September 27th, 2005
As I try to catch up with the day’s events after being locked up with the crazy people I work with from 8am to after 5pm in a little hot room, New Orleans weighs heavily on my mind…
Probably because there’s been quite a few stories in the news about it today.
It’s no surprise to me that main stream media is under attack from misreporting the aftermath of Katrina. Euphoric Reality has an excellent post about it and I’ve already expressed my opinion.
Police Superintendent Eddie Compass of New Orleans resigned after the chaotic aftermath of Katrina in which 1/6th of his police staff may have deserted, two police officers committed suicide, and some police officers have been accused of looting.
“It’s a sad day in the city of New Orleans when a hero makes a decision like this,” said Nagin, who appointed Compass in mid-2002. “He leaves the department in pretty good shape and with a significant amount of leadership.”
New Orleans evacuees at a shelter in Baton Rouge disagreed over the chief’s legacy and whether he should have resigned.
“It’s about time,” said Larry Smit, 52, who owns a construction company. “Get rid of all of them. They ain’t doing anything.”
But truck driver James Dordain, 41, said Compass had been doing a good job with an understaffed department and faced with an unprecedented natural disaster.
“They pushed a good man to the breaking point,” said Dordain, referring to other government authorities. “When they came, it was really too late.” [“Leader of New Orleans Police Resigns”]
Meanwhile the case-by-case investigation into nearly 250 New Orleans police officers who weren’t “at their posts” during the Katrina aftermath is being at least discussed, as well as publicized.
Meanwhile, El and her family are returning to the family home in Jefferson Parrish today. There’s no word as of yet as to when El and PW may be able to return to their apartment and the word from friends and the news is not good for recovering anything.
Tags: New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, Ray Nagin
September 23rd, 2005
A lot of finger-pointing has been going on in the aftermath of Katrina. Certainly a lot of fingers were pointed at Democrat Governor Blanco by Republicans claiming she and New Orleans city Mayor Ray Naggin are to blame for poor planning and not evacuating the city soon enough. They’ve been blamed for not commandeering city and school buses (though the drivers had abandoned ship) to evacuate the poor without transportation.
The tale from Republican-run Texas regarding Rita doesn’t sound much more organized and successful.
“I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain’t none. No one answers,” she said, standing in blistering heat outside a check-cashing store that had just run out of its main commodity. “Everyone just says, ‘Get out, get out.’ I’ve got no way of getting out. And now I’ve got no money.” [“No Way Out”]
And those who had transportation didn’t get very far. Between the extra-large number of cars and vehicles trying to get out of the city and a gas shortage, much of Houston is stuck on Texas interstates, many for ten or more hours in the heat with no air-conditioning, many without food or water. Plus there’s reports that Texas didn’t open up the inbound lanes to outbound traffic, making an even bigger bottleneck.
Judie Anderson of La Porte, Texas, covered just 45 miles in 12 hours. She had been on the road since 10 p.m. Wednesday, headed toward Oklahoma, which by Thursday was still very far away.
“This is the worst planning I’ve ever seen,” she said. “They say, ‘We’ve learned a lot from Hurricane Katrina.’ Well, you couldn’t prove it by me.” [“No Way Out”]
So, less than a month later, we’re still not prepared…
Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, New Orleans, Kathleen Blanco, Ray Nagin
September 20th, 2005
I saw that Bush attended a pow-wow in the Gulf regarding Hurricane Rita and it’s potential threat to New Orleans and the rest of the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. If only he’d made such a show in the week and days prior to Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast less than a month ago, he might have avoided a lot of criticism in the last three weeks.
Hopefully this is a sign that we’re learning from our mistakes…
On the other hand, as much as I like Mayor Nagin and think he’s a good thing for New Orleans, I don’t agree with his push to rush people back into New Orleans before all of the water is drained and it’s been declared safe by people who understand what the kind of toxins that have been soaking into the city can do. I’m secretly glad that Rita has put a halt to his plans and I hope someone shakes some sense into him before he has a chance to make the situation potentially worse.
Tags: George W. Bush, Hurricane Rita, Ray Nagin, Gulf Coast
