People want to place the blame for a variety of factors relating to the storm.
Initially the slowness of the response and lack of security in the city
left people wondering just who was responsible. Candidates included all
of the leaders and a few agencies:
- Governor Blanco
- President Bush
- FEMA (Director Michael Brown of course, but also DHS Secretary Chertoff and acting FEMA head)
- NOPD deserters and looters, ex-Chief Eddie Compass
Later once people began to wonder why tens of thousands of citizens
without cars or other means of egress had been left behind in the
evacuation they looked around for more people to blame. In a related
issue people wonder why the mandatory evacuation order was issued
Sunday rather than Saturday or before.
- Mayor Nagin
- Governor Blanco
Then Jefferson Parish residents flooded out of their homes by rainwater
accumulations demanded to know why the pumps had been shut off and the
operators evacuated to Washington Parish. Only one candidate emerged
here:
- Parish President Aaron Broussard
Later as evidence accumulated that the Orleans canal levees failed
without being over topped people demanded to know who had made the
blunders that drowned half the city. The State Attorney General,
U.S. Attorney and the Orleans District Attorney have all opened
criminal investigations. Civil suits are generally thought to be
precluded by the Corps immunity as a federal agency.
- Corps of Engineers
- Engineering and construction firms who built the levees
- Levee Boards
- Sewerage and Water Board
St. Bernard Parish residents still point to the MrGO as one of the
primary factors in flooding their parish. They have been fighting this
waterway since before it was built:
- Corps of Engineers
- Port of New Orleans
Now it is becoming clear that rebuilding is being threatened by
the lack
of shared vision. A history of corruption is also taking its toll as
America wonders how the area can be trusted to make good use of
assistance provided. Partisan national politics pitting Republicans
angainst Democrats can also be expected to play its part.
- Multiple visioning teams
- Outside groups like the Urban Land Institute
- Mayor vs City Council
- Mayor vs Governor
- The Legsilature
- Governor vs President
- Louisiana Congressional Republicans vs Democrats
Insurance settlement has become a problem
- Insurance Companies esp. Louisiana Fair Plan
- Mortgage Companies
- FEMA even has their fingers in this as they somhow interact with the insurance companies to pay the adjusters(?)
Trailers for temorary housing are another major issue
- FEMA slow to acquire and deliver trailers
- Dealers licensed and unlicensed getting huge contracts (how, FEMA again)
- Acquiring the wrong types of trailers (10,000 wrong ones stored in Arkansas)
- Leaders not planning for where to put the trailers
- Citizens complaining about trailer locations (NIMBY)
- Social problems with big trailer parks (Punta Gorda experience)
- Cost of the trailers (about $3,000 per month for each 400 square foot trailer)
- Quality of the trailers (complaints by those who have gotten them)
- Why use trailers anyway when the time and money could be spent on permanent housing?