Notice how the folk in San Diego behaved compared to the savage behavior of New Orleans.

That's a bit racist. Your observation is hardly astute. Upper and middle class people who are fully insured are a lot less likely to cause trouble than poor people with dead and dying relatives who were basically abandoned - regardless of their race.

Just cuz I'm a neurotic baseball fan: Qualcomm hasn't been home to the Padres since 2003. The Padres now play at the really awesome Petco Park.

New Orleans got what it deserved. To put it simply, they didn’t prepare. They had 3 days to get ready for Katrina and got out what they put in. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? Sucks to be them, but that is the fact of the matter.
You don’t need bands and “gourmet” food. Shit – New Orleans has more bands and better foot than all of Southern California put together. They screwed the pooch because it is a mismanaged city in a corrupt state. Nagin is a lousy leader who feeds on racism and division and spews populist rhetoric like an alcoholic spews vomit. FEMA was and is a joke, but when faced with such a disaster, you got to be crazy to depend on the feds. In the end, you don’t need to be “well-heeled” to plan. You just have to be smart.

Yoxie, your comment shows your ignorance. As kirkbrew said, "You just have to be smart."

So, Carlos and kirkbrew, you just need smarts, not money and political influence to deal with a disaster? Meaning NOLA should have sent its municipal workers out to shore up the levees? Why, then, do FEMA, the Army Corps, the National Guard, exist, if not to assist during emergencies? And when cities are left to their own devices, if they don't have a huge tax base and all kinds of extra amenities, and a powerful governor, well, they are left to fend for themselves.

And if you want to talk about planning, San Diego could have used some better urban planning given they built up dense suburbia throughout dry, desert, fire-prone landscapes.

Liz, Oakland has Mugabe as Mayor, that is why your trash wasn't picked up. San Diego has better leadership.

Carlos, your comment is uncalled for. Watch it or you'll get banned from the site. We don't need ignorant, racist comments on the blog.

Let the dude rant. Why is the left so darn eager to "ban" everybody they disagree with? Everywhere they dominate, and those sites on the internet they dominate, group-think is enforced by threat of exclusion, banning or punishment.

Carlos is out of line in his first comment, but banning him only lends legitimacy to his point.

I believe that Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer and Victoria Principal fled their homes in Los Angeles, not San Diego.

Oh, I am sorry Liz, I guess the trash pick up situation is a sore point with you. You are right, I should have stayed on the subject. You have no sense of humour. When I used the term "savage" I was referring to the behavior that was reported on the major media outlets regarding New Orleans. I think that you are just anti-Mexican.

"It is San Diego after all—those forced to flee include Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer, and Victoria Principal—so should we be surprised to learn that last night bands played, gourmet food was served, and massage therapists were on-hand to assist the tanned and tattered refugees? " Ms. Gettleman, what is your source of information for this statement? By "tanned" are you referring to the Mexicans(San Diego is 35% Hispanic). The wealthy go to Palm Springs and expensive hotels. Anyway, the wealthy live in LaJolla by the beach, not where the fires are.

Elizabeth, why do you hate Mexicans?

Isabella, I was referring to those living in surrounding areas, the wealthy suburbia who tan for tanning's sake. This AP article (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2Fed3GM4XyxswLImxLvQ1G8YMYA) is the source for the statement (linked to in the post). And, sdanon, you're right, the fires are in more than San Diego, causing Malibu stars to flee.

Malibu is 150 miles away, admit it, your facts were wrong. Get rid of the hate.

We know how to do it. Chabad Hebrew Academy and Chabad of San Diego County will be serving 5,000 hot kosher meals at their just re-opened campus in Scripps Ranch to all returning evacuees and emergency officials.

All are invited from 6:30 - 9:00 PM this Tuesday evening at the Chabad Educational Center 10785 Pomerado Rd. Scripps Ranch 92131

Chabad's 27 acre campus was destroyed in the Cedar Fire.

Everyone misses the major difference between the two events. San Diego was not isolated and unable to get food or other needs to survive. Superdome people were trapped with no place to go.

Yea lets see how these San Diego yuppies would survive in the Superdome being trapped and having no food or water. They would be just as bad as any other people poor, rich, black or white.

To even compare the two is stupid.

This is a completely unfair compairison. There is a major difference between what is gong on in CA and what happened in New Orleans. One of the most notable differences: San Diego has a disaster plan and is actually following it. The Mayor of New Orleans was warned during the Hurricane Pam exercse he needed to get a disaster plan for using the busses and the Superdome. He REFUSED.

You need to do some research of the facts before making statements like you did in this story.

Hello! Obviously none of you here have been in a hurricane. It does not compare.

Elizabeth's story is full of misleading statements and falsehoods. It shows her hated for white and Mexican people. Mother Jones should fire the racist.

One big difference is that the Astrodome once considered on of the eight wonders of the modern world is now just a big'ol abandoned (except for daily tours) building, that is on the county's hit list for demolition.

Tim is exactly right. There's no comparison. I live in San Diego and can drive right up to the Stadium to deliver food and supplies. 99% of the roads are still traversable here. In New Orleans you'd need a boat to do that.
I agree about the busses though. People shouldn't have been stranded there in the first place.
No, those stars don't live here
And YES, we are ALL tan here regardless of race. ;)

I totally agree with kirkbrew on this one. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I understand that there were a lot of underlying economic reasons for the lack of evacuation and preparedness in New Orleans, but the folks that I've seen burned out in San Diego had every opportunity to prepare for the eventuality that they are now faced with. No excuse for not maintaining a fire-safety perimeter around their homes, no excuse for not equiping their homes with at least a modicum of fire-fighting technology.

I was born and raised in an area of Alaska that is prone to many wildfires. It is S.O.P. for fire crews to allow structures to burn that have not cleared a safe area around them and have not maintained safe access routes for fire-fighters. Structures are never as important as the safety and time-management of our fire-fighters. Heroic efforts to save houses cost time and lives that are better used elsewhere. Sort of a fire-fighting triage.

As far as the wisdom of dense populations in inherently dangerous and/or unsubstainable areas... Being in the "major metropolitan area" of Anchorage, Alaska this winter has given me a case of the screaming heebie-jeebies. Should another large earth-quake hit or any other major catastrophe this city would look like another post-apacalyptic Zombie-fest movie, just like New Orleans did after Katrina.

How many people can answer basic safety and preparedness questions? What would you do if water and electricity was unavailable? What would you do if transportation and shipping was stopped? I'll admit that my great-grandparents are Mormon and that Alaskans are a little different from the rest of ya'll, but I think everyone should be absolutely sure of the answers to those questions without any thought to relying on the feds.

We were discussing this last night. It seems that the posts here focus upon equivocated detail of the compared events.
Our mutual considerations would appear to be of broader context. 1) The swift reaction of the Federal government in the CA event v. the chaotic response to Katrina; 2)At the very least the perception that those citizens of more modest means do not attract the attention of those in a position to take action; 3) This country is based as a Republic balanced by Democratic rule--ergo its citizens have the right to expect the expedient and highest service of its government regardless of class, creed or minority status.

Elizabeth is anti-Mexican? Where did this come from? Carlos, not a name limited to Mexicans, was the first one to mention Mexicans at all, and what Elizabeth has said throughout this whole thing has had no racial component that I could see. Carlos and Maria are racially hypersensitive, which makes them like "the boy who cried wolf" for racism.

I'm glad the good people of San Diego are managing to make the best of a terrible situation.
The camaraderie and spirit they develop now will help them through the business of rebuilding their lives when the fires subside.
Our thoughts are with them.

The areas of San Diego county that are burning are NOT "dense suburbia", they are mostly exurbida - quintisentialy non-dense, as is almost all of San Diego.

Density, within reason, is generally a good thing. I don't have time to get into it here though.

Forget the Feds, it was the city, county and state personnel that did an outstanding job. Everybody knows that the State of Louisiana and the Parishes and the Cities are as corrupt as any in the third world. There is just no comparison on how the governmental entities in California (world's 5th largest economy) and the third world state of Louisiana operate. Louisiana has their hand out just like any other begging third world country that wants a taxpayer's handout from Uncle Sam. Get off the comparisons. There isn't any.

"As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put it in his news conference earlier today: 'The people are happy. They have everything here.'" Notice the difference between the California Governor and the Louisiana Governor. They are literally worlds apart. Our big Daddy, the Terminator, takes better care of us than a hand wringing whining Mama of a Governor that Louisiana had. Good point Elizabeth.

Sounds the same as New Orleans to me. "Six undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested today by U.S. Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees, according to spokesman Damon Foreman." per L.A. Times. (I am not anti-Mexican Carlos and Maria, just reporting what your paper states)

IRVINE, Calif. -- Mosques in Irvine and San Diego have thrown open their doors for fire evacuees, and another in Garden Grove will offer special prayers Thursday night for rain to help firefighters battle wildfires.

The prayer of Salatul Istisqa will be said at 6:30 p.m. at the Islamic Society of Orange County, One Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, said Munira Syeda of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim.

This article (or blog entry, rather) is riddled with generalizations about those ACTUALLY affected by the San Diego wildfires.

"It is San Diego after all—those forced to flee include Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer, and Victoria Principal—so should we be surprised to learn that last night bands played, gourmet food was served, and massage therapists were on-hand to assist the tanned and tattered refugees?"

This excerpt, dripping with disdain, does a real disservice to San Diego victims of the wildfires. Not only does it presume that their (our) suffering is somehow invalid because of the services being offered at one of many evacuation sites around the county, it does further violence to the people of San Diego by, once again, assuming that we are all rich, tanned" and "well-heeled". We are not, contrary to what you seem to believe, all rich, white, or more ludicrously, "undisturbed" by what is happening because there is gourmet food at Qualcomm. Assumptions like these work to further obscure the voices of those who are already forgotten and underrepresented by the mainstream media (including coverage of the wildfires this week).

As it appears that you, the writer, are working with some heavy misconceptions about San Diego County (Kelsey Grammer? Mel Gibson? Try again), I will attempt to shed light on some of the areas impacted. Some parts of the county experiencing the most devastation are rural, as the surrounding brush facilitates the spread of fire and these places are harder for emergency teams to reach. I am thinking of the communities in East County currently threatened by the Harris Fire.

As a lifelong San Diego resident who is currently studying far away from home, I can say that no massage, no gourmet food and no live music could erase the intense fear and anxiety I experienced this week. The fear that my family would burn alive as they slept due to the quickness with which the Harris Fire moved. The fear that we would be homeless, and as we aren't rich (sorry to disappoint), be unable to recover. The fear that the only home that I have even known- the one in which I took my first step- would no longer exist. I suppose my suffering (and those who are experiencing much worse..luckily my house was saved) isn't valid because I'm from San Diego.

I think comparing New Orleans to San Diego is more than a dad narrowly focused. Looking at the big picture, there's little in common. Louisiana has historically had lousy education, corrupt goverment on every level of the system and as a result has overall had a great deal of poverty. California has mostly a more educated population, greater economic opportunities and a far less corrupt politcal system. California standing on it's own is one of the largest economic powers on the planet. Louisiana has much of the same resources, but has managed to maintain a much larger body of poverty stricken people with less opportunity. Corruption and ignorance aren't beautiful to look at and certainly don't create foresight and intelligence when it comes to public infrastructures like levys.
All of that aside, Californians as a whole are a hardy bunch, and to some extent the stereotypical portrayal of them as optimistic folks is true. As a third generation native Californian now living in Arizona, I'm certain that true to their nature, they'll bounce back. The houses built to replace the burnt ones will no doubt be far more fire resistant and beautiful than the one's they replace.
As far as "not building in fire prone areas", all of California is fire prone. It's the nature of the beast. That's like saying, don't build where there's tornados or hurricanes. It's part of nature. Build to withstand the forces to the best of your abilty and enjoy the sunshine!

The victims of the wildfires were overwhelmingly affluent+
folks. They have lots of money. That's good. Money may not buy happiness, but it buys influence, material advantages, and political power. Many such evacuees chose different options than going to Qualcomm. Many families went up to Anaheim to find "safe refuge" at Disneyland for a few days.