New Orleans: frocked up

[trancepriest]

Posted: 10:02 a.m. ET
CNN's Jim Spellman in New Orleans, Louisiana

I don't think I really have the vocabulary for this situation.

We just heard a couple of gunshots go off. There's a building smoldering a block away. People are picking through whatever is left in the stores right now. They are walking the streets because they have nowhere else to go.

Right now, I'm a few blocks away from the New Orleans Convention Center area. We drove through there earlier, and it was unbelievable. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people spent the night sleeping on the street, on the sidewalk, on the median.

The Convention Center is a place that people were told to go to because it would be safe. In fact, it is a scene of anarchy.

There is absolutely nobody in control. There is no National Guard, no police, no information to be had.

The Convention Center is next to the Mississippi River. Many people who are sleeping there feel that a boat is going to come and get them. Or they think a bus is going to come. But no buses have come. No boats have come. They think water is going come. No water has come. And they have no food.

As we drove by, people screamed out to us -- "Do you have water? Do you have food? Do you have any information for us?"

We had none of those.

Probably the most disturbing thing is that people at the Convention Center are starting to pass away and there is simply nothing to do with their bodies. There is nowhere to put them. There is no one who can do anything with them. This is making everybody very, very upset.

[trancepriest]

Dude the emergency management is screwed... this is America... we know that thousands of people are at the convention center... no water... no food.... come on. Thousands of people... starving and thirsty... still nothing yet... dead bodies rotting right outside the convention center... no law, no national guard, no information... imagine how frockin pissed u would be in the same situation.

[saintjohn]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn't seem to be managing much of anything. After 9/11, shouldn't we see more evidence of some sort of planning and preparation? Where is the leadership? All I've seen so far from FEMA is incompetence and press conference posturing.

[V. Barbarino]

Weren't these people told to leave before the storm about 36 hours before hand? All I see is person after person on the news saying they should have left... If the same people who need saving listened they would be fine. I like laws such as if you base jump or rock climb if you get hurt or need rescue, they send you a bill the next day...

[r3nz0]

Those poor people.

[trancepriest]

Originally Posted by Mr

Weren't these people told to leave before the storm about 36 hours before hand? All I see is person after person on the news saying they should have left... If the same people who need saving listened they would be fine. I like laws such as if you base jump or rock climb if you get hurt or need rescue, they send you a bill the next day...

Even if the people are stupid, ignorant, poor, etc, etc... for not leaving... the same shit could happen to us in a major terrorist attack. Is this how incompetent the government would react? CNN has had news stories for hours about the convention center in New Orleans... the people have no help, no information... that sucks man. Imagine if we got attacked by a low yield nuclear weapon... then the response would be the same... we can't depend on our government... we would be starving to our deaths... in the richest... most powerful nation on the planet.

[saintjohn]

I know the situations are very, very different, but it's interesting to note the different leadership styles of Rudy Giuliani during 9/11 and Ray Nagin, the current mayor of New Orleans. Giuliani din't have the luxury of knowing about the disaster beforeheand, yet his response was more effective and reassuring. Nagin waited too long to order an evacuation, despite knowing that the city had no real evacuation plan. Giuliani didn't wait around for feds to come to the rescue, he immediately directed agency heads to coordinate their efforts and make the most of available resources.

Furthermore, NYPD and NYFD members performed heroically during and after 9/11, while NOPD officers have been involved in looting for personal gain (shopping for free shoes while people are dying). The first responders were clearly unprepared for this disaster, even though many people predicted this exact scenario.

Finally, why would the leaders of any major city be content with relying on a levee system with no backup? Too busy spending all of those tourist Mardi Gras dollars on other, more important projects to improve the levees? They knew this hurricane would come someday, but they chose to do nothing and simply hope it wouldn't happen on their watch. What a betrayal of public trust.

[trancepriest]

Originally Posted by saintjohn

I know the situations are very, very different, but it's interesting to note the different leadership styles of Rudy Giuliani during 9/11 and Ray Nagin, the current mayor of New Orleans. Giuliani din't have the luxury of knowing about the disaster beforeheand, yet his response was more effective and reassuring. Nagin waited too long to order an evacuation, despite knowing that the city had no real evacuation plan. Giuliani didn't wait around for feds to come to the rescue, he immediately directed agency heads to coordinate their efforts and make the most of available resources.

Furthermore, NYPD and NYFD members performed heroically during and after 9/11, while NOPD officers have been involved in looting for personal gain (shopping for free shoes while people are dying). The first responders were clearly unprepared for this disaster, even though many people predicted this exact scenario.

Finally, why would the leaders of any major city be content with relying on a levee system with no backup? Too busy spending all of those tourist Mardi Gras dollars on other, more important projects to improve the levees? They knew this hurricane would come someday, but they chose to do nothing and simply hope it wouldn't happen on their watch. What a betrayal of public trust.

You're talking 2 buildings vs. an entire city afflicted with a catastrophy of biblical proportions.

[saintjohn]

Technically, it was more than two buildings, but I get your point. I wasn't comparing the events, though, I was comparing the two city leaders and their respective leadership abilities (or lack thereof).

[saintjohn]

The leaders of New Orleans had multiple opportunities to act beforehand to minimize the suffering and destruction, but they chose not to do so.