New Orleanians learned a valuable lesson from Katrina: Trust no one and nothing. They’re not counting on the levees to hold or the government to rescue them this time … Self-sufficiency is everyone’s mantra, from civic associations to city hall.
New Orleans officials are assuming the worst in planning for a big storm, having learned the hard way that commercial phone lines will fail, cell-phone towers will topple, repair teams could take days (or, more likely, weeks) to show up and the National Guard will come packing guns but no walkie-talkies.
The truth is, New Orleans, if hit, will flood. How badly depends on the hurricane.
The article continues to address two of our main concerns: evacuation plans, which, speaking of, The Eminent Mineta has deemed “need work” and the readiness of citywide canal levees.
The Corps’ standard line of defense in answering critics is that the levees around New Orleans will be “better and stronger” than they were before Katrina and that Congress has not authorized an all-out rebuilding of the entire system. “We know we’re making important decisions [that affect] people’s livelihoods. We are their engineers. But Congress tells us how to build,” [Lieut. Colonel Lewis Setliff, head of Task Force Guardian] says, refusing to address criticisms that the Corps should be more proactive.
Not livelihoods, but LIVES; the gravity of the situation is beyond these people. Lives we continue to lose nine months later. Lives that will be lost if the government doesn’t keep up its end of the bargain.
Ray balked at the disaster zone that is most of New Orleans almost a year after the storm. My reply: “Why do we still have to come across death and destruction nine months later? Why do we still have to cry fresh tears, not mourn the past and work towards the future, nine months later?” Why?
Because we are on our own.
“New Orleanians learned a valuable lesson from Katrina: Trust no one and nothing.”
That is not true. What we learned was: Don’t trust the Government to help. We also learned who we can trust. Our friends and neighbors, because when we were in need, they were the ones who came to the rescue.
Yes, I will rely on you, whom I’ve never met, before IÂ depend on our elected officials to make the right decision for us.
You and I can’t put up safe levees. You and I can’t fashion safe city evacuation routes. In that sense, I trust nothing and no one. Otherwise, this whole city is my family.
The first thing I heard from people in the diaspora was that you could rely on *people*, just not on the government. I saw the outpouring in Fargo as I loaded trucks for a week. It happened everywhere people arrived. But the government, well, that’s what the current regime wants people to think. They’ve worked for a generation to sabotage the ability of government to do anything because they don’t want it to intefere with their own private pursuits. The problem with that is, we had a system designed to protect their private pursuits up until the point that theirs interfered with my private pursuits. They don’t care about my private pursuit, and want to make sure there’s simply nothing to prevent what they want, which is usually to pick our pockets. (Stops for a breath). Ok, rant over. bottom line, we can depend on the kindness of strangers more than most people can imagine. Those same people of goodwill should all work together so that the government is capable of doing good things in the common good.
I think I’m possessed by the loa Ashley. I’m going to go take a break now.
The statement that scares me the most? “We are their engineers. But Congress tells us how to build,†[Lieut. Colonel Lewis Setliff, head of Task Force Guardian] says….
Yeah, Travelingmermaid. That is scary. It should be the other way around. But in our political system, it is Congress that distributes the money.