When will people stop "blaming" CA for reacting as it should to wildfires?

Question

Is anyone else sick to death of all the CA and New Orleans comparisons? I am also sick of everyone saying that it is all about race - HELLO the officials that should have made sure Katrina victims got the help they needed WERE BLACK and they lagged! It is NOT about rich white people helping rich white people and leaving the blacks out in the cold. San Diego is an extremely diverse area and all races and socio-economical strata are affected. Bottom line CA OFFICIALS DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO ASAP TO GET HELP - KATRINA OFFICIALS SAT ON THEIR HANDS AND CRIED LIKE BABIES AND PUT OFF SETTING THE WHEELS IN MOTION TO GET THE HELP THEY NEEDED! And CA residents will not be in FEMA trailers for the next 2 years or longer because we have pride in our cities, state, and ourselves. We work hard to pay the high price to live in CA and I am sick of the rest of the country thinking we are all upper class snobs.

Bill W - I am far from a snob and far from being upper class - my hubby is an LACo Firefighter and his whole department is in danger. BTW - the US is the best country in which to live!

hey KISS - you are so right, but even then BEFORE Katrina we did not act like those vicitms did.

Answer 1

I am right there with you! Not everyone that lives in So Cal, especially the OC is rich. Most of us are working our tails off to live a great life.

I too am sick of the comparisons to Katrina. The whole thing is this: We chose to live in So Cal, which is basically a desert and the hills are all chapparal. We all know that there is a significant risk for wildfires every fall and into the winter. This is not because of global warming, it is because of our unique geography and topography. This happens year in and year out, some years are worse than others, but the risk is there all the time. I think I heard on the news, that everyday is fire season in So Cal, how true is that!

I know that my hubby and I have a fire plan and an earthquake plan. That is what you do when you live here. I had a hurricane plan when I was still living in Houston. Maybe if the people in New Orleans had realized that living on the Gulf Coast and below sea level was a risk, then they wouldn't be whining that So Cal is getting help. The one thing I do know, is that a lot of So Cal residents won't be using FEMA to rebuild their homes. I know if it was my house I wouldn't be using them.

It is not the government's responsibility to rebuild people's houses after natural disasters. Every place has something! Besides, houses burn down everyday for whatever the reason and FEMA doesn't come in and help!

God Bless your husband for all of his hard work and risking his life to help protect other people's property!

Last thing to lift your spirit~ Where else can we go surfing on Christmas and turn around and see snow on the mountains? We can do that and it is the silver lining to this beautiful place.

Answer 2

The sad thing about New Orleans that, at least as long as the Moriel mayorship and Edwards governorship in the eighties when I lived there, it was well known that the levees were not able to withstand a storm landing to the east, that there was no viable evacuation plan, and that federal help would take days to arrive after help was requested. That didn't change in the 20 years until it actually happened. In Hurricane Betsey, New Orleans East was nearly wiped from the map and 20 years later, was still not totally rebuilt (much of it was made into a dump). While I'm usually on the train of criticizing California for its nanny state, they at least have learned from the past and the people themselves seemed to be as prepared as could reasonably be expected. There is no comparison. Race is not a factor in either place. Complacency by New Orleans and the state of Louisiana, however, are valid complaints.

Answer 3

The comparisons are being made by folks in the NY-based media outlets. People who think if you go west of the mall in Paramus, New Jersey you fall off the edge of the earth.
I lived in the San Luis Rey Valley of Oceanside many years ago. My subdivision was a miniature United Nations. When I was elected President of my son's PTA I thanked the other parents in ten other languages.
As someone who was born and raised in New York City I know how insular those folks are. It's one of the reason that CBS, on its "Sunday Morning" show ends each show with a nature segment, usually video footage of somewhere in the American West. The show has millions of viewers who've never seen a horse or a cow up close.
To the media giants of midtown Manhattan, all Californians are millionaires who sit around getting tans and not having a care in the world. I live in Southern Nevada. But, I have the darndest time trying to convince some people that folks live in Las Vegas.
What your Governor, the various mayors, and your fire fighters and police have demonstrated has been heroism and competence. That's a tough thing for the media to swallow. It flies in the face of their pre-conceived notion of the California "lotus eaters".

Answer 4

California has a lot of experience in dealing with disasters thanks to our yearly fires and our earthquakes.

Practice makes perfect.

The people in Louisiana, for a variety of reasons, did not prepare for hurricanes very well. Added to that lack of planning was the lack of leadership the Federal gov't. took in dealing with the levees in New Orleans. They were warned many times that the levees could not withstand a serious hurricane, but no one took charge and did anything about it.

I have to say, as someone who has lived in CA for more than 40 years, I do think we tend to do things better here than in many other states.

Why is that? It could be because we have lots of practice with disasters. It could be because we have a fine higher education system of state universities in CA. Our leaders are able to get a good education for relatively little money and more education makes for smarter leaders.

It could be because we are a rather liberal state. Liberals, those bleeding heart, care-about-humanity-types, tend to look at the BIG PICTURE when planning for the future and so take into account all classes of people who will need help.

It could be because we are a technologically advanced state so we have lots of techies among us to help us put it to work for us in these tough times.

It could be all of these reasons combined that helped make this CA disaster come off better than the post-Katrina reaction. I tend to think is is a combination of all these good ingredients.

So what does this mean for the rest of the U.S.? Franky, I think the other 49 states should copy us in many ways.

We do many things well here when it comes to disaster preparedness.

Answer 5

It not really about the reaction, though. Both situations could have been prevented with proper preparation (fixing and improving the levees in New Orleans; strategically thinning out the forest to slow fire spread in southern CA).

By stopping minor fires immediately to protect the wilderness homes that have been built in CA (instead of letting them burn themselves out), the small fires aren't allowed to naturally thin the forests, which results in one little fire every once in a while turning into a monster fire like we have now.

Answer 6

You are so right. I live in an evacuation zone right now. And i'm in the middle of these fires. But Southern California is doing a great job of staying united no matter WHAT RACE. If you look at Qualcomm Stadium, everyone is coming together and bringing food for the people who have had to evacuated/ or lost their homes. I dont wanna hear any race crap coming from anyone, cuz it's SO irrelevant right now.

Answer 7

In case those people don't remember, in 2003 us San Diegans experienced the Cedar fires, which was a horrible tragedy.
We learned from our mistakes. We knew what it was like to be unprepared, and we ensured that it would not happen again.

Answer 8

Well stated. Folks just won't accept that Arnie, the state, and local government have their ducks in a row. That and the folks in California are PREPARED for natural disasters!

Answer 9

i know - isn't it ridiculous - i don't even click on those questions anymore.