Too bad the facts just have this anti-Administration bias, is that it?

I am very tired of the on the one hand, and on the other hand reporting. We only GET one side in this damn country. Shape of earth: views differ!

You have done a great job on putting together and time line of certain historical facts on this page. Too bad it can not be used as a useful reference paper because of it’s Partisan tone.

As a researcher I don’t care who is who’s friend (cronie), who was in what office at what time…I just want to see the chain of events that occurred to get to some conclusion…

After I get the facts in order it is at that time that personalities and their actions can be scrutinized. For instance, in this time you make references to cuts in spending for the levies in LA as though finger pointing to certain parties are involved. This might well be true….but the facts are…Government spending is done by congress acting as a “Whole” that is the time line fact…TO see who might have most influenced that is a whole different time line of events…

Anyhow….Carry on…Just a shame to spend so much time producing a great page that can not be used or quoted as an educational tool because politics got in the way and made somethings suspect….even if they are accurate

Over the past several days, there has been a news item circulating that mentioned how Amtrak allegedly made an attempt to contact the Mayor to use its rolling stock to aid in the evacuation. Whether or not that is accurate, I of course have no basis of knowing. However, Amtrak did abandon its ticketed passengers in New Orleans. I should know and do know. I was one of them.

On the afternoon of Saturday the 27th, Amtrak shamelessly closed down
its ticket desks at Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans, chained shut the entrances, and abandoned ticketed passengers like myself.

They brought us into New Orleans on their trains and
then, nearly two days before landfall, Amtrak simply disappeared
into thin air.

There was no announcement on my inbound train
that trouble was ahead or that persons with
connections had better speak to a ticket agent upon
arrival. They made no effort after abandoning New
Orleans to provide transportation of any type away
from danger or to arrange for hotel or emergency
housing for those they stranded. Neither did they
provide emergency directions for those of us left to
fend for ourselves in a city that many of us did not
know to any nuanced degree in terms of living
through a hurricane there. Amtrak told us that we
were on our own. Passengers were directed to an
800 number where callers were treated to little gems
like one I was told, ‘Well, sir, you were the one who
decided to board the train.’

There is no excuse for such an abandonment.

-Anthony

Gosh, ya think?

The Feds screwed up big time on this one, and no amount of screaming and finger pointing is going to cover that fact up.

Of course, anyone who lives in a coast state — particularly where the big ports are — could have told you that the Feds aren’t prepared for jack, despite their insistence over the past four years that they’re the only ones who can keep us safe. We just didn’t know it was going to be this bad.

For hurricane info check out the info on http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2005/katrina.html
Also, another timeline which is interesting is http://signaleer.blogspot.com/2005/09/timeline-that-is-not-being-reported.html

Info on timeline can be found on local t.v. website http://www.wafb.com and info on N.O. Emergency Preparedness at http://www.cityofno.com (go to Emergency Preparedness; info guides for citizens w/disabilities; Special Needs Shelters;General Evacuation Guidelines) An article at http://www.nola.com ‘At least 10,000 find refuge at the Superdome’ Aug.29 05 and an article ‘Mayor Urges Storm Preparations’ Aug 27 05 and an article at the same website ‘Blanco’s State of Emergency letter to Pres. Bush’ Aug 27 ‘05. One other interesting press release at http://gov.louisiana.gov/Press_Release_detail.asp?id=1019 Dated Friday, Sept. 9, 2005. This is the Task Force Pelican Status Report, Sept.8 ‘05.

While I am at it, I would like to personally say how grateful I am at the outpouring of compassion from people from all over the world and to all who have given their assistance and risked their lives and opened their hearts to Louisiana and ‘her’ citizens from all over the world. Many have passed through our community to help in rescuing and sheltering our La. citizens, our pets, our city…Bless you all.

I have never posted before…so if I over-did it…sorry…shelie

This is from the TP on August 27. It refers to part of the official evacuation plan (which I can send if you like) which calls for allowing low lying areas like Plaquemine Parish and St Bernard to leave first so they don’t get blocked in by Orleans and Jefferson evacuees.

http://www.nola.com/washingaway/leftbehind_1.html

Some order Katrina evacuations

St. Charles Parish issued a mandatory evacuation at 9 a.m. Saturday as weather forecasters said southeast Louisiana could suffer a direct hit from the hurricane.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin encouraged Jefferson Parish officials to follow the state evacuation plan, which calls for low-lying coastal areas to evacuate first. Jefferson officials broke with the plan to call for an early evacuation for Hurricane Dennis in July. Nagin, in an interview with Channel 4 news, said all officials need to make quick decisions to handle the approaching storm.

“The problem with this storm is that it’s going to compress everything,” Nagin said. “We have a shorter window to deal with this storm and we’ve got to get people to start evacuating.”

I’m sending it because many are criticizing Nagin for waiting to call for a mandatory, but the parishes had already agreed years earlier that Orleans would wait. As it was 80 percent of Orleans left, more than any other storm evacuation.