Sink, I may be willing to buy into your 'inevitable objective judgment' - except for the fact that this judgment requires that this guy, a mayor, empty out the largest city in the region in less than 72 hours. I don't think it is impossible, but I do think it is something that no mayor has ever done before.
We'll never know, since he didn't even try.
Nagin made a video on July 24, 20005, in which he said, about evacuation in case of a Category 3 or above: "Everybody's on their own."
That's pathetic. That's not the plan of any Florida city that I know of, which is why there are so few hurricane deaths there.
Clearly Nagin failed, probably anyone in his position would have had poor results, but he failed to lead. Had he made mandatory evacuation 12 or 24 hours earlier, he would have had time to position supplies, use buses, get help from state police etc. When the storm passed and before the levee broke he could have positioned supplies, used buses etc, but he did nothing. He froze. Maybe he should have told the residents their govt checks would be available in Baton Rouge along with $100 walking around money for those that evacuated...
I'd like to see a checklist of what to do in case of a hurricane, including options. Clearly lack of reasonable planning and preparation did not help the situation.
The governor failed to mobilize the state NG (6500)or State Police (1000) before the storm or order martial law when looting began. They should sue the contractor they paid for the plan if it did not prepare them for these actions. Instead the governor hires them for more consulting..letting the wolf back into the henhouse...
What happened to NOPD radios and "running out of ammunition"? Homeland security has been handing out money hand over fist since 9/11 to locals, I want to see an accounting for it in NO and LA....
A collosal failure of leadership before and after the hurricane...you gets what you pay for...