Just a Basic Existence

From the Washington Post:

To those who wonder why so many stayed behind when push came to water's mighty shove here, those who were trapped have a simple explanation: Their nickels and dimes and dollar bills simply didn't add up to stage a quick evacuation mission. "Me and my wife, we were living paycheck to paycheck, like most everybody else in New Orleans," Eric Dunbar, 54, said Saturday. [...] He offered a mini-tutorial in the economic reality of his life. "I don't own a car. Me and my wife, we travel by bus, public transportation. The most money I ever have on me is $400. And that goes to pay the rent. And that $400 is between me and my wife." Her name is Dorth Dunbar; she was trying to get some rest after days of peril. Dunbar estimated his annual income to be about $20,000, which comes from doing graphic design work when he can get it. Before the storm, when he and his wife estimated how much money they needed to flee the city, he was saddened by the reality that he could not come up with anywhere near the several thousand dollars he might need for a rental car and airfare. "If I took my wife out to dinner, it was once a month," he said, sounding as if even those modest good times had come to an abrupt end. "We'd go to Piccadilly's. Never any movies. Really, it's a simple life. I go to work, come home, talk to my wife, go to bed, then back to work again. A basic existence."

Much as I love the piling on of scorn toward the BushCo administration, I do want answers about what was going on at the local level to deal with impoverished, elderly, and ill citizens of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast/Mississippi areas during the evacuation orders. Not everything can be blamed on the fed response, and while I've become much impressed with the frankness of NO Mayor, Ray Nagin, he won't be avoiding the hard questions. (But, I've a feeling he'd welcome those and own up to any shortcomings, unlike some other arms of government.)