Interesting to note the number of officials from Houston, Harris County, and the State of Texas all stating variations on the same theme over the last few days of storm-driven crisis: Texas is not like Louisiana and/or New Orleans.
Compare and contrast the crime, violence and mayhem during Hurricane Katrina vs. the somewhat chaotic, but ultimately successful, Texas response to Hurricane Rita. It hasn't always been pretty, but it got done. That's very Houston -- often not elegant, but a city that works, usually with a smile.
Case in point: Houston's cautious response vs. this nonsense from a freshly-reflooded New Orleans:
Mayor Ray Nagin said Saturday that he hoped to resume a plan to move residents back into neighborhoods that remained relatively dry, including the city's business district.Posted by Alan at September 24, 2005 05:01 PMLast week, Nagin delayed plans to allow some residents to return after it became clear that Rita posed a serious danger and federal officials warned of the problems that could face residents coming back to the city. He said Saturday that the latest storm had postponed recovery efforts by another three to five days.
"What I hope to do is very systematically repopulate the city," he said during a news conference, adding that he thought the dry districts would eventually support a population of between 250,000 and 300,000.
"I have no idea what's beyond that because the houses stayed in water for so long," he said.
He said he wanted residents of the Algiers neighborhood, which has electricity and water, to start returning as early as Monday or Tuesday, following with other ZIP codes.
"We're talking about people who are mobile. We're not asking people to come back who have a lot of kids, a lot of senior citizens," Nagin said. "That's going to be the reality of New Orleans moving forward."