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monk25
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Joined: 25 Jun 2002
Posts: 3922
Location: The Beautiful South Shore of L.I. NY
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 Posted: 09/06/05 - 21:33 Post subject:
| camelia bedelia wrote: | | But you are making the assumption that just because these people were poor, they had miserable lives. That is what I find offensive about Bab's comments. |
No. I don't think she was making an assumption or a sweeping statement. regarding poverty. N.O. is one of the most dangerous places in the US to live, especially if you are poor. I think she qualified what she was saying with "what I am hearing". Truth is, I bet at least 80% of the evacuees were underpriveledged.
I don't see where she said they had miserable lives, though.
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camelia bedelia
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Joined: 15 May 2002
Posts: 2808
Location: God's Country
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 21:40 Post subject:
| monk25 wrote: | | camelia bedelia wrote: | | But you are making the assumption that just because these people were poor, they had miserable lives. That is what I find offensive about Bab's comments. |
I don't see where she said they had miserable lives, though. |
Well you'd have to be pretty far down to have being displaced to an unfamiliar city, with no personal belonging and you're only living space a cot in a sports arena to be a step up.
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monk25
Member
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Joined: 25 Jun 2002
Posts: 3922
Location: The Beautiful South Shore of L.I. NY
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 22:00 Post subject:
| camelia bedelia wrote: | | monk25 wrote: | | camelia bedelia wrote: | | But you are making the assumption that just because these people were poor, they had miserable lives. That is what I find offensive about Bab's comments. |
I don't see where she said they had miserable lives, though. |
Well you'd have to be pretty far down to have being displaced to an unfamiliar city, with no personal belonging and you're only living space a cot in a sports arena to be a step up. |
NO is one of the poorest cities in the country, many are pretty far down.
One of my wifes relatives lives in an apartment in Washington Heights, which is a pretty rough area in Manhattan. The apartment is above the trash room, the cockroaches are as big as mice. You walk out the front of the buliding, the rats are everywhere. Everything smells of decaying garbage, crime is very high, drugs are openly dealt. Many of these people have no way out, they are locked into rent controlled apartment($350 per month), subsidized food, many do not speak english. It is hopeless and depressing. The worst part is that this cycle of poverty was caused by the government thinking that they could fix poverty by throwing money at it. They made it worse, a viscious cycle or poor schooling, high crime and teen pregnancy funded by one of the most progressive cities in America, NYC. I have seen it with my own eyes, my wife lived in it and still has family in the same cycle. It is a what you will do for me mentality as opposed to a what can I do for me mentality.
Sue put it best when she compared it to the battered wife syndrome.
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cherylpf
crazy cat lady
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Joined: 14 May 2002
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 22:11 Post subject:
Something about Babs warms my heart, like she's my grandma or something. I really want her comment to mean something about the fact that Texas has been so hospitable that they want to stay. Let me live in the delusion she's not that out of touch...actually, the part of her quote that bothers me most is the parenthetical comment "which is sort of scary." why is it scary for them to stay?
Something to keep in mind too, all former NO residents are now evacuees. Rich, poor, black, white, red, green....they all had to get out. And I'm sure many of those people would give up the astrodome or anything else they might have to find their families alive and just stability returned to their lives.
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shelflifers
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Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 18633
Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: 09/06/05 - 22:18 Post subject:
| cherylpf wrote: | Something about Babs warms my heart, like she's my grandma or something. I really want her comment to mean something about the fact that Texas has been so hospitable that they want to stay. Let me live in the delusion she's not that out of touch...actually, the part of her quote that bothers me most is the parenthetical comment "which is sort of scary." why is it scary for them to stay?
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All I could think of was Happy Gilmore saying "She's old...I mean look at her!! She's OLD!!!"
I'm trying to see the other side too and if she was referring to the previous homeless people as 'underprivedged', then it makes just a little more sense...but I'm really reaching here.
As for it being 'scary' if they stayed in Texas, perhaps she was 'scared' of the logistical nightmares of throwing 200,000 people into a population all at once??
I got nothin.
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TOsteve
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Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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Location: Out for a run
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Posted: 09/07/05 - 05:44 Post subject:
| shelflifers wrote: | So underpriveleged people don't experience happyness in their lives?
Well then, give them all a Toyota Camry, a 3/2 house and some debt and watch em LIVE for once...
Truth or not, it was a RIDICULOUS comment. |
And Cheryl, I too would have a lot of grace for this comment if my grandma made it over the dinner table. But she's a public figure making the comment in the media so she opens herself up to being publically called on what she she said.
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Ms. Jenn
Fresh, Hot & Wild
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Joined: 14 Feb 2004
Posts: 7935
Location: Suite 550
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Posted: 09/07/05 - 22:07 Post subject:
| shelflifers wrote: | As for it being 'scary' if they stayed in Texas, perhaps she was 'scared' of the logistical nightmares of throwing 200,000 people into a population all at once??
I got nothin. |
It's quite an economical impact and not necessarily a good one. They now have to find classrooms for all the new children, jobs that may or may not exist, housing...NOW. Not 5 years from now when you expected your city to grow that much.
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prohemp
Member
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Joined: 14 May 2002
Posts: 7716
Location: in the cradle of liberty
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Posted: 09/08/05 - 08:36 Post subject:
I think it was Texas where they're contemplating having the schools be open for 16 hours a day to accomadate all of the additional children - they're asking for displaced hurricane teachers to come in and help out so the teachers don't have to teach for 16 straight.....the children from the hurricane would start school after the normal school day ends.....anyone else hear this?
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cherylpf
crazy cat lady
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Joined: 14 May 2002
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Posted: 09/08/05 - 14:41 Post subject:
| Ms. Jenn wrote: | | shelflifers wrote: | As for it being 'scary' if they stayed in Texas, perhaps she was 'scared' of the logistical nightmares of throwing 200,000 people into a population all at once??
I got nothin. |
It's quite an economical impact and not necessarily a good one. They now have to find classrooms for all the new children, jobs that may or may not exist, housing...NOW. Not 5 years from now when you expected your city to grow that much. |
They've hired several of the displaced LA teachers and reopened some previously closed schools to help educate the kids here in Houston. Also in other news, they've had several job fairs, many businesses are trying to relocate here, home sales have spiked and of the 26,000+ in the major shelters as of last weekend, there are only 7000 still living there, the rest have found other places to live which is amazing to me so quickly.
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cherylpf
crazy cat lady
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Joined: 14 May 2002
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Posted: 09/08/05 - 14:43 Post subject:
| prohemp wrote: | | I think it was Texas where they're contemplating having the schools be open for 16 hours a day to accomadate all of the additional children - they're asking for displaced hurricane teachers to come in and help out so the teachers don't have to teach for 16 straight.....the children from the hurricane would start school after the normal school day ends.....anyone else hear this? |
That may be the case elsewhere, here in Houston they have incorporated the new children in with the others for a regular school day. I have seen where they have hired displaced teachers however, and I think they are still working to determine how they will handle the influx of so many new kids but HISD has been very gracious and accomodating from what I understand.
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MastrBrewr
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Joined: 24 Sep 2003
Posts: 6974
Location: outside
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Posted: 09/08/05 - 15:28 Post subject:
We've had several displaced children start enrolling in our schools here in NC. About 1,000 or so as of this morning. Our office is swamped with requests for guidance on how the school districts should handle them. From a service standpoint, they are to be enrolled, no questions asked. We can follow up with medical records, etc in the next few months. But from a financial standpoint, the unanticipated influx of even 100 kids in a single district can wreak havoc with a budget. We've been working overtime shifting items around so we can manage the additional burden. It's a pain, but it's the right thing to do and it pales in comparison to the shake up these kids have had in their lives.
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