Kathleen Tierney Quotations

The big question in everybody's mind is whether entities that proved themselves incompetent to handle Hurricane Katrina can become competent by the summer of 2006. So far, we've seen no evidence of that.

More than 80 percent of the housing was destroyed. It's an island; there was nowhere to go. They didn't know when help was going to come. Law enforcement was rendered ineffective. They didn't know when they'd see another meal.

The plan was simply to get some people out and the rest to the Superdome, ... A network of shelters was never part of the plan, even though it was recognized that the city is a bowl and would be filled with water, that there would be no electricity.

To wait for someone else, or to expect someone else to make my life richer, or fuller, or more satisfying, puts me in a constant state of suspension.

Strengthening Chubb's electronic capabilities is a top priority. The introduction of electronic signatures is the direct result of feedback from our agents, brokers and customers. We've delivered on our promise and remain committed to building further enhancements that will streamline the business process.

Organizational improvisation ... Research on jazz musicians shows that people don't just pull stuff out of the air when they're improvising. These are people with an extremely wide knowledge of musical genres. They have always practiced and practiced and practiced. Similarly, improvising involves a deep understanding of the resources you have at hand in your community.

The question is not whether we need something like the Red Cross, but whether its capacity is scalable to true catastrophes and multiple disaster events, ... Now we're talking about a pandemic. Where would the Red Cross be?

They did anticipate breaching of the levees, that the pumps wouldn't work, ... couldn't get the federal assistance they needed. They knew they were living on a time bomb.

We need a panel of qualified experts that is knowledgeable and objective and has all the investigative and subpoena powers necessary,

It is extremely important that a commission independent of the executive and legislative branches analyzes the Katrina disaster and the events leading up to it.