First let me preface this with I think there were racial/class issues involved in the New Orleans response but comparing that disaster to the current San Diego Fire tragedy is not fair!

Here are my brief thoughts after hearing some viewer thoughts on CNN

People are starting to compare the disaster response in CA to New Orleans during the hurricane. There are suggestions made that because these are ‘rich’ white people they are getting better services.

• First, there aren’t all white ‘rich’ people in CA, besides in both situations the ‘rich’ people of all colors left both cities and are staying in fancy hotels.
• Second, I would challenge those who think this is a ‘race’ issue to look to the management — could it be that the people in charge during the New Orleans crisis were incompetent? This has nothing to do with your color, because during the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego the leadership was inexperienced/incompetent so things weren’t as smooth.
• Third, during the hurricane no one was going in or out of the city — who was responsible for these decisions? In this disaster you have people reaching out to their fellow community members — there isn’t an entire city wide evacuation. Everyone in the city is not affected or out of their homes.

Comparing the two disasters is like comparing apples to oranges, they are both fruits i.e., disasters, but this is where it ends!