New Orleans Mayor Interview

[BRH]

No one deserves a pass on this one.  Are you defending FEMA as an agency or as an agency in the Bush government?  Just curious.

426750[/snapback]

Look at his avatar and there's your answer.

[SilverNRed]

This is a national disaster that cries out for a national response.  That is what FEMA is for.  That is what the Federal government is for.

 

Bush now is even saying the response was " not acceptable."  It was not.  We look really stupid.  This whole situation looks more like Darfur than the world's only super power.

426754[/snapback]

Again, how on earth was anyone supposed to be ready for a situation where people are shooting at helicopters and assaulting police stations.

 

This would be a lot easier and different if everyone was pulling in the same direction instead of taking their kids with them to loot.

[PromoTheRobot]

whatever happened to personal responsibility?

426653[/snapback]

Whatever happened to compassion for people in dire need?

 

PTR

[PromoTheRobot]

This guy is irrate and I think deservingly so.

 

http://www.wben.com/newsroom/ondemand.php

 

"I'm probably gonna get in so much trouble, it's not even funny. They probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview."

 

I support the war but he's dead on when he talks about the response in comparsion to the war and the tsunami relief. Sounds like the governor is dropping the ball according to this guy.

426635[/snapback]

The war in Iraq is being handled about the same way. So what's your point?

 

PTR

[philburger1]

This guy is irrate and I think deservingly so.

 

http://www.wben.com/newsroom/ondemand.php

 

"I'm probably gonna get in so much trouble, it's not even funny. They probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview."

 

I support the war but he's dead on when he talks about the response in comparsion to the war and the tsunami relief. Sounds like the governor is dropping the ball according to this guy.

426635[/snapback]

 

 

Rudy G. he is not.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

This is a national disaster that cries out for a national response.  That is what FEMA is for.  That is what the Federal government is for.

 

Bush now is even saying the response was " not acceptable."  It was not.  We look really stupid.  This whole situation looks more like Darfur than the world's only super power.

426754[/snapback]

 

Key word being "response". FEMA's responsible for managing the aftermath, not the civil planning that was apparently VERY absent. FEMA (and DoD, and a bunch of other people) are struggling to catch up to a situation that was in large part created by the New Orleans' municipal government's utter lack of preparedness.

[nemhoff]

I am not sure that any of us can appreciate the utter chaos, unrest, and confusion that NO is dealing with. Media outlets should shut down criticism until after every alive human is removed from the city. Let's evaluate after the job is actually done.

 

A little righteous anger from the Mayor seems warranted to me.

 

I wish that Shepard Smith would put down the friggin mike and go help some of these people, that guy makes my stomach turn. Someone needs to say, "Yo shep, you could help that dead guy on the stree. Or, you could help people get out of the water."

[flomoe]

No kidding.  And nice Underpants Gnomes reference.

 

It also doesn't help that a sizeable chunk of the NO police department abandoned the city and the rest of them are trapped in their police stations fighting off roving gangs like its the Alamo.  Seriously, there are people in the city making it nearly impossible to rescue everyone and we're blaming the people who can't get in to stop them?  What? 

426740[/snapback]

 

 

This is the most accurate statement in this whole post. If any of you were a police officer and were told to abandon your family in the midst of this devastation so that you can "police" the area while not enforcing the actual laws, would any of you do the job? I sure as hell wouldn't. The city basically is being run by the gangs of looters and criminals right now and until somebody with big enough balls orders the police or National Guard to use any force necessary to restore order, you are going to keep seeing what the "media" is showing. Unfortunately, the local government of NO and the state of Louisiana weren't prepared to handle this catastrophe, which I don't think any city or state would be, and they are now acting like the true politicians that they are and trying to be politically correct in handling the situation without offending or hurting anyone. They are passing the blame onto the US government which seems to be caught off guard by the magnitude of the devastation, not just in NO but in all of Mississippi and Alabama also.

The media isn't helping the situation here but that's another post in itself.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

This guy's a clown.

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

No one deserves a pass on this one.  Are you defending FEMA as an agency or as an agency in the Bush government?  Just curious.

426750[/snapback]

 

I'll defend FEMA as an agency. They had more resources in place before the storm came ashore than they committed to any storm last year after they came ashore. Their response has already been greater in three days than their combined response to all four major hurricanes (Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, and Frances) last year combined. They're simply hindered by physical conditions on the ground, and municipal leadership that can't do anything but scream "Help!"

[N.Y. Orangeman]

Key word being "response".  FEMA's responsible for managing the aftermath, not the civil planning that was apparently VERY absent.  FEMA (and DoD, and a bunch of other people) are struggling to catch up to a situation that was in large part created by the New Orleans' municipal government's utter lack of preparedness.

426771[/snapback]

 

NO gov't shares the blame, but I would imagine that FEMA would also want those who could not leave to gather at a site of this nature. NO had the basic necessities there prior to and during the storm. It all went to hell in there thereafter, when FEMA should have responded. What did we get instead? The Head of FEMA acknowledging that he was unaware that thousands of people were cobbled together at the largest public building in the city.

[SilverNRed]

I'll defend FEMA as an agency.  They had more resources in place before the storm came ashore than they committed to any storm last year after they came ashore.  Their response has already been greater in three days than their combined response to all four major hurricanes (Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, and Frances) last year combined.  They're simply hindered by physical conditions on the ground, and municipal leadership that can't do anything but scream "Help!"

426785[/snapback]

I love how everyone on the internet thinks they have better ideas for helping than FEMA and that the people in FEMA are just too dumb/lazy to implement anything to help people in NO. Seriously, if there's anything they can do, they're already doing it. For the millionth time, what's happening now is unprecedented.

[SDS]

NO gov't shares the blame, but I would imagine that FEMA would also want those who could not leave to gather at a site of this nature.  NO had the basic necessities there prior to and during the storm.  It all went to hell in there thereafter, when FEMA should have responded.  What did we get instead?  The Head of FEMA acknowledging that he was unaware that thousands of people were enmassed at the largest public building in the city.

426792[/snapback]

 

I'll correct you again. FEMA was aware of people at the SuperDome. They were unaware of the people being told to go to the convention center after the storm came through.

[SDS]

I love how everyone on the internet thinks they have better ideas for helping than FEMA and that the people in FEMA are just too dumb/lazy to implement anything to help people in NO.  Seriously, if there's anything they can do, they're already doing it.  For the millionth time, what's happening now is unprecedented.

426795[/snapback]

 

I propose we siink an American city once every other year to training purposes.

[Max Fischer]

Rudy G. he is not.

426763[/snapback]

 

Typical. If he was Rudy G. you'd give him a pass. Your partisanship is so transparent.

 

NOT to downgrade the horrific situation on 9/11 but Katrina is significantly worse in every way, shape and form.

 

Why doesn't GWB get accolades from you for 9/11 but a pass now?

 

One can only guess . . .

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

Typical.  If he was Rudy G. you'd give him a pass.  Your partisanship is so transparent. 

 

NOT to downgrade the horrific situation on 9/11 but Katrina is significantly worse in every way, shape and form. 

 

Why doesn't GWB get accolades from you for 9/11 but a pass now?

 

One can only guess . . .

426801[/snapback]

 

If he were Rudy G he wouldn't have lost control of his city.

 

Although Rudy didn't have to deal with an ongoing disaster. Planes hit, buildings fell...event's over, time for clean-up. It's not like planes and buildings fell from the sky for a full week.

[Fake-Fat Sunny]

Again, how on earth was anyone supposed to be ready for a situation where people are shooting at helicopters and assaulting police stations. 

 

This would be a lot easier and different if everyone was pulling in the same direction instead of taking their kids with them to loot.

426757[/snapback]

 

The natural disaster here is the Hurricane but the manmade disaster here is the flooding from the busted levees which was not only forsseable but forseen in Nature magazine two or three years ago,

 

The Mayor of NO, the Governor of LA, and the President of the USA all took the responsibility to deal with these types of situations as best they can and the best that any of three can do has been pretty bad.

 

1. It was not predictable but forseeable that a cat 5 hurricane would hit the area and a system was not put in place to force the evacuation of everyone in danger of flooding and a system was not put into place to get ths basics of food and water to those idiots who choose or had to stay. Without these basics some folks horribly have taken advantage of the situation and bad things are happening.

 

2. The governor seems pretty overwhelmed and the media has focus on statements from here which emphasize the law and order foul-ups which she has limited direct control over since she is not the Mayor and limited resources to deal with since she has only the national guard and not the US military.

 

3. The Prez caught a bad break on the timing as he was just finishing up a lengthy "vacation" and the minions at FEMA with direct authority over the federal response have proved unable to be effective given the mistakes of the local politiciams in preparing for this situation.

 

How on earth were they supposed to deal with this?

 

1. The Mayor needed to exercise leadership in not letting NO invest in a process where they were going to get flooded out by a cat 5 hit.

2. The Governor needs to calm down a bit and suck it up and not pass the ball to the feds providing public safety order the locals failed to do by calling for troops to come in and shoot to kill.

3. its hard to say what the Prez should do because he has led by exerting leadership which has divided the country over Iraq.

 

I think we will have to do the bes we can until we get a more effective leader in the Presidency though this will be several years.

[N.Y. Orangeman]

I'll correct you again.  FEMA was aware of people at the SuperDome.  They were unaware of the people being told to go to the convention center after the storm came through.

426796[/snapback]

 

First time you've corrected me, but who is counting . I stand corrected on the convention center distinction.

 

This is the article I'm citing:

 

Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown told CNN that federal officials were unaware of the crowds at the convention center until Thursday, despite the fact that city officials had been telling people for days to gather there

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.impact/index.html

 

 

Either way, aren't we splitting hairs?

[Crap Throwing Monkey]

The natural disaster here is the Hurricane but the manmade disaster here is the flooding from the busted levees which was not only forsseable but forseen in Nature magazine two or three years ago,

 

The Mayor of NO, the Governor of LA, and the President of the USA all took the responsibility to deal with these types of situations as best they can and the best that any of three can do has been pretty bad.

 

1. It was not predictable but forseeable that a cat 5 hurricane would hit the area and a system was not put in place to force the evacuation of everyone in danger of flooding and a system was not put into place to get ths basics of food and water  to those idiots who choose or had to stay. Without these basics some folks horribly have taken advantage of the situation and bad things are happening.

 

2. The governor seems pretty overwhelmed and the media has focus on statements from here which emphasize the law and order foul-ups which she has limited direct control over since she is not the Mayor and limited resources to deal with since she has only the national guard and not the US military.

 

3. The Prez caught a bad break on the timing as he was just finishing up a lengthy "vacation" and the minions at FEMA with direct authority over the federal response have proved unable to be effective given the mistakes of the local politiciams in preparing for this situation.

 

How on earth were they supposed to deal with this?

 

1. The Mayor needed to exercise leadership in not letting NO invest in a process where they were going to get flooded out by a cat 5 hit.

2. The Governor needs to calm down a bit and suck it up and not pass the ball to the feds providing public safety order the locals failed to do by calling for troops to come in and shoot to kill.

3. its hard to say what the Prez should do because he has led by exerting leadership which has divided the country over Iraq.

 

I think we will have to do the bes we can until we get a more effective leader in the Presidency though this will be several years.

426806[/snapback]

 

I don't know that anyone sitting in the president's chair would have made a difference; the decisions at the root of the problem were taken at a much lower level long before this happened. Only federal-level thing I can think of that might have mitigated this would be some sort of a QC review process at DHS for establishing the completeness of municipal emergency management planning. But strong leadership from the White House wouldn't have helped much; the convulsive relief efforts are less a function of high-level federal leadership than they are of abyssmal local conditions.

 

Other than that, nice post. Very nice synopsis of how the chain of communication got so screwed up.

[SDS]

First time you've corrected me, but who is counting . 

 

This is the article I'm citing: 

 

Federal Emergency Management Director Michael Brown told CNN that federal officials were unaware of the crowds at the convention center until Thursday, despite the fact that city officials had been telling people for days to gather there

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.impact/index.html

Either way, aren't we splitting hairs?

426807[/snapback]

 

No, it is the second time today - you must have skipped my post.

 

Did the "people" that were informed to gather at the CC include anybody at FEMA?

 

No.

 

Days, means after the storm. They were telling people who were stranded to get to the CC because access to the SD was blocked off. Nobody bothered to tell FEMA. They aren't clairvoyant.