Roundup of buses for storm bungled (by Blanco)

The Times-Picayune ^ | 12/6/05 | Laura Maggi

[LdSentinal]

BATON ROUGE -- Two days after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, thousands of people were trapped in the city without food, water and medical care and growing increasingly desperate for rescue. But a top aide to Gov. Kathleen Blanco sent out an e-mail informing his colleagues that his staff had stopped calling for the buses needed to evacuate people from the Superdome and other places of refuge.

"NO MORE CALLS FOR BUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ty Bromell wrote Wednesday morning, Aug. 31. "My people are not calling for buses now."

Bromell, who heads Blanco's Office of Rural Development, said he had gotten word -- from Leonard Kleinpeter, a special assistant to the governor who was spearheading the effort to wrangle buses from school boards, churches and other groups -- that the vehicles were no longer needed.

[LA Woman3]

*ping*

[mtbopfuyn]

Blanco's staff credited her with a "visionary" response

Hallucinogenic visions?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That's in their job description.

[Mr. Brightside]

The head of the bus drivers union was asked about the failure of busses to help evacuees.

He said, "There is nothing in our contract that requires our drivers to work during a hurricane."

[billhilly]

Good Morning, and thanks.

[Sacajaweau]

"Love thy neighbor" is not in their contract!! What a freakin' damn mentality these people have. This was their 9-11 and they didn't give a sh** about anyone.

LEADERSHIP!! Guliani!!

[girlangler]

There is probably some truth to this. Everything in Louisiana is controlled by unions.

[ken5050]

Seems to me that of late, all of a sudden, we are getting nthis deluge of anti-Blanco stories and leaks from inside ger admiistration. One might assume that there is soon goig to be a whole big s**t storm coming, and a lot of folks are tryig to get ahead of the squall line...One may also assume that Mary Landreau won't win her next race..

[billhilly]

Miss Piggy is probbly reading her anatomy books trying to figure the quickest and most painless way to...........?

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

"The governor turned to me and said, 'Where are the buses, where are the buses?' " Bromell recalled, saying Blanco told him to start getting buses again. At that point, the push became more aggressive, with Blanco later that evening issuing an executive order allowing the state to commandeer local government's school buses.

..where are the busses?..where are the busses?..at that point the push became more aggressive

[Mr. Brightside]

>>>>There is probably some truth to this.<<<<

"In an evacuation, buses would be dispatched along their regular routes throughout the city to pick up people and go to the Superdome, which would be used as a staging area. From there, people would be taken out of the city to shelters to the north.

Some experts familiar with the plans say they won’t work.

... It’s also unclear whether the city’s entire staff of bus drivers will remain. A union spokesman said that while drivers are aware of the plan, the union contract lacks a provision requiring them to stay."

http://www.nola.com/printer/printer.ssf?/washingaway/leftbehind_4.html

[girlangler]

Yep, that's how I remember Louisiana (used to live and work there).

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I want to know what Blanco’s mental state was before and during the storm because she certainly wasn’t all there (putting it kindly).

[rightazrain]

All of this post-Katrina bus talk. What about the busses that were there BEFORE the storm and allowed to sit idle and flood?

I want to hear more about that!!

[Rocky]

And the finger-pointing continues...

[ExcursionGuy84]

...and keeps going and going...and going...and going...and going..and..

[LA Woman3]

All of this post-Katrina bus talk. What about the busses that were there BEFORE the storm and allowed to sit idle and flood?
I want to hear more about that!!

According to Mary Landrieu, they were underwater before the hurricane hit....

-snip-

WALLACE: But Senator, there were hundreds of buses sitting in that parking lot. Can I just ask the question?

LANDRIEU: You can, but let me finish, if I could, please.

(CROSSTALK)

WALLACE: Well, look in the picture here. There were hundreds of buses in parking lots. The city and the state.

LANDRIEU: That is underwater. Those...

WALLACE: It wasn't underwater before the...

LANDRIEU: Those buses were underwater. Those buses...

WALLACE: They weren't underwater on Saturday; they weren't underwater on Sunday.

LANDRIEU: We had two catastrophes. We had a hurricane and then we had a levee break. When the levee broke, not only did New Orleans go underwater, but St. Bernard when underwater and St. Tammany Parish went underwater.

WALLACE: But they weren't underwater on Sunday.

-snip-

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169075,00.html

[CajunConservative]

In my honest opinion she was in a state of shock and panic. Katrina went from a TS to Cat 5 in about 24 hours with landfall less than 72 hours away. She and Nagin were in OH Sh!t mode. The evacuation takes 72 hours. There's only 4 ways out, it was a weekend and them being dems they couldn't think on their feet.

[LA Woman3]

Seems to me that of late, all of a sudden, we are getting nthis deluge of anti-Blanco stories and leaks from inside ger admiistration. One might assume that there is soon goig to be a whole big s**t storm coming, and a lot of folks are tryig to get ahead of the squall line...One may also assume that Mary Landreau won't win her next race..

Hopefully you're right!