Evacuees in your community

[Chris2597]

Our city has taken thousands of evacuees from NO....The tragedy of this natural disaster is horrific. My immediate response was to jump in and do everything we can to help the people that are in such a hopeless situation. However...I wonder what the long term implications of housing this many people will be....NO is not going to be cleaned up in a matter of weeks....It is going to take month, years or may never be the same....I would say a large % of evacuees will natually relocate to the areas that they are being housed.
We have a friend that is involved in securing the areas around the evacuee sites and he said that a criminal element that is part of the evacuees have begun to rob homes in communities surrounding the sites.I was shocked...these people had only been processed that day...He said. that 90% of the people are truly in need while 10% are nothing but hoods and thiefs.....he said the gang problem is the worst....I wonder how this long term is going to impact our police force, hospitals, school, and safety in our communties.
Again, I am supporting the relief effort but I do wonder what impact this will have on my community and state.

 

[Shutterbug]

We have a friend that is involved in securing the areas around the evacuee sites and he said that a criminal element that is part of the evacuees have begun to rob homes in communities surrounding the sites.I was shocked...these people had only been processed that day...He said. that 90% of the people are truly in need while 10% are nothing but hoods and thiefs.....he said the gang problem is the worst....I wonder how this long term is going to impact our police force, hospitals, school, and safety in our communties.
Again, I am supporting the relief effort but I do wonder what impact this will have on my community and state.

Yes unfortunatley when they evacuate a whole city you have to take the bad as well as the good.

 

[Luv2Roam]

And sadly, it is the bad we will hear so much about.
I don't care what the situation is -- housing, work, whatever -- there is always people who are a bad influence and element.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

This has come up on a couple of other threads. I am not happy AT ALL with the fact that thousands of people continue to pour in here when our mayor specifically said we can't take anymore evacuees. There isn't any room and our police are maxed out. Yet this morning's paper says the buses continue to roll in. Dozens of them. The governor originally said 75,000 could come to Texas and the latest estimate of how many are actually here is 223,000. Not good.

It isn't that I don't want these folks to get help. I don't want to be raped, robbed, carjacked or killed by the hoodlums that have been thrust upon our community. When "officials" refuse to respect the limits of the cities they are moving people into there is bound to be trouble. Dallas had plenty of criminals and homeless people BEFORE the hurricane. The mayor agreed to take more. (Like she had a choice.) Perhaps Bush would like to open up his ranch in Crawford to house several thousand evacuees? If he thinks they
are all good, honest people then he should step up and invite them over to his place!

I am terrified of guns and never in a million years would I have thought I would consider applying for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. But you know what? I can certainly see the merit in having a permit now! The only firearms we own are hunting rifles, so I will have to buy a bigger purse, but I'm sure I can work it all out.

 

[va32h]

Yes, I agree this is a concern - people who want to donate to the shelters in Reunion Arena are actually advised NOT to bring donations directly there, due to crime concerns.

While this may be the inevitable result of having to relocate an entire city, the good and the bad, it is still of no less concern.

I wonder how this will affect our economy - to have tens of thousands more people looking for work. Or whether schools will become crowded.

I don't think it is being unsupportive of the relief efforts to think about these things.

 

[Free4Life11]

I think that evacuees are simply going to have to be spread throughout the country. EVERY state needs to do something to help, we can't put all the burden on a few states. I know here in Lincoln, NE we have room for 150 victims at the People's City Mission. We are ready and wiling to accept and provide for these people.

 

[Microcell]

I have to be honest, I am sort of relieved to be too far north to have very many come here.

I do hope it will be a new chance for the poor that were stuck in Projects to turn things around.

 

[maci]

Yes I too have conflicted feelings about this. One minute you feel such sorrow and want to do anything to help, the next you think, what does this mean for our city?

 

[HaleyB]

I just hope that there is some way to help off set the expense Texas citys have taken on. Closing convention centers for months is going to have a huge ecinomic impact on our cities. It is going to hurt many sectors. The cost of educating all the children, will that be off set? We already have hundreds of kids signed up, I can't even imagine the impact in larger cities.

 

[Shutterbug]

I have to be honest, I am sort of relieved to be too far north to have very many come here.

I do hope it will be a new chance for the poor that were stuck in Projects to turn things around.

I have a feeling they are going to need to be spread out across the whole country from Washinton state to Maine. Texas is already being over come.

 

[kejoda]

We are getting 5000 here in MN. But for some reason the Governer has decided to place them a couple of hours north of the Twin Cities area. I don't know why he would do that when the Cites is the place where they would get the most help. Right now I don't know what he is thinking. Course I don't like the man so anything he does I question.

As for over 200,000 in the Dallas area, that is too much all at once. I do understand how you feel.

 

[ToriLammy]

I just hope that there is some way to help off set the expense Texas citys have taken on. Closing convention centers for months is going to have a huge ecinomic impact on our cities. It is going to hurt many sectors. The cost of educating all the children, will that be off set? We already have hundreds of kids signed up, I can't even imagine the impact in larger cities.

This should help a little with Federal aid for those areas affected, and it should include funds for education also.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- President Bush declared a state of emergency Friday for the states of Texas and Arkansas, both expected to be inundated with refugees from Hurricane Katrina.

The declaration allows federal assistance to state and local agencies in all 254 counties in Texas and 75 in Arkansas, the White House press office said.

 

[Free4Life11]

I have a feeling they are going to need to be spread out across the whole country from Washinton state to Maine. Texas is already being over come.

Definitely.

I am glad the President delcared that...I hope these states can receive emergency aid from Dept. of Education, and all the other departments.

 

[snowy76]

I have a feeling they are going to need to be spread out across the whole country from Washinton state to Maine. Texas is already being over come.

We're already hearing here IN UPSTATE NEW YORK to be prepared to take evacuees at our state fairgrounds. I think every community will be affected, whether with one person or a hundred thousand.

 

[snappy]

All I want to say is thanks for helping our state and the citizens of the New Orleans area. There is no way we could survive without your generosity.

Our friends and family are lucky, everyone is staying with family, or going to be renting apartments, etc.

But thanks for everything you are doing throughout the country for our evacuees, medical attention, food and water, clothes, shelter, all of it.

We will never be able to repay you but please know we are grateful. I pray the problems with the criminal types can be minimized.

 

[bz8bls]

I have to be honest, I am sort of relieved to be too far north to have very many come here.

I do hope it will be a new chance for the poor that were stuck in Projects to turn things around.

Maybe you should work with an organization that will change the circumstances of the poor that were stuck in Projects. I'm sure the citizens of Texas would appreciate your effort.

 

[rcyannacci]

Personally, I was glad to hear that Austin would be taking so many evacuees; if gives me a chance to get involved first-hand in offering help. I hope as a community we do all that we can to make them welcome in the city and help them see it as their new home. The cultural benefits that will be gained by building community will WELL out weight any negatives. But, we are certainly going to need help from our local, state, and national governments. If we can pull it together and help those in need, certainly they should be able to do the same.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Sadly, NO has always been well known for their high crime rate.
If you look at the chart in this link:
http://neworleans.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm
it shows the NO crime level is worse than national average on everything byt forceable rape.
When any city increases drastically in size literally overnight, there will be fallout.

 

[beattyfamily]

Up here in MA it was just announced we'll be taking 2500 in. Every little bit helps I guess but that number seems so low when you think of how many homeless there are.

 

[Luv2Roam]

I have not kept up with local news. Here is what one Orlando resident did:
Someone had their home on the market to sell. (No one was living in it.)
I don't know how the contact was made, but the owner took their home off the market and is allowing a replaced family to live there. The family has children, and like many, came with the clothes on their backs.
And the owner contacted her friends and several are donating what items they think they family needs.
I am sure we will read many, many stories similar to this in the months ahead.