Katrina Evacuees Wear Out Stay in Houston

[deadparrot]

HOUSTON - Seven months after taking in about 200,000 Louisiana residents left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, Houstonians aren't feeling so hospitable anymore.

Many people in the nation's fourth-largest city complain that the influx has led to more murders and gang violence, long lines at health clinics and bus stops, and fights and greater overcrowding in the schools. Some of those claims are debatable, but the sentiment is real.

"We still feel sorry for them. We still want to help them, but it's to the point where enough is enough," said Torah Whitaker, 25, of Missouri City, a Houston suburb.

Houston received national acclaim for accepting more Katrina evacuees than any other U.S. city. It gave them apartments, houses and health care, and held job fairs for them. Celebrities visited schools and brought gifts for the youngsters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330/ap_on_re_us/katrina_compassion_fatigue

[MadMaddie]

1. Any city that has an influx of any population will experience

all of the things that Houston has experienced.

Part of the problem was the poor and erratic plan to move people around the country without a plan. This I blame on Fema....this is their job to plan mitigation for these disasters...

The other part of the problem is that when moving large populations the ills of that society don't go away.

Houston had a crime problem before the Katrina victims arrived...

[jus_the_facts]

2. Don't blame the evacuees...blame the sorry ass gov't instead morans....

:eyes:

[Texaroo]

9. Don't blame Houston.

Unless you live here, you won't realize that there HAS been a HUGE impact, specifically from NOLA evacuees (professionals as well). There are, unfortunately, lots of negatives, and the economic positives are not visible (if they exist).

This is not a matter of a bunch of rednecks reacting in a vacuum - it's a very real issue, with very real and attributable impacts. Of course, the rednecks will capitalize upon this, but the blame should be upon FEMA (and upon Louisiana, who allowed New Orleans to decay to a point where it's residents have so few options). This is a product of a mentality that keeps problems "on the other side of the tracks." It's easier to cut benefits and programs and education spending so that you can afford your house in a gated community the to address a problem.

Houston inherited this (and with open arms), but it is unfair to expect us to gladly embrace an additional tax burden that was not of our making. You might as well ask me to support the expense of the war in Iraq!

[jus_the_facts]

10. I live in LOUISIANA....don't even preach to me about what's FAIR....

...or not....thankyouverymuch.

[Texaroo]

12. Who's preaching?

I am stating a bone-hard, cold, medical fact. And I didn't mention FAIR, I spoke to REAL, like it or not. We have an extra 100-150,000 people here due to Katrina. It's had an impact, and it hasn't all been positive. The public perception is grounded in very real events.

I am not blaming a lack of preparedness for the storm, or ANYBODY forced to leave NOLA - I am blaming conservative attitudes for allowing decay. I am sympathetic to those forced to evacuate, but we got the bad along with the good, and, unfortunately, the bad makes more headlines.

[jus_the_facts]

13. No shit...

...tell me something I DON'T already know. :eyes:

on edit..my little town up here in NE La. is dealin' with the exact same problems but on a much smaller scale of ability to deal with it than HOUSTON. :think:

[jus_the_facts]

15. here's your own words....

but it is unfair to expect us to gladly embrace an additional tax burden that was not of our making.


...things are TOUGH all over...at least those 200K are payin' some taxes over THERE...'cuz they're NOT over HERE anymore and that's causin' a whole lot MORE shit over here in La...the population of every major city in La. has exploded too and we're much less able to deal with it here without the tourist revenue from our largest city comin' in. :think:

[Texaroo]

16. Yup - but check out the context

I also said it is unfair to us to absorb additional tax burden for the war. Government policies, my friend - that's what I am speaking out against!

[jus_the_facts]

17. I stated the GOV'T is to blame in my OP....

....nowhere did I say HOUSTON was to blame...so why are we arguing? :shrug:

[Texaroo]

19. Good question.. I don't think we really are...

My intent wasn't to sermonize - I am just pointing out that the current Houston PERCEPTION is more evidence of the failure of the Bush Administration to adequately respond. We're doing our best locally...

[jus_the_facts]

21. Houston deserves the most accolades in steppin' up to help.....

....more than anyone else outside the state of La...but our state is completely in ruin financially as we're dealin' with overcrowding of all our major cities without any means to rectify the situation. Peace.

[Texaroo]

23. And peace to you, as well...

I know that LA is in deep caca right now. That's why I am so angry that there has been NO federal response with an overall plan to help get that state solvent. Instead, they are standing on the sidelines, ready to point fingers and prepare GOP candidates to get more margins in Congress.

It pisses me off to no end. Where is the plan to build levees that can withstand hurricanes? To reinvigorate the Port? To maintain the integrity of Mississipi shipping? I personally think that we could trim enough glamour projects from Homeland Security to pay to raise and reinforce the levee system.

I can't understand a mentality that just walks away from destruction and blames the locals for living there for the last 80 years. Where's the outrage?

[rudy23]

3. Oh, poor Houston---I don't hear them complaining about all top young

workers they recruited out of New Orleans after the storm. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

[MadMaddie]

4. That's a very good point....

I also wonder how much money from the government they have received....? Those * cuts to police and firefighters state funding has long term effects doesn't it...?

[Texaroo]

11. Ahh, the cake. Forget the professionals...

I am happy for the influx of some Southern culture and good food!

Seriously - a lot of the young professional talent only came this direction to either keep working with their company, or within their industry. Others went elsewhere. In many cases, the long-term goal is to move back to NOLA, but without a plan, they'll wait before they rebuild. They will typically have means to do so. They are guests until then.

[medeak]

5. freepers are going to eat this up n/t

[Texaroo]

6. Sad, but true..

The truth is that there are housing shortages, the schools have been extremely disrupted, and the fights are minor in comparison to the every-day consequences of having a great number of remedial kids, most likely suffering from PTSD. I know a BUNCH of teachers who have a story about the time and energy they must spend on NOLA kids. It's what happens when you have a diaspora of the most isolated of neighborhoods - the inner city poor.

IMHO, the crime, the fights, and a bunch of the other negatives are products of the EVENT (a major storm, producing stress, uprooting people who had a meager subsistence in the first place, and destroying any sense of community they ever had). It doesn't help that FEMA has been slow to reimburse, that there is no plan for New Orleans, so many of these people are in limbo as to whether they will ever go back, and that the violent crime reported in the city never fails to mention it when either a victim or a perpetrator came from New Orleans.

If the Feds had a decent response to this, I doubt that Houstonians would feel quite the way they are feeling now - but the evacuees are portrayed as a transient subclass, and not as permanent emigres.

[AndyA]

7. I'm sure there's room for a few over at the Bushes...

They're so concerned about America, they've been praying for all the Katrina victims, I'm sure they wouldn't mind letting a few people bunk on the floor, and stay in the guest rooms. They have plenty of room now that all the kids are gone.

:sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

8. FEMA has not reimbused the cost (or very little)

...ust after the August hurricane, the Harris County Hospital District, the agency that runs the public hospitals and health clinics in Houston and surrounding Harris County, treated 15,000 evacuees in two weeks at the Astrodome, but now sees about 800 extra patients a month, said spokesman Bryan McLeod.

The agency treats 1.2 million patients a year, so apart from the first few weeks, the number of evacuees is "not overwhelming" and is not delaying care for Houston residents, McLeod said.

Still, treating refugees has cost $11.6 million, and the district has been reimbursed only $1.6 million from the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and Medicaid, he said. The district has dipped into reserve funds, he said.

Bus ridership at the Metropolitan Transit Authority was up 12 percent in October through December from the same period a year ago. Spokeswoman Raequel Roberts attributed the increase to evacuees as well as high gas prices.

[saigon68]

14. The money is going to IRAQ to Build Schools and Hospitals

So the troops can write back to Fox news and tell us how good it is going.

[Horse with no Name]

26. Perhaps if the money was given directly to the agencies

instead of to the churches, it might have eased the burden greatly.

[KamaAina]

18. It's not like they don't want to go home

it's that the system has not allowed many evacuees to do so.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/national/nationalspecial/22katrina.html?ex=1300683600&en=6b01252c08d97a2d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss (should bypass registration/subscription)

Still, most of those interviewed favor returning to the city, expressing a sense of optimism about the recovery process or, more often, a fierce yearning for home, as if staying away from New Orleans were like trying to breathe air through gills.

It is the system, from Heckuvajob Brownie on down, that has failed both Houston and the tens of thousands of evacuees. Let's place the blamed where it belongs, which we all know perfectly well is on the repukes!

[Texaroo]

20. Correct - that's one of the problems

They DO want to go home.

So the Houston perception is that they don't want to be here, that they are temporary residents, etc., and that they are essentially still "guests"...who have outstayed their welcome. I think the media angle on this is irresponsible - it should be interpreted as a criticism for the lack of adequate response from the feds, not as a knock on the goodwill of the people of Houston.

[Roland99]

27. And 10,000 trailers sitting in Arkansas collecting dust.

[tanyev]

22. Well, that's worked out well for them, then.

Good thing Ma Bush has donated lots of Neil's crappy software for them to use.

[Bridget Burke]

24. Local media have covered crime stories involving evacuees.

There's no way at all to know whether the number of crimes has gone up, overall. Houston was not exactly crime-free before Katrina.

Most of the evacuees have settled in quite well. Not ALL of them came through the Astrodome, or needed as much help as those who did. Many were able to drive here & stayed with family until they got on their feet. I hope for their own sake they can return to NOLA. But Houston would be glad to have them if they decided to stay.

But these evacuees are not "news."

FEMA has mostly stiffed the City & the County. People don't blame our (Democratic) mayor as much as they blame the Feds. Our area is vulnerable to hurricanes, too. The City is fairly far inland & definitely not as fragile as NOLA. But "Greater Houston" could be hit very hard.

(By the way--this story is not LBN.)

[Justitia]

29. good post. As a Houstonian, I take exception to the "worn out welcome"

story. I think this is a bunch of pot-stirring and possibly some set-up for a future republican attack on services.

I get physically ill when I see the sensationalism of crime stories which certain media outlets then try to link to "evacuees". Fortunately, this seems to have been lessening as time goes by.

Folks from LA may have originally come as our "guests", but everyone I know considers them as Houstonians now and we welcome them as fellow citizens until they decide, if they decide, to move elsewhere.

I have never seen any of our local politicians or city service providers separate them out as some sub-group of our population. In fact, I have seen them repeatedly insist that it matters not where people come from, Michigan or Louisiana, they are in Texas now.

In reality, our mayor says that the number of people that came as a result of the hurricane is not that different from the number that move to Houston every year normally.

I am confident that someone is trying to set this perception up - with a "worn out welcome" and all, but in this very cosmopolitan city (where everyone is from somewhere else, 92 languages are spoken here), and in a state that welcomes anyone who wants to re-invent themselves as a Texan, I don't think this will get much traction here. Especially a city as diverse as Houston, 4th largest city in the USA.

On edit: in the article, note who made the disparaging comments: a 25 yr old girl from the suburbs (Missouri City, not Houston), and an 11th grade girl who is pissed about the evacuees getting new clothes. That says a lot. Our city service providers, mayor, police, doctors - their real life experience does not reflect the same attitude as these girls. Please also note the changing terms between "refugees" and "evacuees" in the same article. Indicates the different perspectives of two different writers. Inside Houston, from the first week, the word "evacuee" was used.

[Horse with no Name]

25. AND they accepted a ton of federal money to do it

Now the minions in Houston are stirring the pot, to make cases for vouchers.

[Bridget Burke]

30. No, the Feds have been short & late in paying.

And vouchers aren't in the picture at all.

[Horse with no Name]

31. But they gave churches plenty of money didn't they?

That was my understanding--forgive me if I was misinformed.

[Bridget Burke]

32. At one time, FEMA planned to reimburse "faith based" groups....

Not just in Houston. And some did not plan to take any money. However, I don't know if payments have been received.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601799.html

Our city & county governments are still in the hole.

[rudy23]

28. Baton Rouge is handling it ok

100,000 people have come to Baton Rouge since Katrina and Rita, and while there are problems and griping, I don't hear nearly the amount that I hear out of Houston.

[gimama]

33. just returned from WALKIN' to NEW ORLEANS

from Mobile..VETERANS & SURVIVORS..
What WE saw, looks like a big ole carpet-baggin',scallywaggin'
LAND GRAB SCAM. NOTHING has been done,ALL that $$ SPENT,7 months WASTED..the gov is preventing reopening of schools, won't create the 'flood maps' that all kinds of insurance claims & funds are hinging on..rural churches hosted US, they were STILL the only source for communities,still haven't seen a fema or red cross person OR dollar..

Please see www.bringthemHOMEnow.org or www.vetgulfmarch.org for pics,videos,details ..THEN PLEASE CALL media & DC...what I saw along 3 States' Coasts is a DISGRACE,this is NOT incompetence,it IS intentional,and IMPEACHABLE. These 'policies' are WMD, used against OUR PEOPLE, in OUR LAND.
(Altho msm has carried very little of this week-long Journey, BBC2 and other 'furin' media outlets have..so RoW~the REST of the World!~ understands OUR GulfCoast cities look like Baghdad.)

[Igel]

34. And here's a counterlink, so to speak.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/30/national/nationalspecial/30crime.html

Some pertinent bits:
'In Houston, which reported a sharp spike in killings after Hurricane Katrina, police officials say they have noticed a decline since the beginning of the year. Homicides were up 24 percent in 2005, but Houston police officials say the number would have been down 2 percent, absent cases in which either the suspect or the victim was a storm evacuee.

'Last fall, there were "multiple" hurricane-related killings in Houston nearly every weekend, said Sgt. Brian Harris of the Houston police, but the violence had significantly eased, he said.'

Those numbers are stunning, if accurate. A 24% increase in homicides in 2005, but -2% without Katrina evacuees (all things being equal)--with the Katrina evacuees only here for the final 4 months of the year! The mere increase in population can't account for that.

Most of the rest I commented on when an earlier version of the story was posted a few days back.