Say Anything Blog

Neither Nagin nor Blanco could mobilize drivers; this was gross failure of the kind that only the egalitarian antimerit society can perpetrate. To have abundance, and incredibly embarassing superabundance, of the necessary resources in the extended days of crisis and ignominious death; yet be paralyzed by mass desertions of staff, can only happen in one kind of society. An antimerit society, one in which officials decide that they didn’t sign on for real jobs, but were only there to represent a race or gender of disadvantage, and should desert if asked to help in a crisis, and where equipment that costs enough to save the lives of thousands of Ethiopians stands unused, is the only kind of society that can fail in this astoundingly shameful way.

Neither Nagin nor Blanco could mobilize drivers;

I’m not convinced that they tried all that hard.  Plus, the only thing I heard about drivers not wanting to go out was during the storm itself.  There was plenty of time before (and after) to go and get people.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

- CANAL ST BUS DRIVERS EVACUATED TUESDAY -
- 170 RTA BUSES HIGH & DRY AT POLAND ST WHARF -

The Canal Street RTA Bus Yard had a ready crew of bus drivers post-Katrina. They watched the buses flood. Then evacuated to Baton Rouge.

Per 10/1/05 NOLA quote - from RTA spokesperson - Rosalind Blanco Cook -

“Although many of RTA’s buses flooded in Katrina, the agency has enough to begin the limited run, Cook said.

And staffing isn’t a problem, she said. Many bus drivers stayed at RTA’s Canal Street office during the storm and evacuated on the Tuesday after the hurricane for shelter in Baton Rouge, Cook said.”

Meanwhile… 170 buses were parked high and dry at the Poland St Wharf, just a short drive East down a dry street from the French Quarter.

Per 9/12/05 NOLA - quote -

“Some 150 buses that were moved to the Poland Avenue Wharf in the Lower Ninth Ward appear to have fared well, but about 70 of those vehicles were commandeered by the police and fire departments, the National Guard, and in a few cases by individual citizens who used them to evacuate family members, friends and neighbors.”

See 8/31/05 - Google Map - Poland Street Wharf - w RTA buses - NOT cargo containers - see pre & post Katrina & compare w Canal St buses.

Per - NOAA 8/31/05 - River Sector - Pics of Poland Street Wharf - w 170 RTA buses -

Row 4 - 5 from right - N is right - 24428406.jpg

Row 4 - 6 from right - N is right - 24428410.jpg

Row 4 - 7 from right - N is right - 24428415.jpg

For visual comparison - See Canal Street Buses -

Row 3 - 14 from right - North is Left - 24427963.jpg - middle of pic -

See - Google Map - of Canal Street Bus Yard -
2817 Canal St, New Orleans, LA -

Feel free to copy, edit and re-post.