September 11, 2005
"Go FEMA Yourself"
By Karl-Thomas Musselman
Apparently Vice President Cheney was in Austin Saturday to tour the sucesses of local efforts here in aid of those residing in the Convention Center. Or rather, he was here for a photo op that takes advantage of local Austin efforts that were successful because of the leadership of local officals (Democratic for the most part) and the support of an abundance of central city volunteers who have made this one of the better places in the state for displaced NOLA citizens. (Only a third of the original Convention Center occupants are still there, and more are being bussed in from Houston to replace them).
"The reason I'm here today was because I was impressed by the caliber of the effort that was mounted here, and it's a good place to come learn some valuable lessons," said Cheney, who spent Thursday on the ravaged Gulf Coast.
Yeah, learn some valuable lessons. I guess Bush/Cheney's federal government could use a few of those.
Outside the convention center, dozens of protesters holding posters that carried messages including "Go FEMA Yourself" and "Incompetence Kills" stood along Cesar Chavez Street as Cheney's motorcade pulled away.
Posted by Karl-Thomas Musselman at September 11, 2005 10:25 PM
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"Or rather, he was here for a photo op that takes advantage of local Austin efforts that were successful because of the leadership of local officals (Democratic for the most part) and the support of an abundance of central city volunteers who have made this one of the better places in the state for displaced NOLA citizens."
There is this attitude addressed by the African-American community reflected in this whether it was meant to be or not. Whites were just looking for food. Blacks were just looting. The Republican politicians are to blame and don't care. The Democratic politicians had no control over anything and really care.
If they really cared, it wouldn't have happened. They have not have a majority vote in Congress and in many state legislatures. But they have a voice. Most were oddly silent about the ongoing cuts in FEMA budgets to address the very major problem in New Orleans.
About the only truly commendable "public entity" is one that is usually suspect in these situations - the Red Cross. They apparently are finally committing the bulk of the "crisis" donations to both short-term and long-term projects to aid victims and doing so specifically in this situation. They apparently learned a lot from 9/11 and the criticism leveled at it as a result.
The politicians, both Democratic and Republican, apparently didn't. My opinion.
The Red Cross still has a few things to learn about volunteeer efforts. There were turf wars and some disorganization here. When repeat volunteers (people already trained, who have some idea of the situation) are turned away from helping again, that's not great. When folks aren't filtered by their talents, that's not great. When needed volunteers are turned away because they don't have enough "team leaders", that's not great. When a question is asked and the answer is "we'll know who will be in charge of that in 4 hours", that's not great. When refugees arrive and the intake and volunteer databases on hand are Excel spreadsheets, that's not great.
That said, they did a fantastic job of getting folks fed and into cots. Their priorities started in the right place. But they could still use some more work further down the chain.
