You know, tragic as these events may have been, I am not impressed with the New Orleans community when it's all said and done.
As I think I mentioned somewhere, we had some bad flooding here in the Pittsburgh area in September of 2004. It was very minor compared to New Orleans, but it was declared a federal disaster. I remember the Millvale community having the entire business district flooded by several feet of water. There was ONE instance of looting in the Pittsburgh area and the woman was caught on a surveillance tape and was shamed by the entire community. As for New Orleans, nobody is going to look at someone taking food and necessary supplies in that way. There has probably been a good bit of that going on, but let's not kid ourselves and say that people were not stealing non-essential items as well.
Then you have the instances of rapes and murders in the shelter relief areas that were set up. I find it absolutely mind boggling. I cannot imagine the people in the communities around here behaving like such lawless animals, taking advantage in the worst way of the worst possible situation. And the instances of shooting at rescue workers in beyond understanding. Some of the behavior we saw represents the worst of the worst. Of course, it was obviously a small minority of people acting in such manners, but I cannot imagine Pittsburghers behaving as such. It really reflects poorly on the community.
New Orleans does have a very high crime rate. In fact, New Orleans kinda almost prides itself on being a "sin city" so to speak. They celebrate their partying and lawlessness at Mardi Gras, which is to be expected to a degree. However, I have heard stories about police driving through the streets during the parties while drinking beer in their patrol cars and other stories of like lawlessness. From what I understand, it is somewhat of a cultural thing that goes beyond just Mardi Gras. New Orleans pays its police officers starting salaries that are lower than any other major city, if I'm not mistaken, and police corruption is a terrible problem. On top of those social problems, where talking about a city largely built below sea level between a delta and a large lake and the city seemed to pride itself on having so much develop on what would otherwise be a swamp. Well, when you encounter a swamp in nature, it's swampland for a reason.
You know, it ain't Uncle Sam's duty to keep you from letting your community degenerate into a shithole. Now, I've never been there and I'm just going on numerous things I've heard. Perhaps "shithole" is too strong of a term, but I said it to prove a point. What I have seen and heard to much of is a prevailing attitude of laziness and whining. For years and years, New Orleans has waited for federal funding of the levee projects. Well, maybe they should have offered to fund a greater percentage of it themselves and they would have been more likely to sell that one in Washington. Instead, they have been waiting for the feds to fund it all. I wasn't the one that built in city in a swamp that is prime for flooding. We're talking about a multi-year project, so New Orleans should have been able to fund a large percentage of it themselves. They get an enormous amount of money flowing in from gambling revenues, so do what it takes. Hell, they could have been like the gambling mecca of the U.S., being Nevada, and legalized brothels if they needed additional tax revenues. No one could argue they were highly concerned about the moral image aspect and the servicemen in the Gulf would have generated millions upon millions of dollars of tax revenue. Point is, if the priority is that high, and it's the people that live there that are going to understand the potential danger, not congressmen from all over the country, you need to be proactive and do what it takes.
I don't know. I do hope to visit the city someday when things get straightened out, as friends have told me it's a nice place to visit. I am just not impressed with the vision and leadership of the community and the cultural values that have been instilled. When I have seen people interviewed from Biloxi and other communities, I have not seen the complaining and defeatist mentality.
