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Matt Murphy
CBS 11 Sarah Dodd
James Waghorne
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09/12/05 We cannot deal
with adversity.
Last week, we saw an incredible thing happen in
Dallas. City Manager Mary Suhm and Asst. City Mgr. Ramon Miguez (both of
whom I often criticize) organized an awesome response for the New Orleans
evacuees. That's why I am mystified about the Mayor's grandstanding to
hurry up a process that is less than two weeks old.
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Why can't we let a systematic effort continue when we are down to less than
2,000 people remaining in Reunion Arena, the Convention Center and at Decker?
"Our guests" are in a secure situation with regular meals, sleeping and sanitation
facilities and already in line for $2,000 from FEMA and assistance from local
businesses and churches. |
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9/12/05 Judd
Bradbury:
Wow, what a great article!
All of your thoughts have been in my head over the
last week. My assessment
is identical to yours.
It is unfortunate that this is turning partisan instead
of an objective evaluation of performance.
Thousands
descend on downtown New Orleans, and the state and
local government basically melted
down. Thousands descend on
Dallas, and everything runs like a well oiled
machine.
I wanted to publicly praise Mary Suhm
last week, but my
schedule will not permit. The Dallas Observer
did a great job of praising
County Judge Margaret Keliher. |
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It was hypocritical of Mayor Miller to arrange a photo op for herself and Mayor
Nagin after calling Gov. Perry's trip to Dallas last week to greet the evacuees
just a photo op. Had the Governor not come to Dallas when he did, I
guarantee you Mayor Miller and Mayor Nagin would have been blasting him the next
day. Other than the dithering Louisiana Governor, who is more responsible
for the New Orleans catastrophe than the more dithering Mayor Ray Nagin?
Who failed to use hundreds of parked (and now ruined school buses) to move
indigent New Orleans residents to safety? |
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9/13/05 Judy
Hall:
I'm an "independent in a Yugo." OK, it's actually an old
Mercury Sable.
I was appalled at Laura who publicly had
taken "shots" at the State/City/County (Governor,
City Mgr, Judge Keiliher),
and then moaned about the impact this would have on the City. Now,
she's placed herself as the "savior" for Dallas area evacuees with her own
"Mayor's Fund." What a great opportunity for photo ops!
Where will Ms. Miller be
6 months from now for these folks, many of whom
will stay in Dallas?
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Nagin's refusal to use those buses resulted in millions lost just to replace
those buses. Now, it will take hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to
move those buses out. If the buses are not destroyed and recycled, some
will get foisted on unsuspecting future buyers. The monetary loss is
nothing compared to the good those buses could have done if they had been used
to haul people and the buses out of the city to higher ground and/or shelter in
Texas. Nagin told the poor of New Orleans they were on their own. |
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9/12/05
Gehrig Saldana
Great job informing the public on exactly who lead the way on such a
fine job!
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Blame Amid the Tragedy;
Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin
failed their constituents.
BY BOB WILLIAMS Wednesday,
September 7, 2005 |
As the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips
is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?
As a former state legislator who
represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount
St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and
public officials over the loss of life and property.
Many in the media are turning their
eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability
of city and state officials. ... The plain fact
is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of
Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.
The primary
responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal
government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged
by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters.
... The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and
Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their
failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the
state and city.
... A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New
Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or
school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest
citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course
and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and
Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan.
Again, they did not take corrective actions.
... Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the
order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His
Office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must
coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing
the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be
encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before
he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly,
it apparently took a personal call from the president
to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.
... Instead of evacuating the people, the
mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without
adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions.
As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these
facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public
safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans.
Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
...
The federal government does not
have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of
a governor.
... I am not attempting to excuse some of the
delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take
corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a
first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies
(earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The
federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.
... |
Louisiana voters have a
historic love affair with crooked politicians. They vote for whomever
makes the most promises (which are never kept). Worse, they re-elect them.
We were on a very steady course of identifying WHO the evacuees are and what
their needs will be. Apparently, no one was giving Mayor Miller any press
while city facilities were being used for our incredible humanitarian effort.
Our Mayor decided to interject herself into the story.
Someone needs to remind Mayor Miller the strong-arm mayor proposal failed last
Spring. Our City Manager is still the boss at City Hall.
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Move-out goal for evacuees: Sept. 18;
Dallas: Mayors, church unite to give those in shelters homes, goods
Saturday, September 10, 2005
by EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
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Dallas Mayor Laura Miller joined New
Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and local religious leaders Friday to reveal an
ambitious plan to get hurricane evacuees out of the city's shelters and into
permanent homes by Sept. 18.
Blasting federal and state authorities
for taking too long to respond to Dallas and other host cities' needs, Ms.
Miller announced the creation of the Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund. The goal
is to raise $3 million to pay for rent and utilities for the 1,500 evacuees
still living in the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena.
Each family will be adopted ? and
provided furniture, bedding, toiletries and other basic necessities ?
through a program organized by The Potter's House, Bishop T.D. Jakes said.
The federal
government "kept telling us, 'Just wait, just hold on. Help is on the way,'
" Mr. Nagin said Friday, in a heartfelt address to Dallas civic and
religious leaders. "Help has arrived today in the city of Dallas. Your
mayor, the clergy and the corporations that are coming together are doing
God's work."
Ten days ago, Texans turned their
stadiums, their convention centers, their recreation centers, and friends'
and families' living rooms into "safe havens," Ms. Miller said.
... The Mayor's Disaster Relief Fund has raised
$350,000 toward its $3 million goal ?
... The fund will be used to pay for rent and
utilities for evacuees still living in Dallas shelters, many of whom are
looking for jobs and trying to get back on their feet, Ms. Miller said.
... Mr. Nagin probably will become a familiar face
in Dallas. Members of his own family came here during the evacuation,
... "You're so organized, you're so caring, you're
so generous," he said. "I can't tell you the support Texans have given us. I
can't say thank you enough."
And Mr. Nagin,
who has been highly critical of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina's
survivors, gave a special nod to Ms. Miller and Bishop Jakes, thanking them
for "busting through the bureaucracy" while, across the state, evacuees were
"standing in the hot sun waiting for $2,000 vouchers from FEMA."
... For now, the fund and The Potter's House programs will
focus only on the 1,500 or so evacuees living in Reunion Arena and the
Dallas Convention Center, Ms. Miller said. Depending on the response ? and
the funds ? they could expand, she said.
And after 60 days of covering
evacuees' housing needs locally, Ms. Miller said she expects the federal
government to "pick up from there."
"Tell them,
'Let's not delay help anymore,' " Mr. Nagin said. |
For the life of me, I cannot
imagine why Laura Miller would want to be identified with Ray Nagin. This
was a terrible mistake that will come back to haunt her. It was another
opportunity for her to take a partisan shot at Gov. Perry and President Bush.
Look who caused this mess in the first place -- the Democrat Governor of
Louisiana and the Democrat Mayor of New Orleans. Gov. Kathleen Blanco
isn't blaming Pres. Bush for the plight of the New Orleans evacuees, she like
others who know anything blame Ray Nagin.
Our Mayor was happy to be seen
with a Black man who likes her -- thinking it will change her local image with
Dallas African-Americans.
| What was the rush? Why was Mayor Miller determined to sabotage a highly
praised operation implemented by our own city officials? Rather than doing
her own deal, why couldn't Mayor Miller have given Mary Suhm and Ramon Miguez
the recognition they deserve and let their plan proceed in an orderly fashion,
which would have been likely completed before September 18 anyway?
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9/12/05 Citizen
F:
You ask, "What was the rush?
...
The word "rush"
can have two meanings. Of
course, one is 'to hurry'. The
other is 'an intense high'. Some
politicians become addicted to publicity just like some people become
addicted to drugs.
They crave the 'rush' that they get
from publicity and jump at ANY chance to get more.
As for the caviler dismissal of the
effort of our city officials and staff --
Our Mayor has never, never been known to
laud any achievement from city employees.
Why should she start now?
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How could Mayor Nagin (the authority on delay and dither) have the audacity to
tell anyone else "Let's not delay help anymore"? At least a couple of
hundred people that actually died (nursing home and warehouse) were left to fend
for themselves because Ray Nagin did not send city and school buses to get them
to safety.
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Many saying goodbye to
area shelters;
Evacuees rethink lives in more
permanent digs as facilities clear out
Friday,
September 9, 2005 by
JIM GETZ / The Dallas Morning News |
Many of the thousands of hurricane
evacuees whom Katrina scattered like seeds to the Dallas-Fort Worth area are
taking root, growing new lives.
In the last week, thousands have
moved from shelters and hotel rooms into apartments and homes across North
Texas. They're living with relatives, while strangers and many cities have
adopted families, and businesses and landlords have cut the red tape to
place people.
As of Friday,
about 10 percent of the 17,000 evacuees registered with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency or the American Red Cross were sleeping at
Dallas' three main shelters: the Convention Center, Reunion Arena and Decker
Justice Center. At their peak on Sunday night, the three shelters were
holding 2,334 evacuees.
By Thursday night, that dropped to 1,889. If
that rate holds steady, the shelters could be emptied in two weeks.
... according to estimates from city and county
officials, Dallas County has at least 6,000 evacuees. Collin County has at
least 2,400, with a few hundred in shelters. In Tarrant County, about 1,600
of the 2,000 evacuees are still in shelters.
... Like Charlotte
Lassair, the Smith family intends to stay in Dallas about six months before
restarting life in New Orleans.
... Meanwhile, in Collin County, most cities are struggling to
estimate how many evacuees they have, a difficult task because people are so
scattered.
People are living in shelters, homes,
hotel rooms and other arrangements. At least 1,000 students have enrolled in
area schools.
... School district enrollments give perhaps the
most solid numbers for at least the school-age population.
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It would have been better for
all concerned to have kept the evacuees with no personal means for emergency
housing in central facilities until they could be orderly processed and assigned
housing and assistance. The evacuees are not unreasonable people.
Most are understanding of the crisis and overwhelmed with the assistance Texans
are giving them.
It is so disappointing that anyone would use the plight of "our guests" from New
Orleans to try to expand their political base.
In their haste to assimilate
the New Orleans people into the North Texas community, some politicians are
willing to move people into our neighborhoods who have criminal histories.
HUD owned (foreclosed and on the market) houses in our neighborhoods are going
to be made available to evacuees. My neighborhood already has at least two
halfway houses operated by some do-gooder church groups, and we think there are
two more. Now, look what may be coming at us!
The people who are being helped first are the poorest who had no resources to
care for themselves or their families. That's not unreasonable.
Unfortunately, the poor neighborhoods of New Orleans are treated just like low
to middle income neighborhoods in Dallas. Authorities dump the criminal
element on them. New Orleans had "14,000 people on parole or probation".
Those bad guys were not living in the "nicer" parts of town. Worse, "4,500
registered sex offenders were living in the 14 parishes hit by Hurricane
Katrina".
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Criminals a concern in shelters;
Hundreds of parolees, sex offenders may be among evacuees in area
Sunday,
September 11, 2005 by
JEFF MOSIER and DEBRA DENNIS / The Dallas Morning News |
Hundreds of parolees, sex offenders and
criminal defendants awaiting trial could be living among the thousands of
hurricane evacuees in local shelters.
But in some locations, city officials have
not identified those evacuees and don't know what restrictions or monitoring
they had in Louisiana.
Some city officials say they don't
have the staffing or system in place to fully investigate people's
backgrounds.
... In the Fort Worth shelters, the lists of
evacuees are being cross-referenced with registered sex offender databases.
But there are no checks to determine
whether individuals are on parole or probation. Dallas officials are
conducting more in-depth checks and also looking for people with outstanding
warrants.
... There are nearly 14,000
people on parole or probation in New Orleans and its surrounding areas,
Louisiana officials said, and 4,500 registered sex offenders were living in
the 14 parishes hit by Hurricane Katrina.
No one knows how many of those
past offenders are in Texas.
... State officials are transferring databases of
parolees and probationers from Louisiana to Texas so all relevant data will
be available. Toll-free numbers have also been set up in Louisiana and Texas
for parolees or probationers to notify officials of their whereabouts.
Those efforts do not include people
out on bail. The local court system is still struggling to recover, and
the governor has suspended court proceedings
throughout Louisiana through Sept. 25.
... The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has not yet compiled
numbers of Louisiana residents who have registered with Texas parole and
probation officials. Officials in both states are still working on plans to
locate the parolees, probationers and sex offenders who don't notify law
enforcement soon.
Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the
Tarrant County sheriff's office, ... "Right now,
we just want them safe and fed," .... "We're
giving the benefit of the doubt that they're honest citizens."
Others have taken a harsher stand. At
a vacant Wal-Mart in McKinney that was converted into a shelter, one evacuee
was turned away because he was a registered sex offender.
... The man, whose name was not released, was sent
back to a bus depot in Mesquite that was used as a clearinghouse for
evacuees. It's not clear where he went next.
... Plano city officials considered running criminal checks, but
after checking federal regulations, they believed that would require them to
fingerprint everyone and send that information off for verification before
allowing anyone to stay in the shelter.
"We determined it wasn't feasible,"
said Plano Fire Chief Bill Peterson.
Many more evacuees are staying in
North Texas with family, friends or strangers who have been generous enough
to offer them shelter. That also brings up questions about security.
A New Orleans man was arrested
Tuesday while staying with distant relatives and charged with sexually
assaulting a 13-year-old girl. ... |
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Why would it have been so awful to process the evacuees in an orderly manner
so we could have a chance to weed out the bad guys before releasing them on
the North Texas community? Even if it took 2 or 3 more weeks?
The conditions at Reunion Arena, the Convention Center and Decker are
nothing comparable to what happened to the evacuees in New Orleans. |
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9/12/05 Stan
Aten:
I can think of several reasons for clearing out the
Convention Center quickly.
#1 With the devastation of New Orleans, Dallas can pick
up some significant convention business for a convention center
that is not making money. I don't know how closely you are following the
budget, but the future of the convention center
looks bleak. The city owes about $330 million on the center and it's
currently losing money.
#2 Getting the folks out of
shelters and into apartments or homes allows them
to get their lives back together and become useful and productive
citizens. Also, FEMA has stopped the debit card distribution,
and they need a mailing address or a bank acct.
to get the money and paperwork from FEMA.
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Our New Orleans "guests" know we owe them nothing. They know Texans are
not obligated to assist them in any manner. They also know we are helping
them out of the goodness of our hearts -- not out of any obligation.
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This is much more than they bargained for
Sunday, September 11, 2005
By MIKE JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News
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MCKINNEY
? A dousing from a garden hose would have been good enough, said Keith Hood,
a hurricane evacuee who spent five days in New
Orleans' Superdome without a bath.
He didn't expect a hot shower when he
arrived in McKinney last week, he said. Three square meals a day would have
been too much to ask for.
... Evacuees have been hunkering down to figure
out how to rebuild their lives, with some planning to stay here, others
working on plans to join relatives and
others hoping to help reshape New Orleans.
... "I might have to leave to help rebuild the city" of New Orleans,
said Calvin Jones, who was staying in the shelter with his girlfriend and
her daughter. "That's my home. But when I leave here, McKinney will be in my
heart forever, forever, forever."
... Antoinette and Keith Dillon, who lost their
home in the storm, said their good fortune in McKinney is a sign that their
family of seven should stay in the area.
... Zenobia Garcia, who works for the Internal
Revenue Service, said her employer would let her work in the Dallas area if
she wanted. She and her husband, David, were staying in the shelter with
their two children and 12 other members of their extended family.
... |
Many from New Orleans,
particularly the poorest, will stay in Texas and Dallas permanently. They
had nothing in their old homes except a harsh existence with little hope of ever
moving up. They would have less in the "New" New Orleans. Ray Nagin
makes it very clear the tourist attractions were all that made New Orleans "New
Orleans" and most of those areas survived. The low lying neighborhoods
will not be rebuilt for poor people. You are going to see a city built for
the kind of people "limousine liberals" like to hang with.
There's something Mayor Nagin has in common with Mayor Miller -- awe for the
tourists, disregard for the citizens.
People who had good jobs and nice homes in New Orleans, will go back. It
is home. Southerners don't leave our homes. We don't migrate.
We don't retire and leave our states. Someone from Florida would not
retire and move to Michigan. Someone from Alabama would not retire and
move to Georgia. We like what we know. We like our history. We
like our traditions.
Texas may be dry and safe from hurricanes (unless you live along our extensive
coastline), but Texas is not New Orleans or Louisiana. The shock and
horror of September 5th will subside with time. When that happens and even
before, homesickness will be strong among many of our New Orleans "guests".
Unfortunately, the best and brightest among them will be those returning to
rebuild New Orleans, their home.
Like other migrations to Texas since the 1980's, many who stay will try to turn
Dallas into what they left behind. Until last May, we had three
ex-Chicagoans on our city council. The damage they caused our city will be
around for a long time.
Here's another thing to think about in all this mess. What Our Mayor and
Our Downtown Betters want to do to the Trinity River is as dangerous as
Louisiana's neglect of New Orleans' levees. Mother Nature is bigger than
mankind. We cannot control her. Whenever we try to alter the natural
order of things, Mother Nature comes back to whip our human butts. When we
build near water (river or coastal), Mother Nature periodically turns that water
against us.
As smart as we are, as talented as we are, Mother Nature is bigger.
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Our forefathers were more appreciative of Mother Nature than are we.
Native Americans in particular respected our lowly status in the scheme of
things.
More, they were tougher than us. |
Like that old lady in New Orleans who refused to evacuate said -- Americans are
weak now. We can't deal with adversity. Everything has got to be
fixed yesterday. We have no patience and have unreasonable expectations of
comfort.
Think of what (some can remember) Americans endured during World War II, the
deprivations. We are their descendants, but we have lost their strength
and resilience.
I love Laura Miller as a friend. On many levels, I think she is a great
Mayor. She just has an Achilles heel of being a "limousine liberal".
She can't help it. Like her other rich friends, she does not respect
people who have not acquired wealth. Rich people always admire those
richer than them. They think anyone without their status and wealth is
somehow defective and undeveloped and in need of a nanny and regulations imposed
on us by those who have acquired great wealth.
Last week's grandstanding got Mayor Miller some national press, but that counts
little in Dallas.
I guess her Gorgeous Guru is back in town and giving her more bad advice on how
to change her image with Black Dallas. Instead, her press conference
Friday managed to turn off her Republican base and reinforce her enemies in
South Dallas. Ignoring Dallas Black preachers (and most of them aren't
worth acknowledging) and making Bishop Jakes her point man, only added fuel to
the flame of Miller hate in South Dallas. Bishop Jakes' Potter House is
not in "South Dallas". Until I was corrected by several readers, I thought
the location was inside Grand Prairie. It may be an incredibly impressive church, but it is not in
"South Dallas". These things matter. Maybe not to Laura Miller, but they
matter.
I don't know how Mayor Miller reverses the damage she did Friday. I am
sure she will because she has more political lives than 10 cats. Whenever
she seems to have dealt her political ambitions a mortal blow, she makes a
remarkable recovery.
The Black preachers who have been so hostile to Laura Miller may have deserved
to be publicly snubbed by her, but City Manager Mary Suhm did not deserve to be
treated that way.
We have some tough times ahead in Dallas. In spite of my reservations, it
looks like Mary Suhm is up for the job. She seems to have the tenacity to
weather storms and respond to adversity with calm and orderliness.
What about the rest of us? Are we as tough as our parents or their
parents?
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Or, are we a bunch of spoiled weaklings who think somebody else is going to
always fix our problems, kiss our boo-boos and make it all better? |
sb
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