Houston, New Orleans, Katrina, and America's Poor

[Trae]

This is what alon504 at SSP said:

As we all know Hurricane Katrina has exposed America's poor....It's not New Orleans' poor or Houston's poor, but, it is a national issue. It just so happens that a disproportionate resided in New Orleans, for many generations, pre-Katrina, and have been re-located to Houston from an unreal act of nature.

This national issue caused New Orleans to be the victim of horrendous criminal and educational statistics for several decades. And New Orleans truly suffered for it, but, native residents certainly did all they could for the past 40 or 50 years to take care of and tend to these poor.

While New Orleans suffered with it's national reputation because these poor lived in our city, we still had thousands of the affluent accept the verdict and continuouosly, month after month, create and participate in community fundraisers to tend to and assist those in need.

Whether some in Houston or New Orleans view it as positive or negative is moot, but, the truth is, now the tables have turned. Many of America's poor, that for generations, resided in New Orleans, have now re-located to Houston.

The number is over 200,000. And these poor are now the child of the next generation of Houston. Regardless of how any individuals feel, this "national" issue of poverty has been relocated to Houston from New Orleans and now the burden of some type of resolution to the crime and poverty has been moved from New Orleans to Houston. Obviously, Houston has many more resources than the wealthy of New Orleans and what society offers.

The simple fact that Houston is home to so many more and so much more wealth relates to us all that Houston offers more solutions. It is very understandable that many in Houston, have recently, on the news, demanded that this national issue be returned to New Orleans. Of course it is easier to pass the problem to other communties or the community that it came from, but, the bottom line is the federal government, through the disaster of Katrina, has decided to take this national issue from New Orleans and not allow it to return.

The public housing in New Orleans, that assisted these individuals is being destroyed and is not being rebuilt. Now, the national issue is being moved to Houston, which has more resources to deal with these individuals.

What can Houston do to assist these poor? How can Houston get these people to work? How can Houston get these people educated? New Orleans attempted to do so for the past 50 years and, obviously, had little success. Now that the issue belongs to Houston, what can Houston do to help these people, where New Orleans failed??

I think he is right in some areas, but I don't think the poor that relocated here are Houston's next generation.

What do you all think?

[KinkaidAlum]

Uh, I think he is full of s&*t.

The legal system in Louisiana is a joke. Public education in Louisiana is a bigger joke. His attempt to try and rationalize how such a high percentage of the people of New Orleans lived in poverty (some estimates of up to 42% before the storm) despite the "best efforts" of New Oreans' elite is downright laughable.

Evrything about Louisiana and New Orleans needs to be fixed. Everything is inept. It's why it's one of the few Sunbelt states to actually be getting smaller and poorer over time.

Also, remember, this is the same guy that came to this board to rub our collective faces in having to take "these" people. He's an asshat.

[Heights2Bastrop]

The legal system in Louisiana is a joke. Public education in Louisiana is a bigger joke.

I certainly can

[Mark F. Barnes]

I certainly can

[Jeebus]

200,000 or more New Orleans residents might have evacuated to Houston, but 200,000 did not arrive by bus at 2am, 6 days after the storm. My point? Less than half that number were forcefully evacuated here by bus and have since been living off of charity. The rest have assimilated, or moved back.

So I'll say 100,000 is a more acurate number. That's less than 5% of Houston's city population. 100,000 in New Orleans was 20% the population. New Orleans failed because at any given time 1/5th of all its residents were depending on the government to support them.

Houston won't fail because instead of giving hand outs, we're just arresting them as fast as we can. We're also enforcing every deadline available, making these evacuees choose: work, or leave.

Within the next 10 years we'll lose half of that 100,000 as they'll move on to other cities like Memphis, Atlanta, or D.C. in search for their free meal/rent ticket.

[houstonsemipro]

I've heard alot of stories about New Orleans evacuees/residents that now live in Houston trying to find jobs, and start a new life. But, what strike me the most was my friends mention to me that New Orleans residents trying to apply for jobs and have been turn away, just cause they where from New Orleans.

The interviewers/Companies look for zip codes that start with 504, or city/state that beings with LA/New Orleans. The reason why they doing this simply because they want them to return back to New Orleans. The question is, to what?

I've not only heard this from my friends, but from other people as well. I thought they were joking around when they first told me, but it's true.

60% of New Orleans poor population still in Houston area, and half of them is not going back home, sad to say.

[J.A.S.O.N.]

I've heard alot of stories about New Orleans evacuees/residents that now live in Houston trying to find jobs, and start a new life. But, what strike me the most was my friends mention to me that New Orleans residents trying to apply for jobs and have been turn away, just cause they where from New Orleans.

The interviewers/Companies look for zip codes that start with 504, or city/state that beings with LA/New Orleans. The reason why they doing this simply because they want them to return back to New Orleans. The question is, to what?

I've not only heard this from my friends, but from other people as well. I thought they were joking around when they first told me, but it's true.

60% of New Orleans poor population still in Houston area, and half of them is not going back home, sad to say.

I can believe it. Time to shave off the dreds and take on a Texas accent, and for goodness sake don't put down that you came from N.O.!

[Mark F. Barnes]

You know I keep hearing about people, not just evacuees, but people in general, having problems finding work. I'm in the oil industry on the exploration side, and every service company I deal with and every drilling contractor I deal with, is short handed. Nabors, Grey Wolf, H&P, Cactus, Pioneer, UPI Patterson, and every other drilling contractor is hiring. They are starting worms (no experience) out @ $15-$17 per hr. Every one of them is hiring EVERY ONE! Yeah it's hard work but it pays well. If you catch on quick and work hard, you can be making $25 and hour pretty quickly (2 years). I see this everyday. They are working 7 days on and 7 days off for the most part. (40 hrs reg 44 OT) they have health insurance, 401K per diem, all kinds of safety bonuses, and oil companies are paying down-hole pay. It's booming. If a person can't find work they just aren't looking. They don't care where you live or what color you are, they just want someone willing to work. Onshore, offshore, international, everyone is short handed. All you need is a SSN and the will to work. They will train you.

I just don't buy any BS about someone needing a job and can't find one.

Go to www.rigzone.com and go to career center and there are links to every reputable company in the industry, theyre are also hundreds and hundreds of job listings from professional to unskilled labor.