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Another thought on the number of busses . . .
I wonder how many additional busses were available from schools in the suburbs? Also, what about charter busses and other sources? Be that as it may, the issue still is that none of them were put to use.
posted by
WriterofLight
on September 16, 2005 at 7:11 PM
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Thanks for reading!
Scoop, excellent work!
First fault: If I read your account right, and without further examination of context, it sounds like typical left hand/right hand communication issues of the kind President Bush has taken responsibility to correct. But how does that detract from Kelly's theme of what was accomplished but misreported?
Second fault: I admit to not having a handy inventory of busses in New Orleans. But even the 688 you cite from your sources were not deployed. How many people would have been evacuated had the city deployed them as its evcuation procedures directed? Further, the Times citation is a variation on the flood protection upgrading scandal. If these people knew they needed 2,000 busses, surely not an overnight revelation, then why in Sam Hill didn't they have arrangements in place to procure that many for immediate use as soon as the need became apparent?
posted by
WriterofLight
on September 14, 2005 at 6:42 PM
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Here are two faults I find in Kellys column
As far as federal response;
According to the White House website on August 29th Scott McClellan in a press briefing said, "The President also, just a short time ago, approved emergency -- approved major disaster declarations for the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. This will allow federal funds to start being used to deploy resources to help in those two states.
So then why did it take until August 31, two days later, for that of DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff to declare Katrina an "Incident of National Significance," "triggering for the first time a coordinated federal response to states and localities overwhelmed by disaster," this according to the Associated Press?
The bus issue;
Also the number of buses available were nowhere near 2,000 reported by Jack Kelly in his column and Sean Hannity in his TV show.
On September 5, 2003, in an article in the Times-Picayune, "The Orleans Parish school] district owns 324 buses but 70 are broken down."
Also a report by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development in a profile of the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA), dated May 5, says this. The RTA owned 364 public buses, bringing the total of the city's public transit and school buses to 688 that is a lot less than the 2,000 Kelly and Hannity had touted.
Even the The New York Times said on Septemeber 4th that Louisiana emergency planners believed it would take as many as 2,000 buses to evacuate the just the elderly and disabled residents of New Orleans in the event of a catastrophic hurricane like Katrina.
posted by
scoop
on September 13, 2005 at 1:50 PM
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Writer
It seemed longer than a week and a day, but it wasn't. Great things were done in the face of tragedy. Maybe someday we will all look back and say "What other country in the world could have done it better?"
None!!
posted by
Offy
on September 13, 2005 at 9:07 AM
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I will be right back to read your piece in greater details.
posted by
Flame-thrower
on September 13, 2005 at 7:25 AM
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