Future Shock
So now that water is finally moving into Lake Pontchartrain and the evacuation phase is winding down and some residents are even being allowed to return to their homes, maybe it’s time to ask a couple of questions about New Orleans’ future.
Here’s what I mean: New Orleans is a town built on tourism, right? Service industry is king. And, of course, service industry workers–the people who toil in hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs–get paid practically nothing. Ergo, it should come as no surprise to the rest of the country that New Orleans has such a high percentage of poverty-level families because the city’s major employer pays crapola. It’s these families we’ve seen on TV for the past week, families who couldn’t afford to leave, families who lived in flood-prone neighborhoods, families who have now lost everything.
So if these families, the working poor, weren’t able to leave in the face of a major hurricane, do we really think they’re going to be able to afford to come back? And if they do, what’s there for them? No homes. No family. A city full of restaurants and hotels that will take time to get back up and running. All of which begs the question: how does an industry restart itself without a workforce?
There is, however, a bright side–or at least the possibility of a bright side. To draw people back, the service industry might have to start paying people a living wage. That’d boost the city’s mean income and, quite possibly, New Orleans’ quality of life.
Or maybe–and wouldn’t this be interesting?–maybe New Orleans will set its sights on other economic engines. I mean, yes, tourism will always be an important part of the economy–after all, we’re the most interesting city in America, right? But what if we were able to build our the city’s new foundations upon a second industry? I’m not an economist, I’m not an entrepreneuse, so I don’t know what that might be, but there’s got to be something besides Hooters and the W and the Cat’s Meow.
Related posts:
Richard,
Tourism will probably be the first and last industry to recover. After all, Molly’s and Johnny White’s are still pouring, and all those reporters are going to want to let their hair down at night. That’s where it starts, but it may be a long time before the Convention Center sees those 50,000-attendee events that used to fill the hotels.
New Orleans has numerous other large employers who will be back quickly. Tulane University is claiming to be “the city’s largest employer” and is determined to open for Spring semester 2006. We have some of the finest medical schools, hospitals, doctors, and nurses in the world; they’ll be back (many of them haven’t left). The local, state, and federal government will continue to be major employers.
A backbone of tourism, education, health services, oil & gas revenues, will float this city back to solvency as long as the levies hold. If we could concentrate on building up the public school system properly and getting the corruption out of local government, this city could lure millions to its wonderful winter weather and people-first culture.
STEVE O’KEEFE
Marigny Refugee
The city of New Orleans was not built on tourism. The site was chosen as the easiest place on the river’s mouth to get to for cargo ships. In fact there isn’t much land above sea level until you hit Baton Rouge, but the folks shipping cargo did not think that BR was a convenient place to build a major port since it is so far upriver.
The industry of tourism came much later, mostly during the last 50 years. The city has been a port for the last 300.
Nowadays, though, you are correct about its major industry being tourism. The shipping industry employs around 95,000 locally, and I don’t have numbers for tourism-based jobs, but I think the number is higher than 95K.
The “evacuees” will live where ever the biggest govt check is available.
Anyplace with tourism as it’s #1 industry is just sad.
Local govt has more incompetence than corruption.
Part of nola’s appeal is the “who cares” attitude and cheap fun offered by it’s damp stinky services.
If there was no longer a “service industry” then the people who choose to live there would have to get an education and a real job which means real money.
Then there would no longer be a quaint Southern city in the swamp with colorful strange-talking negroes to entertain the tourists. The service industry owners would not make money off of the sub-standard status of other Americans.
No the evacuees will not live where the biggest government check is avaiable. Most service industry people would rather work than take money from big brother. Maybe if the minimum wage for these workers had been raised since 1989 then things would be easier for service industry people to make a liveable wage. I work as a server and still am making 2.13 an hour.
You’re right: you’re not an economist.
It isn’t that “the city’s major employers pay crapola.” The market dictates that low- and no-skill jobs such as these are ready to be filled by zillions of low- and no-skills people. I just don’t see how there would ever really be a market demand for higher pay. It’s silly.
No one is forcing people by gunpoint to wait tables or clean hotel rooms. Having other marketable skills could change this path for them.
“I work as a server and still am making 2.13 an hour.”
You must be proud. Don’t overachieve, though. If carrying plates of food across a room is your idea of a career, then, by golly, you’ve knocked it out of the park!
You go girl!
Oh, “Poopmachine.” I’m guessing you’ve never been to New Orleans. If you have, you obviously weren’t paying attention.
You see, even if the Orleans Parish school system were providing enough of an education to offer children broader employment opportunities after graduation, there would be practically nowhere for those children to find better jobs. There are no Fortune 500 companies left in New Orleans. There are few if any tech upstarts. The service industry is basically it.
Also, your attitude toward service industry folks is offensive. There’s no need to look down your nose at people–especially those waiting tables. It’s honest work, and it pays bills. Frankly, waiters and bartenders probably fare the best of all service industry folks. The servers at Commander’s and Galatoire’s and the Bourbon Pub probably earn more in a week than most of us 9-to-5ers.
And “calm_rational”: I think you’d be surprised at how many cities consider tourism one of their major economic engines. DC, LA, San Francisco, everyplace in Hawaii–I wouldn’t call any of those places “sad.” And truth be told, I’d rather see an economy grounded in tourism instead of, say, manufacturing. I mean, really: who the hell wants to live in Detroit?
Lived there. Taught in the public schools. Got my bona fides.
I wasn’t looking down on the poor server girl. All I meant was that she is silly for CHOOSING to work for 2.13/hr and then complain about it. I’m sure the high-end wait staff and bartenders make good money. But those jobs are limited.
Regardless, shouldn’t ones “reach exceed their grasp”? Is waiting tables really a “career”? How many kids do you hear in the playground say, “When I grow up, I want to be a server!”
It gauls me a bit to hear service workers maligned just because that’s what they do. After all, it’s hard to get one snob to bus a table for another isn’t it?
$2.13 /hr? There isn’t anyplace up here in the GWN with a minimum wage under $6.50.
It’s good to see everyone talking as if New Orleans *will be* restored — I had thought there was a chance that the devestation was so great that it may be lost.
And wasn’t that spot chosen by the Acadians (aka Cajuns) who were booted from the Maritimes and who simply kept running until no one was willing to chace them any longer which meant that a gator infested swamp was actually a refuge from their abusers?
Poopmachine and calm_rational are 2 good examples
of the snobbish attitude that all the victims in
New Orleans are no-goods who don’t want to work.
They and their President wish these people would
disappear from the face of the earth. To malign
a server because she/he doesn’t get paid much, and
that it’s not considered a “career”…..it makes me puke. I really don’t even know what to say.
This whole disaster has brought out a lot of good
in SOME people,and a lot of bad in MANY. I hope
it tears our country apart, it’s time for the showdown anyway. The rich re-elected their President to protect their riches, and by God, if
it means ignoring the despair of the poor, then
Let Them Eat Cake.
Right now, the talk is how will New Orleans make a come-back if it is even possible? Face it, most of the people are not going to want to come back to a town that is disease infested due to this flood. No matter how much they try to keep the water out, this town is always going to be in a flood plain so the insurance rates will be astronomical if the coverage will even be available. Instead of trying to fight against the water, why not use the flood waters as an advantage? What am I getting at? How about America’s version of Venice! Why not? It would have a taste of Europe with a uniquely American taste in culture. Instead of pumping the water out, just confine it to canals throughout the city. Tourism would flourish. Of course the people operating the gondola’s would be using the pole not only to move the boat but also fight back the aligators, but then again, that would add to the entertainment. As long as New Orleans can come up with a way to have that water flowing through the canals instead of sitting still, then the city still would not have the problems of mosquitos.
Face it, you can’t fight mother nature. So why not use what she throws at you to your advantage?
Carl
Meccas for:
(1) Art/culture. It was already there and it worked for New York and Hollywood, didn’t it?
(2) Urban planning/geekery. Have every damn creative architect and engineer want to move there and build it up and build it right. Emphasize sustainability and limited dependence on cars.
Impeach Ray Nagin now for gross incompetence. The mayor, ordered a “mandatory” evacuation a day late, but kept the city’s 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty water.
I agree with FOGUEIRA. Take some of the take some of the moneies donated to engineers and architects to live there and create a bigger and better Orleans. America was built on dreams and a will. There was and is no question that Orleans will be rebuilt for the better.
Over a hundred years ago Galvistan, Texas was wiped out due to a hurricane. Many lives lost, also. And it is still there and habited.
Pure genius Richard. The service economy is so unstable, and not to mention seasonal, that we’ve put all our eggs in a basket full of holes. I read an article that quoted Bill Gates the other day(the grand poobah of all newsmaking tech related statements. grr.) saying that tax incentives are not the way to lure businesses, but an educated workforce. While we don’t have the best public schools in New Orleans, we have a truly dizzying amount of GOOD universities. How many kids from the GWN go to Tulane and Loyola? Xavier is a wonderful HBCU. And UNO boasts some programs some would consider to be in the top 5 in the country. (Naval Architecture, Film, and the Comp Sci department ain’t too shabby either)
Plenty of kids goto these universities, regardless of their residency, what needs to happen is stopping the ‘brain drain’ miss Blanco was so determined to stamp out during her election campaign.
And, on the subject of Sugar Ray Nagin…..
that man is doing what he can with little to no help from the feds. You want to blame somebody? Blame the man who put FEMA in the dept. of Homeland Security. The man who didn’t leave his ranch for 2 days after Katrina. I guess clearing the brush from the Western White House was more important than even glancing at the biggest natural disaster in history.
Jorge
Lakeview evacuee.
Construction already fuels a large part of the national economy, not just by hiring carpenters and plumbers, but through manufacturing the thousands of components that go into making a building. Then there’s rebuilding the infrastructure, including the roads, bridges, sewers, telecom, etc. And of course you have to build the tools, machines, and heavy equipment, from hammers to Cats. And then there are title companies, surveyors, and real estate agents, plus all their secretaries and assistants. So it’s vital to rebuild asap– construction projects of all sizes are going to be a major paycheck generator for the foreseeable future.
Start with ports and petroleum.
Uptown and the people who want to live there.
Antiquing, galleries, music.
Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, and (someday, maybe) UNO. And the 30,000 students who will need to buy stuff.
The big hotels, who can initially house their own staff, and the B&B owners who are their own staff. Hospitality is already trying to get online.
It won’t all come back at once, but it will come back. It won’t be the same, but it will be similar. It may be a smaller New Orleans, a more-expensive New Orleans — think San Francisco with swamps — and possibly a safer New Orleans.
But there will be Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest, October gallery openings and St. Patrick’s Day at Parasol’s. Little old ladies will go to make their groceries under their umbrellas, rain or shine, and the streetcar will still scare joggers who run facing the wrong way on the neutral ground.
Maybe not all at once, but soon, someday soon.
To those who have wondered where is Dick Cheney? The news just came out in DC that he has been house hunting in Maryland and we all know that is far too important to desturb for a national disaster! (yes, that was sarcasm) The man spent his time house hunting and thousands of people have no home to go back to. I am SO disgusted. I have written every day to my senators, representatives, and anyone else I can think of about the federal government and its terrible idea of what ranks as important.
I’m posting in a weird spot, and this is only happening in a handful of cities, but Monday, September 12 a number of bars in a number of cities are getting together and having a “Save New Orleans Cocktail Hour” (actually two hours) to raise money for displaced hospitality workers. Site’s at http://www.museumoftheamericanco…rg/Cocktail200/ Spread the word, and ask your local bar of choice to participate.
“The market dictates that low- and no-skill jobs such as these are ready to be filled by zillions of low- and no-skills people. I just don’t see how there would ever really be a market demand for higher pay.”
Excuse me? It does take skill to work these jobs for low pay. YOU try doing your job and smiling while the people you are serving look down their nose at you and bitch you out for things they should be talking to management and CEO’s about.
“No one is forcing people by gunpoint to wait tables or clean hotel rooms. Having other marketable skills could change this path for them.”
No, no gunpoint needed. Just the thought of no house and no food for their family is enough. As for marketable skills, there are only so many “high paying” jobs to go around. I know many people with PHD’s flipping burgers because there is nothing else available for them.
To all of those affected by this disaster, my thoughts are with you. Thanks for showing the world the strong side of our nation, a strength born from the soul.
For New Orleans to survive, the economy must expand beyond tourism. I agree with Fogueira that NO must be a destination for artists, architects and urban planners (I would also add the IT field). The Superdome & Convention Center must be torn down, for they represent the nightmare that NO has become. The city must experience a rebirth: imagine innovative architecture & businesses mingled with the classic resturants, bars & preserved historical sites. NO must attract the creative class, and get the old residents back by having better paying jobs in the service industry.
Because of the national attention, NO has the potential to come back strong. But it won’t do it by sticking to the old ways. It’s time to think outside the box.
Please understand I love New Orleans, but I see another New Orleans nightmare emerging. A significant portion of workers (particularly those with the ability/aptitude to work) begin to setup shop in other cities. As New Orleans attempts to sputter back to life, tens of thousands of people are weighing the negatives of New Orleans vs. the positives. Businesses find themselves at the same decision point adding the factors of workforce education, business climate etc. Many people and businesses that would have never previously thought of relocating will find themselves considering this as a very real possibility. Unemployment and crime soar to record levels - so much so that the tourism dollars fail to recover to their pre-Katrina levels. Finally, after many years of a stalled recovery and exhausted recovery budgets, the State gives the Casinos free reign, with the hope of reinvigorating the city through a massive investment of their money. The city is remade with a Vegas-style faux New Orleans culture, in time becoming a southern facsimile of Atlantic City. This is my post-nightmare, nightmare for New Orleans. Oh, and please save the romantic musings of the indomitable New Orleans culture that won’t be put down. This is about real people trying to decide what is best for their family.
I’ve just read in The New York Times that it will take YEARS to get back clean water. Is it logical to rebuild a city in such a vulnerable situation? A city that could be destroyed again in 5, 10 or 50 years? For me, what they are doing is a waste of money. A new city should be built from scratch, in a safer place. That would generate A LOT of jobs. Scuba divers can look for corpses, and in doing that, they wouldn’t pollute the lake, which these ’smart-bush-guided’ guys are doing right now.
The water will be fine in just a short while - Louisiana water supplies are contaminaated all the time because of the high water table - all they have to do (generally speaking) is purge the lines and flush them out a couple of times and restart the pumps and purifiers. Pressure is already restored thorugh out most of the city, helping firefighting efforts, and tests are pending about contamination. The rest is specualtion, nothing more. “Moving” the ciy is equal to abandoning it - an unacceptable option, maybe not to you, but certainly to me and millions of others whose “tax dollars” will be funding the efforts. (I prefer it to be spent that way rather than for bombs)
FYI: the lake has been dirty for years - nothing new there.
I love N.O. and want to see it rebuilt and flourishing again! I might be a little out of line here, but isn’t anyone pissed that Haliburton has already been awarded a no-bid contract to “clean up” the city? Wouldn’t it make sense to spend some of the billions instead on training N.O. workers to clean up and rebuild their own home city? Not only would they care much more about what they’re doing than a workforce full of Halliburton outsiders, but they need the jobs and they could use the opportunity to learn some new skills that could get them higher wages. With higher wages, the working poor in N.O. could move out of poverty and contribute to the growth of their own local economy–which would then flourish! Let’s rebuild in a smart way that’s beneficial to the people who have suffered the most. Why should Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the fat-cats benefit from this tragedy?
http://www.museumoftheamericancocktail.org/news/pr/KatrinaFund.html
Impeach Ray Nagin now for gross incompetence. The mayor, ordered a “mandatory” evacuation a day late, but kept the city’s 2,000 school buses parked and locked in neat rows when there was still time to take the refugees to higher ground. The bright-yellow buses sit ruined now in four feet of dirty water.
Well put Stephanie! Lets hear an answer to this one mayor (of a city below sea level)before blaming anyone else…
GEORGEB2 has put my thoughts into words. If a low-income family from NO now is located elsewhere and they have found jobs, an apartment and their children are settled in new schools, they might choose not to return to NO. I know if I were lucky enough to have lived in NO I would return, but not everyone has that mindset, especially if things are going good where they are now located. I hope as many people, who are NO natives, will return as soon as possible and make NO great again.
I wish you all the best and God Bless.
Did anyone actually *drink* the water when they lived there? I was going through old records and found my twice-weekly delivery bill for Abita Springs . . .
“I know many people with PHD’s flipping burgers.”
Really, “many”? And they’re actually “flipping burgers”? Wow.
[Gee, I doubt you're lying!]
I assume these aren’t ph.d.’s in anything applicable, like engineering, education, or the like, huh?
BTW, people move. If their local conditions have few or no jobs for ph.d.’s in women’s studies, they usually move to somewhere that does have a market for this.
Don’t under estimate the tourism industry. It is not simply a “better than nothing” economy it can make or break many towns, cities and even countries. The tourism industry, no matter how people may feel about it, has been responsible for pulling people and places out of poverty. As with any other industry, the tourism industry fluctuates, it involves strategy and hard work on many different levels.
Tourism played a major role in getting New York City back on it’s feet after Sept. 11th. Those of you who think that NYC is all Wall Street and Corporations have obviously never been there. Tourism is and always will be perhaps the biggest industry in NYC. Ask every deli owner in Mid town, or restaurant and shop owners in SoHo. Do you honestly think locals go to Broadway shows? Honestly, how many locals actually buy hotdogs from stands? Or take carriage rides around central park? Visit the statue of liberty? Ever go out in Manhattan on a friday and saturday? Throw a nickle in a bar or club and you probably won’t hit a New Yorker.
So, to those of you who do not think that the tourism industry is stable or sustainable or somehow vital….think again.
Hello. A three-point refute to the issue of busses. There were three major things preventing using the busses for evacuations of the city.
First, it was a Sunday and the city busses were running a light schedule. Those city busses that were available were put into service bringing people to the Superdome. This is exactly how the
what about it, Poopmachine? Should someone with
a PHd in women’s studies go to, maybe, Lesbos, where there are plenty of Lesbians to appreciate it?
At least your moniker is apt, you certainly crank
it out.
THE REAL LOOTERS ARE THOSE WHO JACK UP THE PRICES KATRINA
What I heard is that the Mayor of New Orleans encouraged residents to leave and walk away from the city. Some started walking but they ran into checkpoints on the road (I am not sure who manned them but they seemed to function to keep residents away from other areas)and they were made to turn back and were pretty much forced into the wretched conditions shown on TV. This was discussed on Democracy Now today 9-7-05) and can be seen and heard at their website.
I cannot understand why all available resources were not immediately mobilized to help the victims. I heard that some helecopter crews were repremanded for rescuing victims and neglecting their job of transporting supplies to military bases in the region. In my opinion the heart of our federal government needs a massive emergency IV of compassion and a less self-centered perspective.
I think its awful what happened in New Orleans but I can’t imagine anyone feeling resentful about the help the evacuees are receiving as I’m sure they would give anything to have not lived that nightmare! I challenge anyone that thinks this is a windfall for anyone that went through what most of these people endured to go down and see first hand the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina then base your opinion on your own observations.
I read in the news that many of the refugees be quite happy where they is right now and gots no intention of going home.
If that happens on a large scale, that could be a key to New Orleans’ recovery and future prosperity.
Know what I’m talking ’bout?
“Impeach Ray Nagin now for gross incompetence. The mayor, ordered a “mandatory” evacuation a day late”
That’s brilliant Steph! Apparently all of you idiots in NOLA can’t seem to make a decision on your own when you see a Cat.5 hurricane coming at you. Umm….DUH!!!
Give me a fuckin’ break.
Ya’ll wanna slam him but I’d like to see how any of you would handle yourself in the same situation.
Nobody is perfect. Ya’ll just need to keep your pie holes shut until you can prove you’d do better.
I know I would’ve done better.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Blame Amid the Tragedy
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents.
BY BOB WILLIAMS
Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?
As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.
Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn’t fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible–local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana’s governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city’s mayor, Ray Nagin.
The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.
In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.
A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.
The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city’s Web site, and states: “The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.” But the plan was apparently ignored.
Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.
The city’s evacuation plan states: “The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas.” But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that “special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed.” This was not done.
The evacuation plan warned that “if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials.” That is precisely what happened because of the mayor’s failure.
Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city’s emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.
The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.
In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.
State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the “first response.”
I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA’s response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government’s role is to offer aid upon request.
The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected–and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.
Whoever wrote that WSJ column is missing many facts. The locals did have a plan and they implemented it quite successfully. An 80% evacuation of the local population and a successful retrieval of 20,000 others to the shelter of last resort was in fact a very decent, but probably not heroic, effort. Did the plan as it stood have flaws (such as where do you find bus drivers on a Sunday, and how do the busses get back with contra-flow in effect, where do you take the 12000 or so people the busses could handle, and what about the other 150,000 left behind ) … in hindsight yes. The local authorities did the best they could in light of those problems.
The column also fails to mention that on August 26th when the Bush declared a state of emergency he was effectively handing the reigns over to FEMA with orders to do whatever is necessary to evacuate those they could, shelter all who evacuated, and prepare to send immediate relief in to the affected areas. These were standing orders, part of a ‘national response plan’, that were completely ignored due to lack of effective planning during the last 4 years since 9-11 and incompetence in the White House and its crony run agencies.
See White House Press Release from 8/26:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
and the National Response Plan that FEMA and DHS was supposed to follow:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/4/171811/1974
In my book that adds up to a need for an investigation into criminal negligence. There’s enough blame to go around, but the White Houses refusal to accept responsibility for their lack of planning, preparation, and action is unforgivable.
John, the White House has never made any mistakes,
at least according to W. Pass the buck, that’s
bad luck, N.O.’s is fucked. And the rich cronies
are puffing cigars and drinking their brandy while
the body lies dead without its head. A criminal
administration for 5 years solid, no truth, only
lies. Nobody died when Clinton lied.
[Yawn.]
All done, there, little buddy? You must be proud of your recycled witticisms.
I’m not proud, I’m ashamed of the whole THANG.
yawning and talking about recycled witticisms.
I only learned from the best….your Pres. W.
Bitch and Blame Bush all night long….Surely you didn’t miss the fact that Blanco’s lieutenant governor,Mitch Landrieu, has a sister…Mary Landrieu, who was pressuring Washington to put someone else in charge of the disaster here in LA?
Don’t you find that extremely ODD? Here in south Louisiana, (where Blanco is from!) we are well aware of Blanco’s idiocy. Her hard-headed “what’s the best thing to get re-elected” attitude killed those people.
When the governor’s own lieutenant gov. cannot get her to act appropriately…what the hell is Bush gonna do? Invade Louisiana and dethrone Blanco in the midst of this crisis? Surely you jest.
I have an observation. Many dorks say New Orleans will always flood. That is simply not true. The fact of the matter is that our levee board and our national government have been asleep at the wheel. There has been no long term planning. Why is it that an entire country…Holland..can remain below sea level for hundreds of years with only a few incidents? The scale of the area that they have reclaimed from the sea makes NOLA look small. Its evidence that it CAN be done right. Lets hire the Dutch..they seem to have their act together. PS> Bike lanes are cool.
Anyone been to Amsterdam?
Holland does not sit directly in the path of one major hurricane and or/flood after another, as does New Orleans.
Apples and Oranges.
Check your history books. Just how many times was the area wiped out by hurricanes and floods since records began to be kept ? While you are at it, look up just how much governmental assistance was handed out to the one million people who were left homeless in the 1927 flood. Not much…but, stupidly, the place was repaired and rebuilt, the levees were built up, the wetlands continued to erode, and the whole region just continued to sink steadily into the swamp. And not just the swamp of institutionalized poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime, and cheap racial politicking by cynical demagogues.
Even the Natives warned the French to never build a city there. Perhaps it was religious beliefs about sacred burial grounds, perhaps it was astute observations of centuries of weather patterns.
Doesn’t matter.
The city should have never been built there. At least the Quarter was built on the highest ground they could find at the time…someone, somewhere must have been able to rub two brain cells together.
No one, and this includes the banks and insurance companies who pull the strings on such large-scale investments, will invest a penny there without thinking twice in the future after THIS storm, especially considering the massive wave of rape, murder, and wholesale barbarity by the more degenerate predators and parasites of that sewer of a city, including even the wonderful New Orleans POLICE.
Baton Rouge, on the other hand, will probably see a large shipping channel built right to it’s front door in 15 or so years, with a booming port industry, while the remains of Orleans will…remain…a small, touristy campsite to be periodically abandoned in the path of the many hurricanes sure to some.
In 200 years or so, it will be nothing more than a memory, underwater and in museums.
There was no $$$ handed out in ‘27 ’cause that’s not how the government operated back then. The fed was there for business, not citizens. Coolidge was especially recticent to make people “dependent” on a dole in times of emergency; Instead, he expected private agencies and churches to step up, which the Red Cross did, as long as you were white anyway.
The impact of the ‘27 flood on N.O. is irrelevant in this discussion: N.O. proper was virtually unaffected - it was Greenville, MS and the upper Delta, about 300 miles inland, that took the brunt of that seasonal winter/spring flooding. Even after the crevasse broke upriver and the city’s survival was assured, the city fathers of N.O. blew the levees, flooding St. Benard and Plaquemine, just to be “safe.”
Since there was essentially no damage from flooding in the Great Flood of 1927, the city could not have been “stupidly . . . repaired and rebuilt.” If you had read Barry’s Rising Tide, or knew anything of N.O. and Louisiana history, you would be aware of that reality, as well as that the person with two brains cells was Bienville. He was French. :-)
BTW - a minature boom is emerging in N.O. in the rebuilding efforts. Millions of private investment $$$ are pouring into the city as well as the greater Gulf area. Thinking twice takes remarkably little time at all.
A.
The Nederlands do not have the Gulf of Mexico but the North Sea to contend with.
The North Sea has white caps and rock substrate, the
Gulf of Mexico has no white caps whatsoever, and sand substrate.
They are different animals; the ocean temperatures are much different.
Our Christmas trees worked too well, but we put them in the wrong places.
New Orleans’ is reclaimed swampland.
At one point it was farmed, but our government created laws disallowing us from farming our own land.
The wetlands began to erode after the levees were built.
This is all about the New Orleans’ port, the military and oil - it has nothing to do with people.
My aunt asked an engineer about the levees when they were being built, he said,
“He didn’t believe in the project, it wasn’t gonna’ work, but they had to build it anyway.”
Why? The government forced them to build the levees.
Here’s why he said it will not work, ” No matter where you put them,
no matter how long you study ‘em, there’s no way to build
them, no configuration exist where no one floods.”
Laurie
carls levis
show me