cabovacation

I thought I had seen enough of Katrina, but decided who am I here in my easy little life to close my eyes...so i watched and learned and I thought that it was quite a good production. Of course there is an agenda. But the facts remain, and the situation is horrific and inexcusable and sad beyond words.

SpeedBuggy

Well said, cabovacation.

wanderluster

TTT

crefloors

I think it has more to do with beaurocracy than individuals and it doesn't matter who was President, Mayor, or Governor. Our government is so bloated and these agencies are so huge that they can't even function and everyone involved has an agenda. They have pages and pages of rules and regulations and no one can think "outside the box". They have a manuel that probably weighs 25 pounds with several thousand pages and on page 905, paragraph xxxxxxx, sub paragraph ,027, it says this is what we do, so that's how we're doing it. But there's 11,000 trailer sitting over here that people could be living in!!! Well, MY book says that we do "this" so that's the way it's going to be done..or not as the case may be. Any suggestion about anyway to streamline operations, take out any red tape is always met with resistance by those who want to protect their particular area of "turf". I think we all know certainly that the kind of devistation that happened because of Katrina cannot be repaired over night, but certainly the needs of those displaced could have been handled much better on all levels. Also, remember, NOLA was NOT the only place that was devistated, and many of the other places have just been totally forgotten because of course the main focus has been on NOLA.

JJ5

crefloors, you said that so well.

Budman

I probably will not see this film, but I hope it addressed the following:

I hope it addressed the inept and incompetent Mayor who certainly had enough notice and failed to use the evacuation plan in place to evacuate the city. In fact, they sent people to the Superdome, which was the evacuation point of last resort. What about all the busses to be used for the evacuation that were underwater? BTW, what's with his reelection? NOLA certainly got what it wished for -- a "chocolate city"? (The Mayor's words).

I hope the film addressed the Mayor's newly announced evacuation plan – Everybody's to take care of themselves.

I hope the film addressed the incompetent police department that abandoned their jobs and the city, and a crime and corruption ridden city that was in place and led to the chaos that ensued.

I hope the film addressed the incompetent Governor who failed to act in a timely fashion to deploy the National Guard to avert much of the chaos. The excuse that the NG was overextended because of Iraq is just what it is – crapola.

I hope the film addressed the fact that most people didn't want to evacuate. Could it have been because they were waiting for their welfare checks (so it has been reported).

I hope the film addressed the fact that FEMA attempted to deliver food and water to the Superdome but were not allowed to because the Mayor & Governor wanted the people to evacuate that area.

I home the film addressed the fact that the storm center hit in neighboring Mississippi, which sustained the same if not more damage than NOLA. It also devastated portions of Alabama and Florida. You didn't hear about any whining, crying, or gnashing of teeth from those competent Governors of those States, did you?

Whatever happened to PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. The Government is not your Mother as some would have you believe. Could FEMA have done better? YES. To blame FEMA and President Bush for Katrina? That dog won't hunt!!!

Barbara

But I disagree that it doesn't matter who was President etc. Bill Clinton reorganised FEMA after Hurricane Andrew in Florida (when Bush Snr was President) and made it a very functional, efficient agency. Clinton made the FEMA director a cabinet-level position, reporting directly to the President. Clinton also appointed a FEMA director who knew what he was doing.

When George W. created the massive beaurocracy of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA was folded into that, the FEMA director no longer reports directly to the President, but to the Secretary of Homeland Security, who himself has absolutely no experience dealing with disaster recovery. There is the first, IMO, problem, no direct access to the President. Since the creation of DHS, the FEMA budget has been constantly eroded, moving money from FEMA to the administration's anti-terrorist focus. As it is now, FEMA is a really bare-bones agency with few resources at all. Fortunately, the Coast Guard, also part of the DHS, has a budget which the Secretary can't touch, otherwise they may not have been able to perform the amazing deeds they did after Katrina.

Next problem, a FEMA director who didn't have much of a clue and who was a purely political appointee. To give Brown some small credit, when he did realise what was going to happen, he was not able to get the word to Bush. Nor was he able to get Military help. because nobody at the Pentagon knew who the heck he was and Rumsfeld was in San Diego at a baseball game.

None of this was a surprise to the Federal government. A couple of years before Katrina, all the agencies involved Fed, State and local, ran an excercise called Hurricane Pam. While this was never actually completed, the first directive that came out of it was that the State and local resources would immediately be overwhelmed and the Feds would have to step in at once.

So, yes, it matters who the President is. This is not to say in any way that anti-terrorist needs should not be funded, but the President cannot have tunnel vision. He, or she, has to do the whole job.

Barbara

And as far as the National Guard is concerned, 60% of Louisiana's Guard and their equipment was in Iraq.

crefloors

There were still people in Florida up to two years after Andrew still waiting for housing. Also waiting for insurance payments...but.....in the words of my favorite "cook" Alton Brown..that's another "show".

Budman

The incompetent Governor was offered all the assets she needed, but she needed 24 hours to "think" about it, and then it was too late. I think she was "stuck on stupid."

seashell

I've tried to stay out of the conversation but...as someone that lives on the Gulf Coast and who had relatives who left New Orleans, what kills me is to see all of those destroyed homes with CARS sitting in the driveways. Everyone knew this thing was coming and many did nothing to protect themselves. New Orleans is a bowl, there was no way to avoid the destruction. If it wasn't Katrina, it would have been another hurricane.

Barbara

If I recall correctly, what she had to "think about" was the requirement to Federalize the National Guard. I agree that she should have done it immediately. I am not at all claiming that, with the help of 20/20 hindsight, neither the mayor nor the governor made mistakes.

Budman, I think all your points were addressed. I think that FEMA did deliver food and water to the Superdome. The Red Cross was prevented from doing so because their safety could not be guaranteed.

ncgrrl

I haven't seen the program, so no comments on it.

As many of the people here know, I have family in New Orleans. They didn't evacuate (my aunt stayed during Camille too) and it took 8 days for a volunteer rescue group to get them. The storm wasn't the problem, it was the flooding from the levees that did in the neighborhood.

My cousin rehab his house (has construction experience) and moved in recently. My aunt does have a FEMA trailer in her driveway. It has electricity now (that took about a month of bureaucratic red tape), but still no keys to the trailer. This has been going on for around 3 months now.

I could rant about all levels of government for the response, doesn't help. We need to set up a plan for the next disaster.

Heavens

Not to offend anyone here, I do respect your opinions and politics, but if the purpose of this project is to Bush Bash, ala Michael Moore, then I really have no desire to see it. If it is to tell a balanced, honest story, then I would like to see it. I am sick of the blame game of this disaster coming down to one person. That, IMO, is a crock.

Barbara

Heavens. that isn't the purpose of the film, but whether you like it or not, Bush does have a great deal of responsiblity here. It comes with the nice address and impressively-shaped office. I have never watched any other Spike Lee movie, it's just not my thing, but this is an absolute must-see...no matter which side of the political fence you're on. If you care about America, then you need to know.

SpeedBuggy

Spike Lee does have his own agenda, but it's the actual footage of the hurricane and after that most people appreciate from the film.

And yes, before it breaks on here, Nagin has shot his mouth off yet again. No comment!

RBCal

What struck me in the film was a New Orleans native describing a Canadian relief worker offerin help. This was before anyone from FEMA arrived in New Orleans. Strange that a foreign government helped displaced US citizens before our own.

Dukey

I was reminded of all those people who kept saying they "don't want big government" and yet if it weren't for a "big" government eventually stepping in, efficiently or otherwise where would the city be now?

I thought one of the best parts was the rejoinder to Ms. Barbara Bush and her absolutely insensitve and iditic remark about people being better ff in shelters....an original comment which was in its insensitivity was heartbreaking in and of itself.

caribtraveler

I did not see it since I don't have HBO. Would love to at some point.
Personally, I blame all levels of government: the Bush administration, Blanco AND Nagin. But, I think Crefloors said it very well: It's BUREAUCRACY. Political parties have NOTHING to do with it. If Gore or Kerry had been President on that day, I guarantee you it would have been the same FAILED RESPONSE. And I don't think it's unreasonable to expect better from a nation that is supposed to be one of the richest, most powerful nations in the world.

mah1980

I live in St. Tammany and work in the CBD of New Orleans.

My take for what it's worth- the bottom line is that every level of government bears some culpability for the ineptitude that was the Katrina response.

Mayor Nagin is a moron. He was re-elected in large part because he played the race card and took advantage of the fears of the African American population of New Orleans (e.g., that all the white people were trying to get them out of the city).

Governor Blanco is also a moron. She was way too shellshocked and did not respond like a leader.

Former New Orleans Mayor (and current National Urban League President) Marc Morial is a known crook. He was probably booed at the screening of the movie because anyone that lives in my area knows he's a crook. I love when they have him on CNN as the voice of New Orleans and African Americans, when meanwhile everyone in his family has been indicted by the US Attorney in New Orleans and he will probably be indicted soon, too.

FEMA, Homeland Security, et al., was a collective waste. The most disappointing part of their failures is that it shows how vulnerable our country is to terrorist attacks or anything that isn't "planned."

Finally, GWB stood by, and of course, did not do enough. Many people down here, regardless of political affiliation, agree with this sentiment. Budman so ineloquently discussed the issue of MS and AL v. LA recovery. First and foremost, most of the MS area was generally just leveled. In contrast, New Orleans and the surrounding areas in LA were flooded but left more debris. Additionally, the damage in New Orleans affected far more property than the other states because more people lived in the dense urban areas v. the more rural nature of Southern MS.

Finally, and not to be forgotten or underestimated, you may recall that everything in our country is political. Examine the per capita monies that MS got compared to LA. Of course, Blanco & Nagin really didn't help our cause. But Haley Barbour and Trent Lott and the other heavily majority Republican leadership in MS are pretty tight with Bush. That definitely factors in. Anyone who doesn't believe that hasn't worked in politics or government.

It has become abundantly clear that the issue of race permeates any discussion of Katrina. New Orleans is a city that is stuck in limbo because many of the decisions that need to be made (e.g., telling people in predominantly lower class, black neighborhoods that they can't be made) always end up with cries of racism. Unfortunately, the people that are being hurt the most are the same people that are being exploited by their alleged leaders.

There are some bright spots- schools will improve in New Orleans because they have been ripped out of the control of the corrupt school board. Many of the crime ridden projects are being condemned due to flood damage, and in their place will be mixed income housing that will give pre-screened residents an opportunity at property ownership. Recovery won't happen overnight, because many of the problems plagueing New Orleans both pre and post-Katrina are more systemic and complex: race, class, the place of government, public school, etc.