The Category-5 Gentrification of the Coastal South

[SoCalDem]

This year's powerful storms have done a number on the population centers of the coastal areas, and the end-result could be that those states will see a smaller population in poverty.. (the long-term, old-school poverty)..

Extremely poor people can be, and are "poor" everywhere. These storms have probably devastated the badly-maintained places that they could afford, and in their destruction,eliminated any future home for the displaced to ever return to.

The very wealthy can rebuild anywhere they choose, and can afford to absorb the wallops that Mother Nature hands out from time to time. The middle class often get help (especially in election years),. and they most likely will rebuild too...but

The very poor tend to bob on top of the poverty wave, and are tossed from location to location, with very few belongings, and can be "poor" just about anywhere.

If you are a single Mom with 4 kids, living in a subsidized apartment, and are on assistance, wherever you end up is likely to be "your new hometown".

People may still have ties to the old location, but without enough of a nestegg or income to move back, they are pretty much stuck where they are..

Anyone who believes that the government is going to build housing for the poor, so they can move back to wherever they were before..is dreaming.

These people are Hot-potatoes, and are tossed from place to place..No one wants to claim them long-term.

Humans do not learn from their tough lessons,so I have no doubt that the affected coastlines will build houses, businesses, casinos, and hotels right back where Katrina and Rita took them out, and in the future we will see them scrubbed off their foundations again.

The poorest of the poor will get that bus ride to "somewhere else", and most will be thankful to be alive, and settle wherever they end up. They have become just another unfunded mandate to the receiving city/town/county/state.

*² loves to talk about the poor now, because he dropped the ball bigtime, but after a few months, they will be forgotten, and back to life as they have always known it.. They will be scraping by on pennies in the richest country on earth (or are we still rich?? who knows?)

[acmejack]

1. We are the biggest debtors in the world!

So I must answer, "No, we're not rich anymore". It's hard to believe we were once that richest nation and it was only a few short years ago.

[CottonBear]

2. Is there any organization raising funds to get the displaced people

back to NOLA or LA or, at least, to the Southeast? I am very concerned about those people sent to Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Wisconsin, New York, etc.

Yesterday a caller on Randi's show said she'd crawl back to NOLA if she'd been sent to Utah (she used to live there.) I am concerned that these people will be stuck in a cold, very remote, very Mormon and very white places and that they will not be able to get FEMA funds to move home.

[jobycom]

5. FEMA is supposed to reimurse for evacuation costs

So they are supposed to give money to the poor for evacuating and returning. They don't have a good record of doing what they are supposed to, though.

[SoCalDem]

9. and we all believe in the easter Bunny too, don't we

FEMA couldn't find its own ass with two hands and a mirror

[jobycom]

11. Oh, I beg to differ.

They are very good at covering their own ass with both hands, and not even using a mirror to do so. And while their hands are covering their ass, they keep those hands firmly over their wallets so no one can get money out if.

[SoCalDem]

7. Right now people are donating to the Red Cross and other charities

BUT, they are NOT donating to those poor people they see on TV.. Those are the faces that make us reach for our wallets, but in the end, they will be at the mercy of the charity "businesses". The emergency nature of the evacuation is actually OVER once the people are out of the immediate "harm".. Once relocated they get lip service, and a few hand outs, but only the really savvy ones and the ones who might seek out legal assistance will get much real help.

People do not like to be corralled in places where they are TOLD to live, so the shelters begin emptying as soon as people can manage to get out of them..

The local communities who opened their hearts to the evacuated people will tire of it within a few months, and by then the Red Cross and other charities will be moving on to other disasters..other people..

Those millions and millions of dollars will be "safely tucked away" in the bank accounts of the organizations who pay their CEOs in the 6+ figured are grateful to a generous public, and the poorest of the poor are back in lines at the public assistance offices...just in a different place..

[jobycom]

3. Good post. That's more true of renters/ subsidized than homeowners.

Part of the way Bush is going to fight poverty in New Orleans is by kicking the poor out. Voila! The poverty level in New Orleans declines.

Those who own property in New Orleans in the flooded districts will return more than those who lived in projects and rentals. There are some old neighborhoods were houses have been in the family for a generation or more, and they'll return because they still own property there. THose who are mortgaged still will have more trouble returning, since income will be less certain, but they'll try.
Those in the projects or other rentals may not return. Many will, because of their roots, and family, etc. Also, there will be a manual labor job boom (though low income unless we reverse some of Bush's giveaways), so some will come back for the jobs.

But you are very right. A lot of the population will stay gone, unable to afford to move back. Sadly, I think that's what Bush and even Nagin wants.

As for the casinos and tourist money makers along the beach, of course they will return. Everyone who builds onthe Coast expects this to happen, so they calculate the cost of rebuilding in their business plans. The story on the casinos when they were built was that the recouped the construction costs within three months, and they calculated they would still be profitable assuming a rebuild every eight years or so (I think it was eight; the point is, they expected and calculated for this).

The poor, as always, are the victims. Don't be too harsh on the casinos, though. The create a lot of jobs, they raised the pay scale on the coast, and most of them have given their workers between 30 and 90 days income even while they are closed.

[KittyWampus]

4. This is the Democratis Diaspora. Cities NEED To Be De-Populated

on the coastal regions. Too many people and its impossible to evacuate in emergencies and you can't handle waste or even sustain that many in an urban area.

It is unhealthy the way the US has too many people in urban areas especially around coasts.

So let the poor and working class poor and middle class move away from coasts and into areas that NEED to be opened up to more liberal notions.

What is happening needs to happen.

This is the BIG PICTURE.

[SoCalDem]

10. There is entirely TOO much building in unsafe areas

and the end result might be better for people, but it's painful to see so many people losing what little they had:cry:

[annabanana]

6. they "can be 'poor' just about anywhere."

That's harsh. Maybe their ties to friends and family are just as strong as those who have more material matter weighing them down to a particular local..

[SoCalDem]

8. Sorry it sounds harsh, but it IS true

Every city/town has very poor people, and their lives hang by the same slender thread..no matter where they are.

Their immediate needs are the same..

food & shelter and never enough to live on, no matter where they are..People in poorer states get less in assistance because the cost of living is less, and poor people in higher cost locations get more, but it too is never enough.

Poor people often have entire families of poor people, so even if they want to reunite, once separated by FEMA, it's going to take them a long time to get back together..anywhere..

I am sure the republicans in charge realized this when they started sending people all over the place.. These families will be occupied for months (on limited resources) trying to find all their missing family members..

This is just another reason we may never know how many died.. The ones who would bear witness to the missing..are scattered to the winds..