N.O. city officials defend Cuba trip

[Mika]

N.O. city officials defend Cuba trip
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl102309mlcuba.246ebffb0.html

NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin told a reporter in Cuba that the Cuban dictatorship does a "much better job" in deploying resources in the wake of a hurricane and that the Cuban police state knows its citizens on a very detailed, block-by-block level.

His praise of the repressive government drew strong criticism.

“Well, it’s another example of Ray Nagin putting his foot in his mouth,” said Clancy DuBos, Channel 4 political analyst.

Dubos concedes that a dictatorship, because of its nature, can be more efficient at forcing people to evacuate, which the mayor said, but Dubos says it's what he didn't say.

“But it should have been immediately followed by the comment that nobody we know in a democracy, certainly not in the U.S., would trade our democracy for even that level of efficiency,” he said.

The mayor was joined on the trip by New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Warren Riley, who stands behind the decision to go.

“They have a system in place that works well. We have a system in place that works well on paper, but the cooperation of their citizens, whether they are forced to cooperate or they're just loyal to their government, they cooperate""

City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell also attended the six-day disaster preparedness conference. And while she acknowledges the U.S. can't duplicate many of the Cuban government involuntary practices, that doesn't mean there was nothing to gain.

“What do you do with the critically ill? What do you do with the senior citizens who don't have family, who don't have ways? And what do other agencies, I mean other areas do?”

George Fowler with the Cuban American National Foundation was both surprised and disappointed by the trip. There were around a dozen in the New Orleans delegation, mostly city and state employees. He feels there was little to bring home from such an oppressive government.

“I know American's don't want that. I mean Americans have died over the last 200 years for their freedoms. They're not going to give it up for hurricane preparedness, so there's nothing for Mayor Nagin and his entourage to learn in Cuba in my opinion.”

[roody]

1. Maybe the people that died in N.O. would have liked a government

that takes care of its citizens.

[flamingdem]

2. exactly! nt

[EFerrari]

3. Mr. Fowler apparently finds the common good oppressive.

[Braulio]

4. Maybe not at that price

I doubt they would have liked a government like Cuba's. It's way too repressive.

New Orleans has a simple problem: they built the city below sea level in an area where hurricanes are certain to strike. The answer, of course, is not to build there. Louisiana is a very large state, and there's plenty of land above sea level where they can build.

Thus the New Orleans community would benefit enormously if they abandoned the flooded areas, and rebuilt on high ground north of the lake - using a building code meant to enforce housing design able to withstand 120 mph winds. This is how they do things in Japan, a capitalist country with a more sensible way of doing things than they do in Louisiana - or Cuba.