Why No Plans After Hurricane Ivan in 2004?

One of the New Orleans' nicknames -- the City That Care Forgot -- takes on ironic implications today. But I want to know why there was not a better evacuation plan already in place. Every government offical has known for years how precarious the city's topography is. Why were funds for levee strengthening slashed -- especially after Ivan -- a storm almost as powerful as Katrina-- nearly struck the city just one year ago? It reached land as a Category 3 hurricane at Gulf Shores, Alabama on September 16, 2004