His incompetence cost lives...
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin explains in a radio interview why he didn't use the hundreds of his city's school buses to evacuate residents:…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Ray Nagin - Idiot - Comments Page 2
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - Silas Kain
comprehensive reading is a skill...
... unknown to most Fundamentalist minded humanoids.
27 - Dodo David
I disagree with the belief that just anyone can drive a school bus, because I have experience driving a bus filled to capacity.
Some buses have standard transmissions, but some people don't know how to drive a vehicle with a standard transmission.
Some buses are equipped with air brakes. The average driver isn't accustomed to air brakes.
Finally, it takes practice to safely drive a bus through bad weather and bad road conditions.
The one New Orleans resident who took a bus may have had the necessary experience to safely drive a bus.
Or he may have just been lucky.
Hundreds of untrained bus drivers would be a recipe for more disaster.
28 - pcone
The first responders DID their job -- they got everyone who couldn't get out in cars or school buses or whatever into the shelters of last resort (e.g. the Superdome), with the understanding that they were supposed to hold out for 48 to 60 hours (this is well-documented in many news reports). But FEMA didn't show as scheduled, and then the city devolved into chaos. I guess I have been too busy ready news reports from reporters who were there (and giving information to the FEMA director that he should have already known) instead of reading FEMA manuals.
Does anyone think that New York City is prepared to evacuate 10 million people, with no one left behind, were a natural disaster to come bearing down on it, even with 3 days warning? How can anyone think it's possible to get everyone out of any city of good size? It's just not gonna happen. So FEMA rightly empowers the local government to respond first, with the understanding that they will arrive soon after to help. BUT THEY DIDN'T.
29 - RogerMDillion
Presidents should only appoint people who they have no personal knowledge of and have no way to assess their character or capabilities."
How about people with job experience? Bush knew that Brownie didn't have the qualifications for the job yet gave it to him anyway. Maybe if you could actaully see the faults of the administration occassioanlly, people wouldn't accuse you of being an apologist.
30 - Sarah
FEMA doesn't "empower" the local government to respond first. It's the local government's duty to respond first.
Apparently Mayor Nagin has no sense of time - he also said that we got a fleet of aircraft carriers across the world in 24 hours.
31 - emj
Two comments about the busses in New Orleans.
1. If for no other reason other than to save the busses, they should have been driven out of New Orleans.
2. the city school system where I live here in north louisiana sent their entire school bus fleet down to new orleans to assist on saturday, August 27th, and were sent back home empty with the words that they didn't need any help.
emj
32 - Nancy
I've driven a schoolbus w/out prior experience, because it had to be moved & everyone else was occupied, with only a basic very bare understanding of and experience with standard transmission. It wasn't the smoothest drive in the world, but it worked, & the bus was moved. If the bus is not required to go around tight corners, literally anyone with half a brain can at least maneuver it onto a highway and from there it's straight shooting as long as you don't go too fast. And at least it would be better to try to drive one out than to let them all sit while people drown.
33 - Nancy
Mind you, I wouldn't care to repeat the experience, but I still think trying is better than just sitting around on your thumbs waiting for shit to happen. As for the air brakes & transmission, kids steal vehicles w/these features all the time & drive them around successfully. Are we saying there would be no adult among the crowd that hadn't done that as a kid, or couldn't do what a 14-year-old has done?
34 - 666
Bus driving might as well have been jet flying. The population of New Orleans that didn't evacuate are the products of 40 years of government subsidy. They are incapable of anything beyond "human" reproduction. Instead of taking action they waited impatiently with their hand out, just like their lazy incompetent Mayor, Nagin. Expensive helicopter rescue was required because they were too lazy to simply walk to higher ground.
35 - Paul
Poor Ray is not soley to balme. He was duely elected by the inhabitants of New Orleans. Is a Mayor elected to "get things done"? Did he think he could "get his ass" in the driver's seat to get those life&misery-saving busses rolling? If not, why not?
Now all taxpayers will get to pay for his/their local and governor-level incompetance. After we "bail out" this folly beneath the sea--I hope it will resurface as a "memorial marsh", rather than the stage for our next oppotunity for "disaster relief".
36 - homless girl
This is the kind of thing that makes me really angry: a bunch of outsiders who are frustrated and have taken it upon themselves to "do the world a service" by pointing blame around at everyone in power.
You know what!? It's your fault for doing nothing preventative you dumb piece of kelp! ...oh, what's that? you didn't KNOW it was going to happen? No kidding! Neither did any of us! Not even you! See, that's the beauty of being a coward who only examines others in his hindsight. We all make mistakes for crying out loud.
Mayor Ray Nagin has been the best thing to happen to New Orleans in a long time. In the past, most of our officers had been more concerned with plastering their names everywhere (even on garbage cans), or had a nasty habit of stealing money, or were even racist. New Orleans was on the verge of dying of many things when he came into office, not just hurricanes. Crime was growing out of control; corruption in the police systems was left and right; the educational systems were failing horribly. Mr. Nagin, if you ever read this, I thank you for being more than this piece of shit article could ever encompass.
37 - Paul
One more "angry" example of the welfare-driven mentality of expecting someone else to solve or prevent local problems. The sad result of "shut up" instead of "get up" handouts. It's painless, and addictive. And chronic. It's time for "The Big Sleazy" to "get up" and show some self respect. Don't whine about it. Fix it. Nobody cares more than those who (will) live there. Ray was caught with his pants down. It's not anybody elses job to hold them up for him. He was elected. He sought the office (and responsibility to do good). It's time to start.
38 - Paul
One more "angry" example of the welfare-driven mentality of expecting someone else to solve or prevent local problems. The sad result of "shut up" instead of "get up" handouts. It's painless, and addictive. And chronic. It's time for "The Big Sleazy" to "get up" and show some self respect. Don't whine about it. Fix it. Nobody cares more than those who (will) live there. Ray was caught with his pants down. It's not anybody elses job to hold them up for him. He was elected. He sought the office (and responsibility to do good). It's time to start.
39 - Paul
To "Pull a Nagin" may, someday, be included in a dictionary.
When will he be rebuilt?
40 - Eric
Mayor Nagin will go down in history as the Village idiot of New Orleans. If he would have gotten on the news and asked for buese they would have been their faster. But instead he decided to call a local radio station a cry like a 13 year old brat.
41 - Rob
I agree. Ray Nagin is a complete idiot. His spluttering, whining ass needs to be kicked (all the way to his brand new home in Dallas). What a waste of skin.
42 - Mike O.
Ray Nagin is the worst kind of idiot....he's dangerous.
Allowing people back in to New Orleans before the basic infrastructure (hospitals, levee pumps, drinking water, etc)are operating is insane.
How can anyone trust a guy like this?
He's either A)clueless B)politically motivated. Either way he has to be fired.
If he's doing this for some kind of political gain....well then, that's criminal.
43 - Tom
We could all go on and on but the simple unadulterated truth is that Nagin is a dolt. The only reason there hasn't been more fallout on the guy is because he's black. In fact it's been said all over New Orleans that "Nagin" is cajun for [edited]. Don't get mad at me, it's the word on the street.
44 - dee
there is no shortage of blame here. It goes from the mayor all the way to the white house. Well, Bush is the idiots of all idiots so Nagin is not alone in the idiot category. Right above him his bush and the fema director. Not to mention the governor of La tossed into that mix. A salad of idiots.
45 - Ron
Driving a school bus is not difficult for most people if you do not have to navigate in tight places or make sharp turns. The majority of school buses made in the last 10+ years have automatic transmissions from what I have found on the Net.
Even if most of the New Orleans buses were manual transmissions, could not the local government find at least a few dozen people able to drive them?
Not moving ONE of the buses is total stupidity IMHO. Even if many of the people did not have the means to leave, they could have been given the chance on the flooded buses. Even church buses or hitching a ride with a neighbor would have been the better choice.
I believe that too many people felt that this was the government crying wolf that they should evacuate. Those left to deal with the results found out too late that they should have listened.
Lesson is that you should plan for your own survival and keep food and water at hand for several days at the least. There are other nonPC items such as firearm(s) and ammo for the SHTF scenerios that many plan for as well.
If you are going to depend on any government whether local or federal you will wish you had not.
46 - philly
Yes, there is plenty of blame to go around. But isn't it ironic that the same mayor who said it's up to the federal government to handle the situation turned around and declared that everyone could return too soon? Then, after the federal officials stated their objection to that, he realized he was wrong and changed direction -- but then criticized them again for stepping out of bounds? Mayor Nagin wants to do things his own way, and only wants the federal government involved when he's looking for someone to blame!
Also, does it really make sense for a city that has all those busses sitting there to wait for busses to arrive from somewhere else? Why waste that precious time, waiting for someone else to find drivers and busses, and drive them from some other city to New Orleans??? What would be the benefit -- except that it puts the responsibility on someone else's shoulders?
47 - Calvin
Ray Nagin blames everyone except himself. He is a disgrace. If he would have had a press conference with the national media maybe the problems would have been solved sooner. Instead he covered his caboose by calling the local radio station blaming the President, and acting like a whining child. He has the backbone of a jellyfish. His pathetic lack of planning is unforgivable.
48 - Maximus
I agree Ray Nagin is a blundering idiot who is ill equiped to deal with a tornado, let alone a Cat 3 hurricane in the most hurricane vulnerable city in the US. He needs to be removed as he will eventually run out of people to blame for his own incompetence. Ray Nagin is an IDIOT!
49 - Mal
Nagin and Blonco should both resign.
They are incompetent, ignorant, and have no business being in the offices they hold. He is so busy trying to stay in the limelight that he doesnt even take time to think about what he is saying as long as he can keep the cameras on himself, thats what is important to him. As for her, she is such a do nothing, its pathetic. All she can do is deny that she is responsible for anything. (which is probably true, if you make NO decisions, you cannot be held responsible for making the WRONG desision!
50 - smart one
Do your math. The Federal government cannot intervene until the state's say so. And when the Governor made the phone call, she requested a few items from the federal government but never once asked for them to come down and help. Add that to Nagin's "genius" of letting the busses drown. Add that to no evacuation plan ever put in place.
You say the Feds took too long to down to help? Umm...think about it -- the hurricane was in progress -- they're supposed to come down in the middle of a hurricane and save those who Nagin didn't? Bullocks, I say.
51 - Jewels
Nagan should get a new monniker besides "Negligent". How 'bout Yo-Yo Nagan, "Ya'll come on back to N'Orleans, no wait; ya'll evacuate again from N'Orleans...and "I'm tired a-hearing all these helicopters, I wanta hear some jazz. " (so he moves to Big D).
Granted some of the areas some of the folks were going back into were not heavily damaged as most of the city, but you still have the problem of electricity, running clean water, and the levees are just patched up, not really safe at all, and it's still hurricane season; helloooo Rita.
52 - Nancy
The more I hear about & from Nagin, the more I think he should be prosecuted (and persecuted) for criminal imbecility & imbecile criminality.
53 - Thomas
Nagin wanted Greyhound busses? If my arse is in danger from rising water and alligators I am not about to be picky in how I get out of the swamp!
Brings to mind the story about the Lil Dutch boy using his finger, plugging the dyke - except Nagin would allow the leak to become larger, all the time with is arms folded screaming for Federal aid. Nagin... what a waste of carbon.
54 - Lindsey
Enough with the arguing guys. It's obvious that anyone with half a brain who lives in the potential path of a hurricane knows you might need to evacuate. They had the plans; they were just to inept to work together and enact them. Feel free to ask the prof at LSU who designed them. He's pretty ticked at the local higher ups.
For a look at proper adults evacuating people, see Texas. I say this as someone who grew up spending part of the year in Baton Rouge and N.O. My elderly relatives who are sitting in nursing homes in harm's way are in the hands of idiots. That scares me to death.
The only way President Bush could have properly stepped in to rescue those people was to arrest both Blanco and Nagin and attach them to one another in some cell to yell at each other--- while he sent in the troops to do the job. In other words, he would have had to run over their authority completely and you would all still be pissed off anyway, saying that he never gave them a chance to succeed. So give up your arguments; they don't hold water (no pun intended).
You say it can't be done, but look at Houston. They have inner city gangs and drug problems too, plus an even BIGGER population. They have nursing homes. They have racial tensions. Somehow, amazingly, they are still evacuating people. Duh.
To Nagin: "Competance, man, competance!"
Who's to drive the buses? How about capable evacuees? Out of 15,000 people, I bet he could find 500 drivers. What do you think?
55 - Lindsey
Just to clarify--- That post was not for the people who posted just ahead of me. It was for all the defend-the-corrupt-govt-of-N.O.-'till-we-die folks up top.
Oh, and yes, I did catch the "too" typo. I prmosie I cna tpye.
56 - blackbeard269
Dude you got that post right on the money.
just like anyother disaster that hit the united states went pretty well till one hit new orleans with Mayor Nagin And govenor Blonca. They said on the news last night that the police was lotting houses. filling up truck loads of peoples stuff. plenty of witness seeing the police even a video of them in walmart filling carts with cds,tv,games.. and walking out to a truck and filling it up. the reporter asked the police chief about them and he responded this is not the time and walked away. I think this was all planed by the locals so they could get rid of the poverty and make more room for money
casinos,new hotels..etc....Then Why did the mayor run to dallas?....anyone could have drove those buses. he is so full of it. If they had done like other mayors and govenors and the people that live there this would have never happiend. Hmmm and the mayor said how do you evacute 1 million people...hmmm texes did 2 million ant that somthing. and then the mayor had the balls to say somthing about the 34 elders left in the homes to die. he said they should be charge with murder for leaving them there to die. I SAY MR. MAYOR IT SOUNDS LIKE WHAT YOU DID!
Sorry i cant spell with a shit but i had to get that out.
57 - Joseph Schlosser
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to inform you of my strong opposition to using Federal tax dollars to rebuild New Orleans. I understand that the money won't come from me; it will come from Chinese farmers, Japanese businessmen and any one else you can sell our debt to. And I understand that it's my grandchildren who will ultimately pay the debt. Finally, I understand that over the years, Congress has allowed the Presidency to grow so powerful that there's nothing you can do to stop the expenditure, even if you wanted to. But you can at least take a moment to hear me out.
First, I object because New Orleans is a cesspool of homosexual perversion, prostitution, sodomy, drunkenness, drug use, pornography, cross-dressing, voodoo, pagan ritual and animal sacrifice. Nightclubs in the red light district (a.k.a. French Quarter . . . how appropriate!) gleefully cater to the insatiable appetites of tourists for depravity. So, unless you can guarantee that my tax dollars will not help foster that God-less behavior, I want my portion withheld.
Second, I object to entrusting any rebuilding dollars to the city and state whose governments are so incompetent that they allowed the destruction to occur in the first place. It's not news that New Orleans sits below sea-level. Why wasn't the levee system fixed back when minimum wage was 50 cents an hour? I suppose stupidity must be an inherited trait among Pig Easy politicians.
Third, I object to giving my tax dollars to corrupt politicos. Let's not forget that New Orleans began as a haven for pirates and little has changed in 250 years. Hordes of rioters recently looted the city and many were aided by city employees and police. In fact, cops were shoving people out of the way to grab their share of the loot. Fifteen years ago, a major investigation discovered that police officers were robbing the homes of people who were going on vacation and asking the cops to keep an eye on their property. Nothing has changed, has it? Obviously, we can expect more of our money to line the pockets of crooked politicians and city employees. Count me out.
(And yes, I understand that Federal government bureaucrats will be keeping "an eye on things" but like I said, I don't want my money going to incompetents and crooks.)
Fourth, I don't want my money used for rebuilding roads, bridges, highways, sidewalks, sewers and the water and electrical grids. Those can all be paid for by the dollars New Orleans will sponge off tourists during the next 100 years. So unless I will be getting a percentage of Mardi Gras proceeds, I see no reason why I should pay for the parade route.
Fifth, I don't want my tax dollars used to rebuild the ghetto. What are the plans for the ghetto, anyway? Are we going to do what they do in Hollywood? That is, build new structures but then make them look like tenements by putting in boarded-up windows, burned-out crack houses, walls layered in graffiti and streets covered in trash. Or are we instead, going to build new, functional, sanitary housing . . . and come back in six months to find boarded-up windows, burned out crack houses, walls layered in graffiti and streets covered in trash?
See, there appears to be no good solution. Therefore, let me offer one: No one is allowed to move back until they have a J-O-B. More importantly, pass a law that in return for any Federal assistance, anyone living in New Orleans must work full-time and is not entitled to receive any welfare. No food stamps, no welfare, no free hand-outs of any kind. Anyone who doesn't like that rule can move. You want to have five bastard babies and sit on your fat ass collecting welfare? Move to Washington, DC. Or New Jersey. That's my solution. No welfare, no ghetto. Build it and they will come; DON'T build it and they will stay away.
Sixth, not one penny to rebuild the Superdome. The Saints stink, have always stunk and always will stink. Besides, most are multi-millionaires anyway. They don't need our help.
Seventh, and speaking of those who don't need MY help . . . I don't want my dollars going to rebuild any house that's more expensive than mine. As the IRS can tell you, I live in a very inexpensive house.
Eighth, I don't want my tax dollars used to bail out the insurance companies. If they're stupid enough to go into a financial hole because they were stupid enough to insure people stupid enough to live below sea-level, then survival of the fittest dictates that they don't.
Ninth, I don't want my tax dollars used to rebuild hospitals and clinics. For my feelings about HMOs, please see up above where I discuss my thoughts on crooks and incompetents.
Tenth, I don't want my tax dollars used to rebuild any schools. The New Orleans school district was 97% black. In these days of Political Correctness I really shouldn't speculate on why the white people fled. Needless to say, it probably wasn't just racism. They obviously knew something we don't. If the people running New Orleans are products of its school system, then that should be sufficient evidence to bulldoze the schools. Turn the children's education over to McDonalds. More kids recognize Ronald McDonald than they do the Vice-President, so, it's safe to say that McDonalds probably knows more about educating children than the New Orleans school system. They can't do any worse.
Finally, I don't want a penny of my tax dollars going to rebuild the levee system. If God had intended New Orleans to sit ten feet below sea-level, then no doubt He would have built the levees Himself. I know you like to pretend you're God, but you're not.
If my letter hasn't convinced you, and you're set on rebuilding the levees, then let the people of New Orleans grab a shovel and get to work. I suspect that once they have to engage in back-breaking labor (like those who us who pay the damned taxes do) they will flee the city once again. Then we can demolish what's left and turn it into one large gasoline refinery so I can keep driving my SUV on cheap gas.
And don't forget: We'll still have Las Vegas.
Sincerely,
Joe Schlosser
58 - Nagin-Blanco Resign
Nagin and Blanco must resign! It is their civic duty and it is the best thing for Louisiana. Do what's right for the people and not what is best for you!
59 - John
It is a mood point now. The bottom line is, the elected officials of Louisiana and New Orleans did not do their jobs. The buck stops here.
My only suggestion is to just fill the whole city of New Orleans with crap from the other 49 states.
60 - al
FEMA failed period. It is an institutional failure that can be traced back to prior administrations so both dems and reps are equally to blame. let's face it, politicians are largely in reaction mode and when something like this happens the first thing they do is try to gather some political points. At the personal level governor blanco was not prepared for the situation and mayor nagin just came out like an idiot blaming the world when the fact is that him as mayor and the governor are the ones that have to act. look at florida where jeb acted superbly but I guess that the old saying is true: "anybody is a good captain in a calm sea but only a storm will show who is a true leader". so naging and blanco shut up, quit and grow up.
61 - Ken
The bus issue seems like a rather minor point to all this.
Most of flooding happened after the storm passed. The buses were still ok the people were ok. But then it started
flooding, which then cut off any hope of using the buses.
Assuming they could used the buses they never would have gotten everybody out because many stayed of the own volition. Call it arrogance or disbelief (more likely of the two) that anything that bad could happen.
They, Nagin and the governor, both asked for help after the storm passed. FEMA was hoping they would not have to do anything. No help arrived nearly 5 days after the storm passed and the city was entirely flooded.
Mitigating circumstances:
Minimal National Guard support (most are in Iraq)
No National Guard equipment (these are in Iraq also. anybody see any water buffalos out there to dispense water?).
National Guard is supposed to be for the state not national defense. Several states have sued the goverment because the loss of this extremely important local resource.
FEMA was not ready despite actually having FEMA officials in the superdome.
Brian Williams from ABC was there also and reported being there with them.
Appointees with no experience:
Probably the biggest problem out any.
These people did not know how to respond or even take charge. In the event of large natural or unatural disasters it is the Federal goverments responsibility to assist local authorities, period. Part of why we PAY TAXES.
Local and state more than likely will not have the ability to respond in the case of disaster. Why? Because the disaster has happened to THEM. Hence they will need OUTSIDE assistance no matter what.
Please take care to remember unatural disasters. We will go to the extreme and take the case of a nuclear bomb being detonated in a populated city.
Whose buses are they going to use then?
62 - blackbeard269
well ken you really dont know how things work. local abd state is there job to get things dont first and follow the plan...oppss they did not have one. nore did the pratice one. texes evacuted 2.5 million people in 36 hours. ray nagin and govenor blonca could not evacute there 900 thousand or so in 48 hours....play and simple fema is there after the problem. and no iraq had nothing to do with it. Ray nagin waited till the lsat 24 hours to call for an evaction and half the damn police force went also along with nagin and blonca. go to the nola site read the evacution plan that they did not follow. you really must be blind. NAGIN AND BLONCA still to this day think they did nothing wrong but time will show it and they will be HISTORY!
63 - Marc Schnrub
64 - Nagin
Despite the US Govt having provided me with funds to develop an evacuation plan, the City of New Orleans and Louisiana thought a better use of the earmarked funds was to spend them doing a study on the Ponchatrain Bridge.
That's the real story: Federal money diverted away from its intended use. Ask Nagin and Blanco about that at their criminal trial.
65 - Ted
It's about time Mother Nature flushed that toilet they call New Orleans.
66 - Marc Morial
My father made New Orleans Great and we will make it great once again.
New Orleans do not worry; Jacques and I will be back soon to clean up and rebuild.
M (pete). Morial
Washington, DC
67 - Paul
Go, Pete. Go.
68 - blackbeard269
they should not rebuild new orleans it would be like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger!. ok yea i guess they could rebuild it only if they move the site out of harms way. and the crime rate will indeed not be like it was. mother nature has a way with cleaning up are problems. way to go great job. mother nature should run for mayor. she gets rid of poverty and crime. she gets my vote.
and no are tax dollars should not go to help rebuild. if it does then they better help the res of the united state.
69 - jtown
death to Nagin!
70 - The Big Smart
ray nagin is an idiot, clearly incompetent. blanco is an idiot. these two should have been washed to the sea to rot. dumbasses.
71 - Ron
If there where not any school bus drivers than they could get volunteers to drive people out. You tell me out of the thousands of people that could not leave New Orleans, 500 could not drive their family and neighbors to safety. Nagin just didnt care! How is it Bush's fault? The federal government issued a warning stating everyone should leave almost a week before the storm hit. Does W need come to New Orleans to and drive a bus. No, that is like the president of a fortune 500 company working in the factory. Nagin is a idiot, he showed his ass, and he will go down in history as a complete jackass. We must start putting some kind of education and experience level on our state and local leaders before they can even run. Many times you get unqualified people that run in mostly black regions that have no business in office. Many are crooks! Look at Memphis Tennessee
72 - Justin Berry
If Im stupid enough (or unfortunate enough) to be stuck in N.O. after Katrina. Get Ray Charles to drive me out in the magical mystery bus just get me out.
Maybe the bus drivers took up all the rooms at the Las Vegas resorts needed for the olice officers. They went there right after they blew up the levees.
73 - Ricky
FACT #6: The devastation in Mississippi is exponentially greater than in Louisiana. A fact that few in the news media realize or care to acknowledge, yet the only notable complaint that came from east of the Pearl River was from a disgraced Senator (Trent Lott) who blames GWB for not defending him during his fall from grace. Sen. Lotts disdain for GWB is well documented in his autobiography "Herding Cats: A Life in Politics". But in true Senatorial fashion Sen. Lott has revised his remarks and now says, "I have come to believe that the response by FEMA was appropriate, given the nature and scope of the disaster." Ref. Biloxi Sun-Times, Sept 15, 2005
74 - Ricky
FACT #7: FEMA director Brown testified before congress and stated that he had little difficulty in dealing with Mississippi and Alabama Emergency Managers. This statement was later verified by the governors of Mississippi and Alabama. Meanwhile when brought before a congressional panel investigating what went wrong during the hurricane Gov. Blanco stated that, "I am not here to discuss what went wrong during the hours before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. I am here to talk about two things; jobs and money for the state of Louisia
75 - Steven Perry
Nagin continues to show his incompetence and ignorance. "God planned for New Orleans to be a chocolate city."What is he thinking when he says things like that? How did he ever get elected? Didn't anyone listen when he was running? From the day he left the city stranded by not coordinating a caravan out of town until now he has disgraced the citizens off New Orleans. The man should be removed from office. As far as using tax money to rebuild a city below sea level, I'm definitely against it.