Maybe they're unable to get stuff together so quickly. It seems like it's slow, but the stuff has to come from somewhere, and it's not like anyone else so far has guessed the extent of what they're signing up for.

You're right; this stuff does have to come from somewhere. I've conflated two gripes here: lack of material prep and the fire marshall's fiat.

The scene in Houston most of the day had the people in charge at the Dome turning away volunteers. Houstonians loitered in the area and when they could find an evacuee, they'd ask what the person needed. Then they'd quickly return after purchasing the named items.

I can only guess, but I'd imagine that if they'd put out a call for towels, they could have had more than they needed. Not ideal by any means, but these poor people have been living in squalid filth and they need showers for public health reasons. I understood their refusal of food donations, frustrating though it is. There are just enough sickos out there - see the roving gangs terrorizing N.O. even now - that they can't take the chance.

You're right that nobody else has correctly guessed the number involved, but the figure of 25K was bandied about for at least 24 hours. The fire marshall's office knew; why wait until 108 buses are lined up for entry? I understand that we want to provide safe refuge rather than a repeat of the Superdome. If the number that can be housed there safely is fewer than 10K, then so be it but the time to bring that up was during the planning. Or, assuming nobody thought to ask them, at least when it first went on the news.

The whole, "we won't answer the public's questions about why we've closed the stadium until 10 a.m. tomorrow," bit? Unacceptable and strikes me as arrogant. I'm hoping that our mayor will take action when things have settled a bit to look into why this office behaved as it has. In the meantime, I'd put somebody else temporarily in charge if what's going on is a pissing contest.

Ah, the role of the fire marshall was not clear to me. That explains a lot, and not in a good way.

I should say, that he was the one not answering questions. And hell yes, they should have known before.