Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests New Orleans Mayor

I dont agree with people comparing Floridian Hurricanes and 9/11 to what happened in New Orleans. 90 percent of the city was flooded in, what 20 feet of water? Thats a little different than two buildings being hit by planes or what happens in florida every year. Id hope people in Florida have evacuations down to a science, since they do it almost 2 times a summer. With that being aid though, New Orleans had PLENTY of warning to get out while the going was good. They should know by how many people use Public Transport or how by how many people use welfare or what not that alot of people would not really have any way of getting out of the area. When then MANDATORY evacuation was called they should have been loading people on busses. For the guy that said it takes 6 hours to round trip a bus load, thats one bus, I imagine there are HUNDREDS of busses in New Orleans. Now as for those people that refused to leave, many of them, unlike Floridians had no idea what was coming, or just figured they can sit it out. Well thats just stupid to me. If Im told to get out, im getting out. As for the mayor lashing out like he has, I dont think any of us would know how we would react in a situation like this. I think its unfair for people to bash him. Though I dont think its a good idea cussing out everyone for everything thats going on, thats counterproductive. You got to do what you can do in the time being. I also have to say what if this was a terrorist attack? ISnt that Homeland Security supposed to have plans for things like this? I know it wasnt but just think if it was. There would be an entirely different spin coming from people. Really I dont think there should be any seperation from terrorist attack from big natural disasters. I really think that engineers should have been in there as soon as the storm had passed and repairing those broken levees. I think that theyre should have been a much clearer line of communication between all the levels of govt. Everyone needs to lay off the finger pointing, politics and rhetoric and help out in whatever fashion they can. There will be plenty of time after everything is cleaned up and people secure for the fighting and bickering to start. Lets just hope another hurricane doesnt come by, remember there are still 2 more months in the hurricane season.......

I won't spin this off in to a debate about 9/11... but it was more than simply "two buildings being hit".. that was a tragedy that this hurricane (no offense or ill meaning towards anyone affected by it) can never begin to compare itself to.

Perhaps being from Canada makes it a little less "real" or substantial for you (both events) and allows you to compare them at a more fundamental level, but that simply isn't the case.


Ray

One thing I don't get is why the federal government gives $55+ Billion to help Louisana with Katrina but only gave $300 million to help with Hurricane Andrew.

I'm not trying to say that Katrina victims don't deserve it but that's, uh, quite a difference there. They're predicting approximately 4 times the economic (so we're not talking insured vs uninusred) damages that Andrew caused but they get 4 hundred times the federal aid.

Seems a little lop-sided to me.

New Orleans and the surrounding port area is a HUGE transit point for ALL traffic going upriver on the Mississippi and a load of traffic heading out of the Gulf to other ports of call; the infrastructure is almost a total loss in most places, from what I've read. The volume of industry, believe it or not, is much higher in that area than the area that Andrew plowed through, so I'm sure much of the funding skew is represented by this.

You are right, though; the $ amount is HUGE...

I certainly know that New Orleans is huge. I've lived there for one, and being that I have a degree in Transportation Management, of which New Orleans is a central hub of in the US, I'm familiar with its' infrastructure and importance. But economic loss is economic loss, whether it's industrial seaport developments or high wealth housing.

If Katrina is $100B (and this will probably go up) and Andrew was $25B ($43B in today's dollars) -- why so much more aid, 400 times more, for one than the other.

I'm personally wondering if this is some sort of appeasement, or perhaps just a sense of reality, from the Administration/Congress. I can't even begin to imagine the reaction if Congress only appropriated $1.5 Billion (roughly 4 times the aid given to Andrew for 4 times the damage) for Katrina victims while sending $30 Billion over to Iraq. My God how the [censored] would fly.

Or it could be simply because the State of Florida was better-suited, economically, to deal with a pricetag of $25 Billion than Louisiana is with... well, any price-tag. 1992 was a time of excess for many State's budgets. Certainly far more than today, particularly with the likes of Louisiana.

The feds are giving displaced NOLA residents $2000 debit cards. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9241177/

Where's the love for people in MS who don't even have a single stick of their house still standing?

They are racist! Those damn feds are racist!

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:

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The feds are giving displaced NOLA residents $2000 debit cards. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9241177/

Where's the love for people in MS who don't even have a single stick of their house still standing?

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Good, now they can buy widescreen tvs instead of stealing them! SNAP!

Maybe the new figure of $50+billion includes a new Superdome? A levee or two? Some casinos for MS? And, of course, Plasma TV's and Addidas for everyone.