My understanding is that funding had nothing to so with the problems. The levees broke in areas that were at 100% repair. All upgrades on those sections were completed. No amount of money would have improved those areas.
The problem was that the levees were built to withstand a level 3 hurricane. Had the entire levee been completely funded and 100% complete to current standards it would have failed because it was not designed to withstand a level 5 hurricane. -----Original Message----- From: Robert Munn [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 2:19 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: WSJ: Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin failed their constituents I don't have such a tough assessment in general. Clearly more could have been done years ago to shore up the levees. I blame the convoluted mess that Congress calls the budgeting process for the failure of that project to get funded. We all know the old saying, "an ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure." In the case of the levees, $100 million worth of prevention that didn't get spent has led to tens of billions worth of cure that will be spent just in New Orleans due to the flooding. The local government was a mess, but they did the best they could with what they had at hand. The state and federal governments were totally out of sync for the first couple of days after the levees broke, but once everyone got in sync, they got the situation under control. It takes the feds longer to do anything, that's just the reality of having such huge bloated federal agencies trying to coordinate in a crisis. >Prior to the storm hitting I blame the local government. True they did >order a mandatory evacuation but what did they do to help those without >the ability to evacuate? Where were the supplies, support and security >for those they told to go to the Convention Center and Super Dome? Why >did they not follow the emergency evacuation plan that had been laid out >for decades (part of which called for using school buses to evacuate >people from the area)? > >Once the storm hit and the levees broke I believe the lion's share of >the blame falls to the federal and state levels of government. The >local government and infrastructure was decimated. Communications were >none existent. That was the time for the state and feds to step up. >They too failed. > >The storm and the levee breaks could not be stopped, however, the lack >preparations, poor execution of the evacuation, and lack of a timely >response lead to most of the deaths and suffering. > >I care less about the looting than I do the unnecessary human suffering >and loss life. The inability to care for, and provide adequate security >for the people at the Convention Center and Super Dome is appalling. > Confidentiality Notice: This message including any attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete any copies of this message. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get Instant Hacker Protection, Virus Detection, Antispam & Personal Firewall. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=62 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:173138 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
