In a soon-to-be aired 60 Minutes episode (Aug 27th) Mayor Nagin defends his administration’s progress (or lack thereof) by comparison with New York post 9/11. Any sensible leader would be keenly aware that New Orlreans depends on the kindness of outsiders, but Nagin isn’t sensible so he says the following:
"You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."
Oh, that’s great, just freaking wonderful. Remember how quickly New York State offered to send troopers to our city after Katrina? How many firemen from New York came? Or does Nagin believe, like Ann Coulter, that the firefighters who came weren’t really from New York?
Okay, Mayor Nagin, you know that ‘hole in the ground’ that you refer to? On September 11, 2001 a lot of people died in the space right above it. Not suprisingly, some people in New York are not pleased with your comments. I’m pretty sure that many people in New Orleans won’t be either.
I can’t wait until your term of office is over. But until then do us all a favor and stop talking to the media. Or, better yet, just stop talking. Period.
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Mayor Nagin, ‘obnoxious idiot’, he should be buried in what he refers to as “A hole in the ground”. How wonderful that he was re-elected, the same guy that left ALL the buses PARKED rather then organizing a bus evacuation prior to Katrina hitting, good job!!
Nagin, on Sept 11th, no one was prepared for an airplane to fly into thier office. how much time did new orleans have to evacuate? oh thats right they dont have cars but they have money to get thier hair done every week. there is no money for the leves but there is for a football statdium, you had one hurrican how many did florida have in one year and they are not complaining, they got off thier butts and rebuild they dont wait and complain and blame everyone else for thier mistakes
You right, In fact what he should of said was that FEMA gave each of four out of state companies contracts worth up to $500 million to clear debris. Then he should of pointed out that this spring government inspectors reported that the companies — AshBritt of Pompano Beach, Fla., Phillips and Jordan of Knoxville, Tenn., Ceres Environmental Services of Brooklyn Park, Minn., and ECC Operating Services of Burlingame, Calif. — charged the government as much as four to six times what they paid the subcontractors who actually did the work. And this means that that 4/5ths of that money never made even made it to Louisiana much less New Orleans. So thanks to Katrina and FEMA, at least three quarters of billion dollars got spread accross the country.
I was in NYC when these comments made the local news. I thought his comments were right on-target. The “reporter” had been making snide comments about the lack of community services shown by conditions in New Orleans (rusted cars on the street, damaged houses, city schools) and comparing these to other locations.Instead of focusing on a Hole-In-The-Ground side of it, it would appear that NOLA has made a good recovery in one-year as opposed to the 5 year condition of the world-trade center.Some new yorkers claimed to have offended by the report of the remarks, but then most New Yorks get offended by something almost everyday. When you compare the level (number of) civil employees in the five areas of NYC including Manhattan to other areas of the country, NYC has far more cop’s, fire engine crews, garbage men, and general wastes of time employed by the city per-capita than any other area of the country.[and they have the taxes to prove it]
comparing “Apples” to any Oranges presents a problem. If NOLA recieved any where along the same level of support from it’s state as NYC received from it’s state or the Feds, then much of these issues would not be visible.
But there is a really good reason why the rest of the country doesn’t look like NYC.and why we -won’t- live there
you want a better comparison? compare Jersey City with NOLA. Even Nagin is a better mayor than the mayor’s in NJ. [how much do they have to steal before they won’t get re-elected?] Nagin isn’t close to perfect, but he does better (with less) that a lot of the NY area. [ no I didn’t vote for Nagin either… ]
Yeah, this northern boy was a little irked by the Chocolate Mayor’s comments. We’ve spent five years making sure our hole in the ground doesn’t become a debacle, like the Big Dig. We repaired NYC’s economy in one year.
I look forward to the day that history addresses Nagin accurately.
“You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair.”
The rest of the country is going to be eager to send us more money now. Or maybe we should sue the NY firedepartment? Is it not easier to sue somebody than it is to make friends? OH no I forgot, things work differently in other parts of the country…. You can’t just sue and expect to get something.
No wonder we feal like we are on a different planet and with calls to seccede (leave) from the union. There is a whole different political culture out there that we have no idea how to deal with, How to work with, and we are not getting our share of the resources we need. How can we can get oourselves to wake up, elect some real leaders, and get the ball rolling before the next waves of ‘Climate refugees’ overshadows our problems here?