Aggressive efforts by disaster-response officials to bring supplies helped ensure civility. A heavy police contingent and National Guard troops with automatic weapons stood by just in case.
The New Orleans evacuees had dragged themselves through floodwaters to get to the Louisiana Superdome in 2005, and once there endured horrific conditions without food, sanitation or law enforcement.
But these evacuees drove to the expansive parking lots in the San Diego suburbs. The worst that most endured in their exodus was heavy traffic and smoky haze.
The New Orleans evacuees were of substantially different demographic. They were poor. SoCal is, as far as places like Poway, La Jolla, and Rancho Santa Fe (map), not poor. If civility reigns in San Diego today, it's because so many of the evacuees are relatively affluent and are being supported in their time of need by local merchants eager for this support to be remembered when the fires go out. Rich folks helping rich folks - here's a free massage, and my card.
In the meantime, as the Governator strolls through the crowds of evacuees and the completely unnecessary federal troops stand guard outside, the state takes all the credit. Of course, the troops were absent after Katrina - no photo ops, no credit to be taken there, just poor people at each other's throats. The state sure takes care of the little guy, doesn't it?
JMM
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