Nat'l Assn. of the Deaf sticks it to New Orleans

:grr: :banghead:

http://www.nad.org/site/pp.asp?c=foINKQMBF&b=1117611

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to announce that its 48th Biennial National Conference will be held at Desert Springs – a J.W. Marriott Resort, in Palm Desert, California, June 29-July 3, 2006, which is in close proximity to the Palm Springs International Airport. Mother Nature, in the form of Hurricane Katrina, forced the NAD to find a new location for the conference originally scheduled for New Orleans, Louisiana.

"We grieve with the rest of the nation on the destruction caused to several states by the hurricane. Because of the uncertainty about the New Orleans city infrastructure, the NAD Board of Directors felt that it was in the best interest of all involved to move the 48th Biennial National Conference in 2006 to Region IV and return to New Orleans in 2008," said NAD President Andrew J. Lange.

This was for late June of next year, morans, not next month! And how gracious of you to let N.O. have it in 2008, when it'll really need the business! :sarcasm: I mean, really, the middle of the freepin' desert at the end of June?! My poor friend Miss Deaf Hawai'i will now have to compete for the national crown against a camel and a couple of date palms.

Most of us in the disability community are actively looking for ways to work with New Orleans rather than knife it in the gut, for instance by planning to rebuild it as the "World's Most Accessible City". This cowardly act of "C.Y.A." does no one any good at all, with the possible exception of ASL interpreters in Palm Springs (both of them :-) ).

by next year?

people have to make reservations, plan trips, etc and the hotels and conference centers have to plan as well

the group did the right thing in changing locations

indeed it has set Jan. 1 as the target date for reopening for self-contained meetings such as this one, six full months before this was to have taken place.

http://www.neworleanscvb.com/static/index.cfm/contentID/642/sectionID/1/subsectionID/0

Other meetings (those self-contained in hotels and not utilizing the Convention Center) scheduled after January 1, 2006, are not cancelled. Each will be dependent on the status of the individual host property and the preparedness of the city at the time of the meeting. The NOCMVB will remain in constant contact with meeting planners to update them on the status of both. Organizations planning meetings/events through a third-party planner should consult with that planner regarding hotel and city tourism status.

We are very optimistic about the future of hotel-based meetings next year. Many hotels will be back in pristine condition in less than 30 days and will be committed this Fall to servicing recovery workers. Most will have beautiful renovations and updating completed over the next 90 days. Many properties fortunately remained undamaged or suffered only slight damage and are currently running on self-generated power while fully servicing recovery staff.

edit: six full months

I have no way of knowing what the situation is. I can't imagine that they would change plans at this late date unless there were some big problems. It is just too hellish to get a large conference organized, and of course, many people book a year in advance for flights, rooms and vendor space.

two or three blocks up from the flooded area on Canal back of about Bourbon or Dauphine. Also early reports from NAD were positive and indicated that the Marriott had no structural damage. One wonders what could have happened to make them "flip-flop".

I have a good mind to inform other disability organizations about the sudden vacancy; one in particular has its 2006 conference in Atlanta.

Why put attendees and vendors to extra expense? Why deprive a hotel that has probably turned away other conventions that week of business? And won't there be a fee for pulling the convention?