Colorado Springs closes doors to Hurricane Katrina evacuees

[El Supremo]

COLORADO SPRINGS (AP) - City officials declared they've done enough for hurricane evacuees and have drafted a plan to let a faith-based charity and the NAACP take over relief efforts.

While no one will be denied social services, officials have asked a man who has bused in loads of evacuees to start taking them elsewhere, as officials fear social services will soon be stretched too thin.

"I think we have every reason in the world as a community to be proud of how compassionate we've been," City Manager Lorna Karma said Monday. "But I think we need to say, 'No more.' Or we need to drive them to Denver."

The whole story:
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=978f9757-0abe-421a-004e-c650bea71768&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[salinen]

1. Lorna Karma!

Wow, perfect name for a heartless demon.

[MissMarple]

30. Actually it's Lorne Kramer.

He isn't evil. Colorado Springs as with most of Colorado is pared close to the bone. And social services is crippled by low funding and a totally unfortunate software program (from a Texas company)that our esteemed Gov. Owens (R, of course) insisted on implementing statewide and brought state social services to its knees.

It's really screwed up here. And guess who is responsible?

[sundancekid]

2. ain't this the "home" of Dobson and so-called "focus on family" scams?

... is that the "faith based charity" that would stand to gain the usual chimperor windfall of money?????

[uncle ray]

4. yes, but i don't think it'll be them this time

i can't thing of the name right now, but another local church has been leading the way in helping these people.

[lakercub]

35. New Life Church

is probably the only one big enough to handle much...if they're not too busy talking to snakes.

[Raster]

3. Colorado Springs, land of the Rocky Mountain fundies

[nashville_brook]

7. no more room at the inn -- typical, predictable

[Raster]

11. perhaps there's a stable that can accommodate a few weary travelers...

[slackmaster]

22. What if the inn is full of refugees?

If the 1,600 hurricane victims the city has already taken in have filled the available living space to capacity, what would you have Colorado Springs do - Pack more people in than can be comfortably accommodated? Set up a tent city? I hear the snow starts falling by Halloween at 7,000+ feet.

[Chi-Town Exile]

5. Translation: "What will happen to our property values?"

Don't want to scare off the white folks.

[trogdor]

8. I mean, God forbid...

...any of those folks might get a job delivering pizza or something and decide to STAY in Colorado Springs. That would be unthinkable!

[RobinA]

14. On the Other Hand

A homeless person in a big city (say, Detriot) that has been generous with its aid to evacuees might be wondering why it's suddenly fashionable to be handing out aid to homeless people from across the country, but aid to homeless people who are homegrown has always been in short supply.

Just sayin'....

[kestrel91316]

37. Co Spgs is VERY VERY white, except for the Mexicans.

[lcordero2]

15. something like that

From what a person there told me, a lot of the people there in Colorado Springs moved from California to Colorado in order to avoid paying California taxes.
I was stationed in Fort Carson for a while. From my experience, a good chunk of those people are stuck up. My perception of Colorado Springs was that it was well on it's way to being stagnant except that the locals pretended the opposite. The locals also pretended that the town didn't depend on the military but that isn't true either. Colorado Springs has Fort Carson, Peterson AFB, and the Air Force Academy. If the military were to go away, Colorado Springs would fall unto some hard times.
The place felt like a nightmare from the "Generation Debt" series in the Village Voice. I just didn't see anything that even resembled "upward mobility" there.

[lakercub]

34. Not quite as bad as that

but we do have issues. The Springs did quite well for itself during the tech boom, and our proximity to Peterson, Fort Carson, and, especially, Schriever AFB and NORAD were big reasons why. Of course when the bubble burst, the Springs got hit....hard.

But it will recover. We were one of the poster children for everything that was wrong with Reaganomics in the 80s. I was in junior high and high school during the late 80s and 90s and this city was rapidly becoming a ghost town. But the Springs recovered quite well from that. We have had a few tough years economically, but we did great in the nineties (damn you Bill Clinton :) ).

The recovery has been a double-edged sword however. One of the reasons for the recovery was reasonably low tax rates. You are correct that Californians came here in droves for tax reasons. So did a gigantic influx of Christian groups. Focus sadly comes to mind (my mother-in-law and sister-in-law work there I'm sorry to say). Tech companies also came for that reason. With those tech companies came more military (anyone who says our local economy doesn't depend on the military is irrational beyond reason). House prices have skyrocketed, sprawl has turned much of the eastern plains into cheerless box stores and cookie-cutter houses, and what remains of any local identity has been almost totally blown away (downtown (somewhat), Old Colorado City, and Manitou Springs excepted).

I wouldn't characterize too many Springs folk as stuck up, it's almost entirely middle class. Backward thinking is a little more like it. There has gotten to be soooooo much fundamentalist religion that rationality has been dive-bombing. Between that and many groups of borderline "freemen" we just aren't a very sane place. Trust me, it is hard sometimes living out here.

Our attitudes to the poor could use a lot of work. We don't try to help the poor, we try to legislate them. Laws have been passed removing pan-handlers from interstate exits (panhandling on every exit was a bit much sometimes, but at the same time, no one was getting hurt). We even have signs in downtown now that tell us not to give money to panhandlers, it will only encourage them (not the exact words, but the exact intent). Colorado Springs is anti-poverty in a negative way. If your poor, leave...there is no place for you. Taxes to help the poor? (or school districts, or social programs, or, well, anything) HA!!! That's socialism.

This is not a progressive city. But there is still some hope. I haven't given up yet.

[SoCalDem]

6. Compassionate Conservatism apparently has a "shelf-life"

30-60 days seems to be the limit..

[Chi-Town Exile]

9. That's a longer shelf life than I would have expected from them! nt

[Tomee450]

16. Right and

I suspect that many of those evacuees which they were any place but Colorado Springs. Except for Denver, I don't think much of Colorado is that welcoming to minorities. I can't imagine living in states such as Colorado, Montana, or Idaho. I'll bet some of the new comers can't wait to get away from Colorado Springs. I feel bad for them being in an area that really doesn't want them.

[noonwitch]

10. Detroit is the poorest city in the nation, and we are taking evacuees

Anyone coming to Michigan in general will not be turned away. The city, state and the local churches and other religious organizations are networking together to help meet the needs of those coming to our state for help. I'm not a Kwame fan, but he did make some good comments about people coming from New Orleans-they're family.

Colorado Springs probably has more private resources to go around, but any one town or city only has so many public resources. She has a point, but she should appeal to private citizens and local corporations to step up, too.

Is Colorado Springs a totally fundie town? I know Young Life is headquartered there, but I consider them to be more evangelical than fundamentalist.

[MarsThe Cat]

24. I thought that ALL of them should have gone to detroit- or flint...

don't you guys have lots and lots of abandoned houses waiting for demolition? why not give them to the evacuees as "fixer-uppers"?

[Whoa_Nelly]

12. Colorado Springs is over 85% White, with about a 9% pop. of Black

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08000.html

While the above link shows the 1999 median household income to be around $45K, it also points out that there are about Only 12% who live below the poverty level.

Have spent some great times in CS, CO, and for the most part have seen first-hand that there are many who are very wealthy living there, or in the neighboring communities just up the hill (Manitou Springs, Cascade, etc.).

CS, CO also has a huge amount of people there who are summer folk that own a lot of property.

Perhaps by not taking in too many evacuees, they can sidestep the possibility of bringing down their property values, as well as not having to worry their beautiful minds about the disconnect of what they prefer to see and enjoy over what could end up being a blight on their community. :sarcasm:

[slackmaster]

21. Here's information from the 2000 US census

For people who report being of one race,

White 80.66%
Hispanic 12.01%
Black/African-American 6.56%
Asian (total) 2.82%
Native American 0.88%

These add up to over 100% but you need to look at this page to see how it's all broken down. The mixed race categories muddy up the numbers, which IMO is a good thing.

http://coloradosprings.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm

[Selteri]

13. So much for being a good "Christian" community there.

I suppose they've decided to start focusing on their own damned family again.

[NVMojo]

17. It's also where the repuke leaders hang out, re: bush ...

extremely conservative community with lots of retired military there. Fort Carson Army Post is next door.

[slackmaster]

18. How many do people think CO Springs' fair share would be?

Is 1,600 not enough? ETA I really don't know what the city's capacity for supporting refugees is or how much they should be expected to stretch resources to accommodate people.

BTW - I personally know of a couple of long-time DUers who live in or near Colorado Springs. It's not all fundies and conservatives.

[donheld]

19. No, Colo Spgs isn't all fundy Conservative but

It is primarily just that. Colorado Springs has worked very hard on it's earned reputation, and now must live with it.

[slackmaster]

20. I'd appreciate at least one answer to my question

Anyone,

How many refugees would Colorado Springs' fair share be in your opinion?

Aside: I'm frankly wondering if anyone actually read the article.

[El Supremo]

23. I don't know, but...

The huge New Life Church could house as many as the Superdome.

Here is an article about them in Harper's:

http://www.harpers.org/SoldiersOfChrist.html

[slackmaster]

25. Thanks, but the New Life Church is not the city of Colorado Springs

Anyone else?

BTW I don't know the answer either, just asking for peoples' honest opinions.

[El Supremo]

27. Is it in an unincorporated area?

I know it is on the north side, but their address is:

11025 Voyager Parkway
Colorado Springs, CO. 80921

[slackmaster]

28. Topic = "Colorado Springs closes doors to Hurricane Katrina evacuees"

If you read just the subject line it sounds like the municipal government of Colorado Springs has refused to accept any refugees at all, which if you read the article you will see is not the case.

Most of the responses here are knee-jerk reactions.

[MissMarple]

32. C.S. is struggling to take care of the homeless already here.

"Colorado Springs has given a greater portion of its resources to hurricane relief efforts than most places its size, City Councilman Richard Skorman said." Skorman is liberal and a nice guy. One of his business was hurricane relief central for donations.

I really haven't heard much of what Focus on the/your own damn Family is doing. But I'm sure they are doing a lot of praying...about something or other.

[donheld]

33. Someone's being technical

So it's not in the city limits. It still claims Colo Spgs, can could no doubt take care of some of those who need it. As to how many that's not an easy number to come up with.

[Bridget Burke]

26. Why are the evacuees the responsibility of the NAACP?

Yes, I read the article.

The whiteness can be blinding--even when there's no snow.

[slackmaster]

29. I didn't say evacuees were the responsibility of the NAACP

:wtf:

Please explain your extemperaneous reply.

It sounds to me like the NAACP volunteered to help out.

[chat_noir]

31. hmmm....

just 3 days after chimp left

[donco6]

36. Colo Spgs city officials are not terribly conservative.

Nor is it that large of a city. I don't think it's too much to ask to tell this guy to stop bringing busloads of people to them when they're not prepared to accept them.

Now, if the churches wanted to step up and volunteer their time, but that's another story.