Via Brazosport News, I see our esteemed Governor has appointed an evacuation task force to help prevent the kind of monstrous delays we saw during Rita's approach:
City and state officials are taking steps to make sure the problems we saw evacuating the city don't ever happen again.
Governor Rick Perry on Friday announced appointments of ten people to the Task Force on Evacuation Transportation and Logistics. The group was established by Governor Perry, Houston Mayor Bill White, and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels to improve evacuation procedures for big cities in Texas.
"Hurricane Rita highlighted the tremendous challenges associated with evacuating a major American city, as well as strengths and weaknesses in state, local and private evacuation plans," Perry said. "While we achieved the ultimate goal of moving millions of people to safety in a matter of hours, we can and we must do better the next time we are faced with an emergency."
"I want to assure people in this city that I found the state of the fuel and delays in opening lanes unacceptable and we will come up with, in this state, a better plan in the future," said Mayor White Friday. "I think that Governor Perry is committed to that and I think the citizens of this state are committed to that."
You'd have a hard time finding anyone who sat on the interstate for 12 hours or more arguing that statement, but who are these ten stalwart go-getters?
Theron Bowman, Ph.D., Chief of Police for City of Arlington
Bill King, former Mayor of Kemah, Texas
Dr. Carol Lewis of Houston, Associate Professor in Transportation Studies and Director of the Center for Transportation Training and Research at Texas Southern University
Jerry Patterson of Austin, Texas Land Commissioner
David Saperstein of Houston, CEO of Five S Capital, former Chairman and CEO of Metro Networks Inc., Volunteer Chairman of the Office of Mobility for the City of Houston
Karen Sexton of Galveston, Vice President and CEO for Hospitals and Clinics at UTMB
Okay, I really don't have any problem with any of these. City and state officials and transportation experts are all sound choices. As Banjo said, some representation from counties adversely affected by the evac would be nice, but these seem pretty good.
Jack Little of Houston (Chair), former President and CEO of Shell Oil Company
Bill Klesse of San Antonio, Executive Vice President and COO of Valero Energy
Mike Trevino of Houston, General Manager of Public and Governmental Affairs for Marathon Oil
Um, what? Are these guys going to guarantee gasoline supplies in the event of future evacuations? Trevino is the only one who seems remotely appropriate, frankly.
Gordon Bethune of Houston, former Chairman and CEO of Continental Airlines
Well...sure. This is the guy who, on September 15, 2001, used the 9-11 attacks as an excuse to justify the layoff of thousands of Continental employees. Layoffs which, I might add, were planned well in advance of the actual hijackings.
Of course, every task force needs someone who can adopt a hangdog expression in front of the TV cameras while finding a scapegoat for egregious mismanagement. Bethune (rhymes with "buffoon") will fit that role nicely.
Not a single member from the Texas Transportation Institute at A&M????? WTF