AP: Houston abandons its neediest ahead of Hurricane Rita

[Blaq Dem]

For some reason, those conservatives just don't like poor people.

HOUSTON, United States (AFP) - As the first winds of Hurricane Rita whipped at the power lines across the street, Virginia Lewis Mansfield huddled in a doorway with all her earthly possessions within arm's reach.

Homeless for the past three years, Mansfield found herself on the streets of Houston Friday night as many of her usual shelters were closed ahead of the hurricane...

...

Mansfield was one of scores of homeless people left to brave Hurricane Rita on the streets because of a lack of communication, coordination and shelter space. City officials said they did their best to help the city's most vulnerable evacuate by bus or air but to many left on the street in the rain, they hadn't tried hard enough.

...

City officials said they chose not to open any shelters in Houston because they did not think it was safe to do so in a hurricane zone. Instead, they asked residents to evacuate on their own or to call a hotline if they needed help getting out of town.
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[rodeodance]

1. Houstan did not want a repeat of the Superdome/Convention scene.

......City officials said they chose not to open any shelters in Houston because they did not think it was safe to do so in a hurricane zone. Instead, they asked residents to evacuate on their own or to call a hotline if they needed help getting out of town.
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[Blaq Dem]

4. Yeah, you're right. They want the news media to air the suffering n/t

[Radio_Lady]

27. Interesting. Did anyone see any coverage on the NOLA homeless?

I'm sure they didn't all get into the Superdome.

There must have been some left on the street to be washed away.

Or didn't New Orleans have a problem homeless folks? Hard to believe in such a warm climate...

Just askin' -- not pointing fingers at anyone in particular.

[Igel]

13. But the Astrodome they didn't open as a shelter because

it's not safe in a hurricane: glass roof, reports said.

It could only be a repeat of the Superdome if the people that could leave refused to do so the next day.

[bluestateguy]

2. If all the upper middle class white people are safe and out

then the Republicans and their corporate media friends will call it a smashing success.

[gtar100]

3. Cruel.

[gumby]

5. Here's a WaPo story along the same lines.

Houston Mayor Bill White seems like a *real* Republican. He really took care of his citizens...NOT!

'It Was Like the End of the World,' One Texan Says
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/23/AR2005092302186.html

[jobycom]

7. White's a Democrat. nt

[gumby]

17. Too Bad

That article made him sound like a jerk. Guess sounding like a jerk is not limited to "Party."

[jobycom]

19. I don't know anything about him, but keep in mind

As the chief exec of the city, his goal in the evacuation was to get as many people out as he could, not to correct in one weekend the problems Houston and America has let fester for decades. He may be an ass, he may be a saint, I have no idea. But leaving a 44 year old schizophrenic homeless woman on the streets of the city during a disaster is the fault of more than just White's evacuation "plan." It's a national disgrace that both parties and most voters have ignored a long time.

I'm not one of the DU Dem bashers, but it's the truth. Although Houston still should have done better for the homeless.

You know why they wouldn't set up a storm shelter for the homeless, though? Because anyone you take into a shelter you are supposed to keep in the shelter until they can go home, or until you provide a home for them.

[AuntieM1957]

22. Houston did evac some homeless

but it's not like they could go door to door, could they?

and some refused to go - I saw the live interviews on the news.

The legacy of the mentally ill, like this woman, on the streets goes way back to Reagan and changes in the commitment law and mental health care for the indigent. And, yes, that is a national disgrace.

But it is not Bill White's fault. Nor is it the fault of the city of Houston.

[VolcanoJen]

6. Yet all you hear is how organized they are in Texas....

... vs. Louisiana.

What the hell is wrong with government??

[markus]

25. TX was organized?

On which planet is this Texas?

These idiots just discovered contra flow when the freeway system came to a halt, sent large swatch of the population through a construction zone, and didn't give any thought to the fact that people might run out of gas if they all tried to leave at once, standed untold poor people at bus stations with no buses?

If New Orleans had been as organzied as Texas, 10,000 would have died in Katrina.

[anitar1]

26. Govenor Goodhair and the mayor of Houston made

fools of them selves with all their boasting about how well organized Texas was. What a fiasco. Never sent tanker trucks to the interstates ect. Just boasted about how well it was all going.

[Pharlo]

8. "call a hotline if they needed help..."

I will be the first to admit I'm not an expert on issues regarding the homeless - or even public policy - but even I realize that the homeless may NOT have access to a phone with which to call for 'HELP!'.


AT WHAT POINT DOES STUPIDITY BECOME CRIMINAL?

[Delphinus]

12. Not only that,

but do they have access to TV or radio or newspapers that tell them what's going on?

[anotherdrew]

20. please hold, your life is very important to us, please stand by...

press 1 for english
press 2 for texan
press 3 for spanish


====
would love to hear what went on with those hotlines, did they send out cabs?

[tanyev]

9. Well, heck, why didn't they just climb in their SUVs and

join the gridlock like everyone else? You can get terrific employee discounts on those things right now.



:sarcasm:

[DebinTx]

10. This is utter bullshit

For days and days prior to the hurricane, the media constantly told of where to go to get a ride out of town, the homeless shelters told everyone that they'd be closed and arranged transportation - they even took reservations for spots on the buses! If these people were stranded it was of their own doing. Mayor Bill White and county judge Eckels did everything right.

[Bob3]

11. homeless people - as a rule don't have a lot of access to media

You can broadcast on the radio all you want - but if you don't have a radio what the hell good is it going to do?

We treat convicted criminals in this country better than we treat the homeless and very poor - at least we feed the convicts.

[Whoa_Nelly]

32. I think it can also be said re: homeless people

that there some, if not many, who are mentally ill, who do not go to shelters, who shun participation of any kind within the boundaries of everyday society, who will make sure that they can stay where they are because it has become the only way to control their lives, who have a distrust of humans in general, who are controlled by the addiction to alcohol and/or drugs and cannot go beyond looking tending to their lives from moment to moment...am sure there are many other reasons why there were those who could not or did not seek assistance or shelter. The homeless in our nation are living as such for such a myriad of reasons it boggles the mind, and probably some aspects and/or reasons have yet to be imagined.

Why is it after tragedy, the victims are discussed as if all of them had choice or control over their lives and/or circumstances? IMO, it is the blackhearted ones of the media who begin the blame the victim,which in turn becomes the topic of import. I am ashamed of my nation, and am more angry than ever that we are currently on the fast-track to becoming a fascist state. I sincerely hope that those who heeded the wake-up call that our nation is in serious distress after Katrina, continue to stay alert and help move to bring back some of the basics of democracy.

[zann725]

33. Many homeless are Disabled...waiting 2 or more years for SS benefits

to begin. Once State Disability ends, and if someone is TRULY disabled, there is NO income on the horizon for a good 1-2 years. And most employers WON'T hire a Disabled person ("who can NOT perform the essential functions of their job"). The Americans With Disability Act no longer protects the disabled employee.

Then there are our returning Veterans (80% of whom I heard recently) who lost their homes and/or jobs during their extended tours of duty in Iraq.

Contrary to stereotype, one does NOT have to be "crazy" or "alcoholic" to be homeless. Though once one DOES fall through the economic cracks (with the lack of "governmental safety net" now in existence)...the homeless quickly adopts an appearance (from lack of sleep and cleanliness) which makes society "shun THEM"...not the other way around.

A friend of mine told me recently that our city found Millions recently to house and care for homeless victims of Katrina...but that 40,000+ originally homeless citizens here continue to get little or (most often) NO funding or help for housing and food under the current budget.

Let's NOT "feed" stereotypes of who and who is NOT homeless. Let's FIRST "feed" them food and house (adopt) them all...as we did the victims of Katrina.

[sweetladybug]

14. Yep, Texas leaders are just smarter than Louisiana leaders

The people that didn't or couldn't leave in Texas was stranded because it was their own doing, it wasn't Texas officials fault. BUT, the people that didn't or couldn't leave Louisiana it was the Louisiana's officials fault. The Louisiana officials were said to be unorganized, bad leaders and stupid, even though they tried everything to get help from the federal government BEFORE the hurricane. Do you think maybe it's because the Governor of Louisiana is Democrat and the Governor of Texas is Republican?

[AuntieM1957]

24. The answer isn't found in political parties

The common ground here is the mayor of Houston, Bill White.

He's the one, along with county commissioner Bob Eckels, who organized the flood of survivors into Houston - and spent OUR emergency funds on setting up shelters. All while FEMA was still stuck in neutral.

And these two men coordinated the evacuation of Houston. Over 2 million people left the city in 60 hours.

Now, they're working to coordinate a smoother return of those 2 million.

[koopie57]

18. compassion oozes over itself

under the best of circumstances many homeless people have trouble coping due to mental health issues, drug and alcohol problems, and all sorts of other fun things. I would imagine these types of maladies might become more severe under stress. If everything was done right, I would hate to see what would be if an error was made or we were not so compassionate.

[AuntieM1957]

23. Agreed, Deb

and if she's schizophrenic - how do we know that she didn't refuse help because she didn't understand what was going on?

I agree with you about the job Eckels and White did. I've never much cared for our county commissioner - until I saw the coordination and respect he gave the mayor.

Lesson Learned: Let's focus on the common ground. Respect and listen to each other. Rachet down the rhetoric. If these two can do it, I'm willing to give it a shot.

[Igel]

15. It's cold, but you do what you can.

If people are asked to evacuate, and are provided the means, and don't leave, that's their business.

The policeman also did what he could. But again, most of the people in the shelters do so not from need, but from want. The thinking's apparently "Better them in danger than me inconvenienced". (Which, to be honest, does fit the mindset of some people I've met. Not all, by any means, but certainly some.)

I find it telling that of the two people mentioned in the article, one was asked to get on a bus, and refused, wanting to stay in a local shelter. And a policeman tried to offer help to the other, but had no viable help to offer, assuming that the shelter he suggested was the same as the one that the woman referred to.

Perfection's a fine and dandy goal, but if that's the *minimum* standard used, we have trouble.

[progressivebydesign]

16. but, but, Bush is in Colorado!! Isn't THAT enough?

Okay.. sarcastism off.

[AuntieM1957]

21. You've made me re-think some things

because of blanket statements made by many of this board, I now will question everyone and everything.

First, White, our mayor, is a Democrat.

Second, many homeless people were evacuated.

Third, your subject line is misleading. This is not an AP wire story - it's a freaking Yahoo news story. Big difference in creditability there.

Fourth, you assume that the decisions made were conservative vs. the poor. You're just wrong about that.

Most importantly, I've seen that Republicans and Democrats can coordinate efforts and work effectively. If they respect each other and stop the name calling blame throwing game.

Bob Eckels, a Republican, who is the county commissioner and Bill White, Democrat and mayor worked together to coordinate the evac efforts.

I'm sick of the blame game and the finger pointing. It's about results and respect.

[Blaq Dem]

28. I got this story 6 mins fresh from Yahoo News...

It's source did say it was from AP.

Maybe some homeless did evacuate. We don't know how many were left out in the streets to die.

This story is more about conservatives v. poor since homeland security doesn't consider poor people. As we witnessed what happened at the Superdome, the conservatives would whether have poor people starve to death than be bothered by them at all. Any time when those who brave enough to escape New Orleans by foot but was met with guns and dogs at the parish line and therefore forced to turn around, that's devastating.

When any disaster occur, there is no provision to save the poor.

[evermind]

29. Re: point 3. Actually it's an AFP (Agence France Press) story

.. they're a pretty credible news agency (arguably the oldest in the world) see: http://www.afp.com/english/home/

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[AuntieM1957]

31. So, tell me, how many hours did you donate to the poor?

While you are so busy joining in the finger pointing bullshit, how many $$ and hours were spent away from the computer?

Do your feet hurt from standing for hours feeding the Katrina survivors? Did you walk all over town yesterday trying to find gasoline for your neighbor's generator so she could run her oxygen tank?

And, guess what, side by side, with me have been my "conservative" neighbors.

[Kailassa]

34. Many here have helped, don't knock them.

I wonder how anyone with any decency could support Bush, having seen how his government treated survivers after Katrina. Mass murderers and their supporters do tend to be unpopular with caring people.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kailassa]

36. My mouth doesn't do that.

If you read the "freaking posts(sic)" on these boards, you would see that I have never referred to Houston at all.

Perhaps you could enlighten us about Houston yourself. Do many Houstanites swear at people and accuse them of doing things they have not done? Do they often rudely order people to do things they have not done themselves? Do they generally suggest that people posting are doing nothing useful to help out in the situations they post about? If not, perhaps you could take lessons from your (presumably) courteous neighbors.