

 

That cost sounds about equal to the 10,000 deaths people are estimating?

 

 

After he blew up, a lot of the things that he accused teh state and federal govt. of not providing showed up probably due to enormous public response.

 

 

Those things probably got moving two or three days ago, they showed up now because it took that long. He didn't sound-off and then "POOF", it happened!

 

To find the real problems, and find real solutions, sometimes you need to be a little farther away from the problem. I do feel for the innocent people trapped here, and do not want them to go without aid. You were absolutely right about people ignoring warnings of things that never come. Wait 'til LA or San Fran gets the next big quake. The difference is, everybody and his duck knew this storm was coming, as early as last Thursday, but FEMA couldn't move in until after the storm had passed, otherwise many of the supplies would have been lost to the storm as well. If NOLA had been truly evacuated, the issues at hand would have been much less significant, and much easier to deal with.

[Phantasm]

He didn't sound off because he kept being promised help. The mp3 answers a lot of the questions, just it's 15 minutes long and takes a while to listen to.

 

Plus as far as evacuating prior to the hurricane, they tried! It's just a part of life here and people don't take it seriously. Honestly, even I didn't take it very seriously until Sunday. This is the 2nd or 3rd storm this season that i'd have evacuated for and who knows how many in my life... we all have a tendency to wait a while before leaving to see when the storm turns. I'm not saying that's good, but it does happen!

[syciprider]

 

Originally posted by Phantasm He didn't sound off because he kept being promised help. The mp3 answers a lot of the questions, just it's 15 minutes long and takes a while to listen to. Plus as far as evacuating prior to the hurricane, they tried! It's just a part of life here and people don't take it seriously. Honestly, even I didn't take it very seriously until Sunday. This is the 2nd or 3rd storm this season that i'd have evacuated for and who knows how many in my life... we all have a tendency to wait a while before leaving to see when the storm turns. I'm not saying that's good, but it does happen!

 

 

If he couldn't convince his ppl to go then he has no one to blame but himself and his lack of leadership.

 

I'm sorry but as a leader you don't go around badmouthing everyone around you when things take a bad downturn. It is YOUR city mayor. They elected YOU to run it. YOU are ULTIMATELY responsible for it. Have some integrity and quit acting like a high school kid.