Failure of N.O. Gov

[scottish144]

In the news about Katrina, everything has been about bashing Bush and how black people need more money. No one has said anything about the New Orleans government and its obvious corruption. For one thing, the Army core of engineers urged the senators and governer to loby for improvement of the levies, the government ignored the pleads. The NOPD is even worse. There were several stories where police officers willfully abandoned their posts (a women asked for help from an officer, and he said: "No. I'm going home") Even worse is the story where an 11 man police team haeding for the convention center was turned back by a bunch of armed thugs, despite the pleads of the people within. Something doesn't smell right here.

 

[Red Dawn]

Thag does it, she won't be getting my vote!

Sarcasm aside, one would think that there would be those inEmergency Agencies in the Gulf States that would be experienced with this kind of situation..well maybe not at this scale but better prepared than they have shown. Mayors, Governors and even our President depend on those in these agencies to be able to deal with this kind of disaster and to me it seems like it's those people, not the electesd officials who fell down on the job. That's jot to say the Mayor, Governor and President did a good job because IMO they didn't as they should have made sure that the people they depend on were up to doing the job in a timely manner .

 

[EatSpam]

Corruptions in New Orleans aside...

Link

Interestingly, it appears there was a bill passed by Congress to improve the levies and work had begun.

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

But then, it was cut off for some reason in 2003.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

While its tempting to do as Rush Limbaugh says and blame Clinton and the Libruls and pray and stuff....

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Interestingly, it appears there was a bill passed by Congress to improve the levies and work had begun.
. . .

But then, it was cut off for some reason in 2003.

The funding was apparently cut to pay for expenses related to the war in Iraq.

That said, the project was a massive one that would have taken decades to complete - even if the Army Corps had unlimited funding, it would never have been completed in time to prevent this disaster.

I think it's clear local government made some missteps here. It seems to me ALL of the NO mayors and LA governors for the last, say, 20 years, regardless of party, bear substantial responsibility for not sufficiently emphasizing the need for real, comprehensive response plans, and drilling their National Guard assets on them.

I still feel as though the really distressing aspect of this situation, from a policy perspective, is that FEMA seemed so unprepared in terms of plans and materiel, and so nonresponsive. Considering the billions we've put into homeland security, I find it hard to justify the slipshod response to this situation, and the delay will almost certainly end up having cost thousands of lives.

 

[conjur]

Watch this and then see if you feel the same way

Jefferson Parish President (sobbing).

"The guy who runs this building I'm in, the emergency management. He's responsible for everything.
His mother was trapped in St. Bernard Nursing Home.
And everyday she called him and said, 'Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?'
And he said, 'Yeah, mama. Somebody's coming to get ya.
Somebody's coming to get you on Tue.
Somebody's coming to get you on Wed.
Somebody's coming to get you on Thu.
Somebody's coming to get you on Fri.
And she drowned...Fri night. She drowned on Fri. night"

"Nobody's coming to get us.
Nobody's coming to get us.
The Secretary's promised. Everybody's promised.
They've had press conferences...I...I'm sick of the press conferences.
For God's sakes, shut up and send us somebody."


He also gave several examples of FEMA turning back assistance and also cutting their communication lines.

Video:
http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=39D44TQZEXE632ASCA2EEL0ZIL
http://s28.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0PW4XZFWSF1D71GFBBTGED3R8W (secondary link)

 

[Spencer278]

of course the n.o goverment failed it is under water.