Its in this where the failure occurred. There was no relief effort to speak of. Within a day or two they chose to evacuate the existing shelters and buses were brought in through an apparently clear road to Houston. Amazingly enough FEMA was hacking its way through the wilderness instead of using this clear road.
The state government could really only call on the National Guard and clearly they were not available in any strength to speak of or they chose to follow someone else's orders.
No, in this case the best that local and state leaders could do was call foul and do so as publicly as possible. They can't call foul until they are certain there is a failure to respond. It would be rude to the extreme to do so too early. So time passed and frustrations rose until finally it was obvious no one was coming. In this case I believe Mayor Nagin to be a great man. He had the balls to call it like it is in a world all too carried away with political games. Political games that may very well be responsible for the catastrophe.
--] "In the case of Katrina, there was huge fleet of school buses the mayor could have dispatched to aid in evacuating people unable to leave on their own. Instead, the buses sat in parking lots that later flooded, making them unusable when tens of thousands were stranded in the flooded city." [--
Obviously, if anyone is concerned with niceties like licensing or requisition notices, then that would tend to point towards part of the failure involved here.
You can see a picture of the buses here.
Also, feel free to google for this AJC article:
--] In scripted appearances being recorded now, officials such as Mayor Ray Nagin, local Red Cross Executive Director Kay Wilkins and City Council President Oliver Thomas drive home the word that the city does not have the resources to move out of harm's way an estimated 134,000 people without transportation." [--
300 buses would have held, let's be generous and say 50 people per bus for a total of 1,500 people. Where would he tell the bus drivers to take them?
Where would he get another 3,000 busses and drivers? Where would he tell the bus drivers to go?
There is a good reason they call them national disasters wacko.
Compare the response of Bush's FEMA to the response of Clinton's FEMA after 9/11 and after Hurricane Dennis.
Now that Bush has neutered FEMA, we see the results of Bush's theory of governance as well as his incompetence.
I might be wrong about this, but I believe the Red Cross had already opened shelters about 60 miles north of N.O.
Anyone who'd wonder whether they had the right to comandeer a bus in a situation like this has absolutely no right to any position of authority.
Oh yeah. Jabbar Gibson. That's the kid they were talking about pressing felony grand theft charges against.
So let's see. The Mayor could have ordered the bus company to do what? Call up the bus drivers and tell them to forget about their families and their evacuation plans, because they had to report to work?
If I recall nearly 50% of the New Orleans police force refused to show up for work. They were probably evacuating their families or something stupid like that. The owner of the bus company probably would have said "Sure thing Mayor. You can have my buses. Here's the keys and I'll call up the bus drivers personally, because I can't get any of my clerical workers to come into work to call the bus drivers to come into work."
Yeah, that's a brilliant plan. Why didn't the Mayor think of that? Maybe he's not batshit crazy as TheLonewacko.
When did the Red Cross set up shelters? Before Hurrican Katrina hit? How many people did their shelters hold? Would they have been able to feed and shelter 12,000 people? Those are some pretty big shelters to set up on speculation.
I don't suppose you have a link to the conclusion that you "could be wrong about." How about maybe you're just making shit up?
What else would you expect from a troll bullshit artist who is bat shit crazy?
Exactly what do you think Bush's responsibility is in this whole picture? What responsibility does the President of the United States have in a situation like this?
I mean aside from eating cake and playing the banjo while New Orleans drowns.
Why are you crying about having your previous racist comment deleted if you don't respond when you do have the opportunity?
Oh, sorry. I forgot you were just another ignorant drive by troll.
