A dissection of Nathan Deal's lack of leadership in our recent storm fiasco

[groundloop]

I just received this email from Better Georgia detailing Nathan Deal's total lack of leadership in our recent weather related catastrophe. It's posted below in it's entirety.





[1]Better Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a stinging rebuke of Gov.
Nathan Deal's complete lack of leadership during one of the governor's
biggest tests.

[1]The AJC concluded that Gov. Deal failed the test.

Here is the first paragraph to Sunday's top story:

"Gov. Nathan Deal's delay in taking charge during Tuesday's snow
catastrophe triggered a series of cascading failures, leaving hundreds
of thousands of motorists abandoned and desperate for food, water and
shelter."

Read more:

* [2]Leadership failures left Atlanta in chaos
* [3]Other cities have planned for, and survived, worse
* [4]Gov. Deal's icy Tuesday: From photo opps to snow chaos

While we encourage you to read the complete report, we will highlight here
the most important facts reported by the newspaper.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution concluded "that, ultimately, a failure at
the highest levels of state government was to blame."

While Tuesday's weather was unpreventable, Tuesday's traffic crisis could
have been avoided with stronger leadership.

FAILURE 1:

The state's multi-million dollar electronic sign system flashed useless
messages at trapped drivers. The state's mobile app, which is supposed
to give up-to-the-minute updates on road conditions, gave wrong
information about road clearing. Police stood by as cars blocked
intersections. Calls to 911 were answered by an automated "all circuits
are busy" message. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 2:

Deal well knows what ice can do to Atlanta. He was inaugurated in a
crippling ice storm in 2011, and the first executive order he signed
declared a state of emergency for that storm.

But state-level leaders failed to plan adequately for the same type of
weather event that has paralyzed the region time and again. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 3:

The governor didn't activate the National Guard until nearly midnight,
when school children already had been stranded on buses for more than
eight hours. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 4:

The leadership breakdown started well before the first snowflakes fell,
even though weather forecasters issued a winter storm warning in the wee
morning hours.

No one saw fit to wake the governor to tell him. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 5:

That morning, he attended a tourism event at the state Capitol,
unveiling a new "Gone With The Wind"-themed Georgia travel guide. He
posed for a photo with Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.

Meanwhile, Charley English, his Georgia Emergency Management Agency
director, sent a note on Tuesday at 10:44 a.m. that troopers were
reporting wrecks in northeast Georgia: "So it is starting." - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 6:

Deal was preparing to head to the downtown Ritz-Carlton hotel for a
Georgia Trend luncheon, where Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was being honored
as Georgian of the Year. At one point during the meal, Deal commented,
"It's really coming down out there," according to the event emcee. - AJC
2/2/14

FAILURE 7:

About that time, snow began to fall in metro Atlanta. Traffic "went from
free flow to gridlock in approximately 1.5 hours," said Georgia
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Natalie Dale.

Yet the governor would not sign a state of emergency until more than
five hours later. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 8:

At 5:41 p.m., emails show, state officials received a plea from Tom
Weyandt, the Atlanta mayor's transportation guru:

"We are severely under-resourced -- and the state is basically letting
us alone ..." - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 9:

The governor's slow response wasted valuable time when he could have
used his bully pulpit, signalling the public to stay home and off the
roads. - AJC 2/2/14

FAILURE 10:

But representatives of various state agencies weren't at the state
operations center. Nor was there coordination with the business
community and school systems. - AJC 2/2/14

Georgians can no longer afford Gov. Deal's failed leadership.

Sincerely,
[5]Bryan Long
Executive Director
Better Georgia

References

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[Phentex]

1. It's My Pet Goat all over again...

Failures 7, 8 & 9 were the most serious to me. They HAVE to have a plan to keep people off the roads and NOT just in the event of a weather emergency. We all know traffic can be a nightmare under the best conditions.

[groundloop]

2. I'm still madder than hell at the incompetence and disregard shown by Deal, I could do better......

I heard one of the DOT officials on the news say something to the effect that there's no way in hell the state's going to spend taxpayer money on a bunch of equipment it would only use a couple times a year. I'd really like to see an analysis of what this mess cost all the businesses and taxpayers in the state in terms of lost revenue and lost wages. I have to believe that we could have bought a damned nice fleet of storm-readiness equipment with what this one episode cost us.

Hey, here's a novel idea Governor Deal: There are thousands upon thousands of dump trucks in the state, I know this because they're out there running around with no license plates (so they can't be identified) throwing crap at my windshield. Anyway, what if the state entered into contracts with a few hundred of these dump truck operators whereby they would purchase plows that could go on the front of their trucks and spreaders that could go on the rear. At least 24 hours prior to winter weather (our NATIONAL Weather Service can actually predict this stuff pretty well) these private operators would be called into emergency service to spread salt, sand and be ready to plow the roads.

And by the way Governor Deal, what kind of great plans did your $20 million or so in 'studies' come up with?