Quote:
Originally posted by FireFly+Sep 6 2005, 08:46 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (FireFly @ Sep 6 2005, 08:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-Cowperson@Sep 6 2005, 02:30 PM
And the Mayor of New York says he would never leave anyone behind. . . . . perhaps implying the Mayor Of New Orleans did.
Bloomberg noted that city cops and firefighters regularly practice dealing with a range of natural disasters and would not be caught flatfooted.
He also emphasized that the city would assume responsibility for taking care of poor residents who likely wouldn't have cars or money for transportation.
"We have evacuation routes," he said. "We have ways to call and get MTA buses to take people out if they don't have automobiles."
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-293505c.html
Cowperson
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This is what I was talking about. New York has a plan in place should something so devastating occur, and yet New Orleans didn't. Whose fault is that?[/b][/quote]
It seems pretty obvious that New Orleans would have a much-reduced disaster-response plan. New York was already hit by terrorists, and has already suffered a 'disaster' of epic propotions (and when I say epic, I mean totally dwarfed by the Hurricane). I don't think it's fair to compare what are probably the richest and poorest cities in the United States and expect them to have equally prepared plans of escape. There are tens of thousands of important personages in New York... in New Orleans... there are great jazz bars? Blue-collar refining districts? Call me crazy, but I could easily see the two municipalities as having very different levels of support from state/federal governments, as well as resources to plan an effective escape.
As for the Mayor 'protesting too much', maybe he should have played a more low-key role, like Guiliani? All I remember is Guiliani and Pataki all over the news, 24/7, getting better exposure than any politician could ever hope for. I don't see the Mayor of New Orlean's complaints as being 'over the top', when the disaster itself is 'over the top'. If I were the Mayor of Calgary, and believed Calgarians were dying due to slow response times of federal/state agencies, I'd flip out, as would most of you.
A disaster that affects (brutally) two/three states, at least, is (probably) too large to expect the city of NO to have covered it's bases.
Supposedly geologists and geographers have been saying this would happen for quite some time. Obviously somebody dropped the ball, be it the State, Municipal, or Federal authorities. Which of these bodies should have been responsible for taking the lead role on this issue? I have no idea, but I'm sure the finger-pointing will give us a clue eventually.