[Coast Guard Lt. Joe Leonard, who is heading operations at the Astrodome, hopes everyone is out of local shelters by next weekend.] Will we get there? ... I don't know, but we're working hard to get there. |
[In the shelters,] they almost create their own neighborhoods, their own communities, their own circle of friends, ... And they're staying there right now because that's the greatest comfort level they have. |
[Other refugees went to shelters in Dallas, stayed with family and friends, or returned to Louisiana.] They can go wherever they want, ... There are opportunities to be bused to various places. |
For the first 72 hours, they did not do an equitable job of responding to all communities. |
I don't know if they'd close this weekend. I have a personal goal of the weekend after that. |
I think some of them are still trying to figure out what they want to do. Some are still trying to locate family members. |
I wouldn't say there was a large exodus in the last 24 hours. |
If they want to go somewhere else, they are free to do so. |
It's to give them a chance to feel a little bit at home. And some of them might actually be Saints fans. |
That was just like finding money on the street, really, because they were so easy to sell. People would take the papers right out of your hands, it seemed, ... It was always encouraging to have a quick sell of your newspapers. |
The 'Dome is home for them, ... For residents, another immediate relocation is simply too much, too soon. |
The major concern is that Louisiana African Americans are registered at the second-highest level - 71.1 percent - than any other state in this country except Mississippi. It was one of the model states, and now that's gone. |
Think about where they came from. They have an innate fear of water right now. The last thing they want to do is get on board a cruise ship that's in water. |
We are making progress. We are moving people back to their lives. |
We're making up a lot of this as we go. It's a dynamic situation. We don't have a playbook for this. |