The Houston/Katrina record corrected

Nice to know I wasn't the only one to catch ABC's--and correspondent Mike Von Fremd's--imbecilic swipe at Houston, namely lumping it with New Orleans as a city of "chaos" during the Katrina evacuation.

Apparently the editorial board at the Houston Chronicle was watching, too:

It bears remembering that the scenes at New Orleans' Superdome and Houston's Astrodome and George R. Brown Convention Center were direct opposites. The Superdome was dark and without needed provisions or relief workers. In Houston, public officials and thousands of volunteers, given little or no notice, welcomed more than 200,000 Katrina evacuees. The residents of flooded New Orleans, many of whom lost everything, were met with clothing and food donated by citizens and local businesses. Doctors from the Texas Medical Center and other facilities assembled to give all the evacuees complete health care.

In short, the Houston operation, jointly led by Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, was a model of speedy and efficient disaster relief.

To his credit, Von Fremd apologized for his error. Based in Dallas, Von Fremd noted that he and his family are now Texans, that he had covered Katrina and that he was all too familiar with Houstonians' commendable efforts and the "spectacular job" they did caring for the Katrina evacuees.

Which begs the question: Why such shoddy reporting?

There was also this, which I decided not to point out, but which is often on the mind of every Houstonian:

Many Katrina evacuees made Houston their permanent home, and Houston has paid a price for its largesse. The city experienced a surge in violent crime in part attributed to Katrina evacuees who were both the perpetrators and the victims. It risks a spike in its homeless population when housing assistance for Katrina victims is exhausted.

The editorial is here.

Oh, and, there is this, from one commenter:

The atmosphere provided at the Dome rivaled anything going on now at Qualcomm I assure you. There was plenty of food, water, air-conditioning, cots, rest-rooms and medical attention. They were right however to heap criticism on local New Orleans officials for not having the Super-dome ready. Notice this week you seldom hear the acronym FEMA. Why ???? Because local and state agencies are largely handling things themselves in San Diego with FEMA providing support and filling in the gaps.

Yes: no matter how far Mike Brown put his head up his ass (and he nearly disappeared) the failure in New Orleans during Katrina starts with Ray Nagin and works outward to Governor Blanco.

But . . . an argument for another day. Those of us who were here during Katrina owe it to one another to remain forever vigilant in keeping the record straight.