CNN: Strapped for cash, some in New Orleans stay and hope

[MiniMe]

Unbelievable. They can evacuate on the buses, I don't think it costs anything. They are evacuating animals. What good is money if you aren't around to spend it.

snip

"You gotta make as much money as you can, because when we shut down -- and we're gonna shut down -- that's it for a long while," the 26-year-old said, exhaling, a dribble of sweat rolling into his mouth.

"The thing is," he continued, "most people don't have cars to leave, don't have money for gas. Pay for a hotel for that long? I mean, you have to do whatever you have to do, and I guess I'm gonna stay and work."

snip

"If I left, I'll probably lose my job," said Jeremiah O'Farrell, another dishwasher who is staying put. "I really don't have anywhere to go if I could leave. I could go home, but that doesn't seem like the thing to try. Too far, I guess."

snip

"Really, how bad do you think it's gonna get?" he asked. "I've never been through one, and I'm not sure what to believe. You see the national weather people, and they're telling you it's gonna be really bad."

A neighbor, Victoria, says she has two Rottweilers who she's not willing to leave behind.

"Now, what do you think that would look like, me and my little car sitting there in traffic with two big old Rottweilers," she said, laughing.

Money is tight for her, too.

"Guess I'm just gonna wait. I just don't know. It's all stressful."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/30/new.orleans/index.html

[MiniMe]

1. Meanwhile, the CNN projected path

[stray cat]

2. Welfare checks come up at the end of the month as do many pay checks

[Obamanaut]

36. And I saw a snippet on teevee that social security sent out early

the checks that normally go out during the first week of the month, just to accommodate those recipients who need $ to evacuate.

[Chovexani]

3. This is privilege talking.

"Unbelievable. They can evacuate on the buses, I don't think it costs anything. They are evacuating animals. What good is money if you aren't around to spend it."

That? Is privilege showing. The people who are saying money is too tight to leave aren't greedy fucks who just can't part with their money. THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO EVACUATE. The cost of evacuation doesn't end with merely getting out of town. You've got to have someplace to stay, and if you don't have relatives you can stay with, that means finding a hotel and being able to foot the bill for however long it takes before you are allowed back into your home. Remember, this time there will be no evac centers.

For a lot of poor people, people who've already had their teeth kicked in by Katrina and Rita and are still trying to recover from that, they don't have any option but to stay.

[MiniMe]

5. They are evacuating people on buses that the city provides, to shelters

That is done specifically for people who can't afford to get out. Shelters do not cost money. This has nothing to do with priviledge, it has to do with common sense.

[Chovexani]

6. Let me ask you something

If you were a poor person who ended up in the Superdome last time, would you really trust any shelter the city decided to bus you to this time?

[Texasgal]

7. What's the alternative?

Death?

[Chovexani]

9. I am not judging them, period

Because, honestly? If I were in their shoes, with no one to rely on but a government that proved point blank three years ago it does not give a shit about you if you are poor and/or black, I don't know what I'd do.

I might just choose death over the Superdome, too.

[Texasgal]

13. I won't judge anyone for wanting to die..

but considering that a collosal mistake was made last time it appears that the local gov has a better handle on things thsi go around.

No judging, just my opinion.

[stillcool]

23. wanting to die?

You are certainly judging. I'm sure the people in New Orleans have as much faith in the United States government as you do.

[Texasgal]

25. Please read what I was responding to.

Thank you.

[stillcool]

27. I did.

[Texasgal]

28. OKay.

No need to explain it then.

[XemaSab]

31. My impression is that most people who ended up in the Superdome

were lucky to be alive.

I'm not saying what happened there was cool, 'cause it wasn't, but being alive and miserable for a week is better than being dead.

[NashVegas]

4. I'm Going to Say Something VERY Unpopular Right Now

This is where the "Family values" stuff comes in that we get beat up on.

When you encourage people in a society to depend on and retain close ties to their extended family - both direct and extended - they have someone to fall back on in hard times and someone to invest in your ventures in good times. Well-to-do people understand this.

When you encourage people to remain independent of family and depend on the government take care of you in hard times, you'd better have a good fucking government. Right now we just don't. I suppose we should thank Grover Norquist. At any rate Bush & Jindal have a show to put on.

[Chovexani]

8. That is some real talk.

Especially this: "When you encourage people to remain independent of family and depend on the government take care of you in hard times, you'd better have a good fucking government."

I really worry about the people who don't have anybody. The way the safety net's been cut into shreds over the last few years, they are well and truly fucked.

[NashVegas]

20. Aye

:(

[aquart]

17. Not everyone has family.

Only children of only children? Do we just let them go because they weren't born with a network?

[NashVegas]

19. Of Course Not

What I'm saying is that it's important to build that network if you can.

[L0oniX]

10. More pay or die economics ...just like our health care system.

[tannybogus]

11. You're right.

I wouldn't follow FEMA even if they would give me a free car to do it in. However,

they need to set up something that will help people move. Put the Red Cross in charge

or the Coast Guard or whoever. Find somebody with an ounce of credibilty left.

[kestrel91316]

12. Some folks can't afford to pack up, leave their job, and go live in a hotel

for a week or a month.

[Texasgal]

14. The state is providing transport and shelter

for people who cannot afford it.

Link here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/30/gustav.prepare/index.html

[kestrel91316]

18. I hadn't heard about the shelter.

[MiniMe]

22. True, but for a dishwasher, I doubt they get paid if they aren't working

And I don't know that there will be much to do during the hurricane and for a while afterwards.

[Texasgal]

26. Then I ask again:

What is the alternative?

We can't stop the storm!

[MiniMe]

30. Evacuate on the buses that the city is providing

[Texasgal]

32. Isn't that what is happening?

Everywhere I've read it seems to say that thousands are evacuating... on their own or on the buses and trains the state is providing?

[MiniMe]

35. Yes, but some are deciding to stay

Maybe I'm just a chicken shit, but that storm scares me and I don't live anywhere near the gulf coast.

[slackmaster]

29. Even though there probably won't be a job to go to for that week or month

:crazy:

[XemaSab]

33. I doubt a lot of those people are going to have jobs when they get back

if this thing does what they say it's going to.

Nagin told anyone staying behind they better have an axe, 'cause the storm surge is expected to overtop the levees by AT LEAST 8 feet, and possibly closer to 16. :o

[cobalt1999]

15. Perfect chance for CNN to actually INFORM the public

There is free transportation, there is free housing out of town, you can take your pets.

Why wouldn't they fix this misconception instead of building up a heart-rending story for ratings...oh, nevermind.

[Barack_America]

16. They're also requiring up-to-date proof of vaccination on animals they're evacuating.

So that's going to be a problem for poor folks as well.

Sure you can pass judgment and say that if you're going to have an animal you should have the money to pay for its care, etc. But if someone is willing to stay with their animals and potentially drown, I think it's pretty obvious they care.

I think the better discussion to have is whether the state should offer rabies vaccinations low-cost or free-of-charge as a public-health initiative.

[SoCalDem]

39. And many people have more than ONE pet..

It's going to be a daunting journey on a bus with kids, pets, and ending up in a place you don't know, having left EVERYTHING you have behind..and being flat broke too..

I know it's dangerous to stay, but I can almost see why some folks are reluctant to leave..

I see people here all the time with pictures of their 3 cats 2 dogs ; their birds, their ferrets..Now put them in NOLA..with a day to evacuate./.and give them NO money.. and some guy on a bus-line says "you can bring one pet"... "sorry, no birds"

"We" are no different from any poor person in NOLA, (except that we are not in the path of a killer hurricane)..

Human nature sometimes says.."bad stuff happens to someone else..I'll be ok"..

[Barack_America]

40. Wow. I hadn't heard the one pet rule.

I have three.

I'd be staying too.

If they're going to drown, I'd be drowning right along with them.

[SoCalDem]

41. It may not be an actual "rule" but think about the logistics

could YOU or any one person control/carry more than one pet (in a carrier, with current vaccination proof) , and whatever you need for your own time away?

and if you are going on a bus, would they let your pet take a seat that could be for a human? would you have to hold that carrier with pet ..on your lap?

The logistics are hard to imagine.. It;s not like loading your pets into your car, and driving them to a family member's back yard or to a roomy motel that allows pets.. (most do NOT accept pets)..

[Barack_America]

42. They've actually fitted tractor trailers with crates for the animals...

So they're not going in the buses in the owners. The trucks carrying them are following behind. Though I think that small animals can travel on the buses.

[JonQ]

21. So how much does free busing cost?

And free housing, and free food. Sorry, this isn't a rich/poor issue, it's a common sense issue. I have little sympathy for people given the opportunity to avoid disaster, plenty of warning, and prior experience, and who still choose to do nothing.

[stillcool]

24. Yeah...maybe it's their..

pride. You know how people look down on anyone that accepts 'free' anything.

[XemaSab]

34. Like people aren't going to look down on you

if you choose to stay and DIE. :crazy:

[stillcool]

37. Dying is not a certainty..

check that..dying is absolutely a certainty, but not because of this storm. Losing your job as the guy in the story states will happen to him, and being reliant on this government would have me thinking hard on which way to go. I keep thinking of Barbara Bush, and how so many who fled during Katrina have not yet been able to return home. And of course, the way so many people feel towards their fellow Americans. I guess I'm a real whacko, and choose to have empathy. I even hope the guy makes it through.

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. and many of those who did make it home

found the government had demolished their houses, even if the houses were ok,
and that N.O. had boarded up perfectly intact low income housing complexes,
with the occupants possessions still inside, and/or that N.O. refused to let people even return to their neighborhoods to rebuild, instead the city condemned huge areas for future "economic development".
Shock Doctrine indeed !

When the city did manage to evacuate people pre and post Katrina, the family groups were often split up. Some sent to Atlanta, some to Houston, with no money to return home.
Even the dogs which were "rescued" were sent as far away as Cal.
The Dog Whisperer show had a segment about it.

You have to be a Southerner to understand the tremendous deep bond and "sense of place" people have here. It is very powerful, and to be forced away and not allowed to return is an incredible cruelty.

It is a Hobson's choice for the poor of N.O.....stay and risk death, or leave and risk permanent exclusion from your house, neighborhood and past life.


The major message from Katrina is that there is no trusting the Bush World unless you are white, rich and Republican.

[JonQ]

44. I don't know about that

NO is one of the larger welfare cities in the country. Many of the people staying behind because they are "poor" would be on some sort of assisted living. I think it's more a matter of stubbornness, lack of trust, and possibly greed (not wanting to lose what they do have). Granted you should want to protect what's yours, but no matter of material items are worth risking your life over.

[stillcool]

45. I'm sure you do...

look down on anyone that is 'poor' and accepts anything from the government. Thanks for making my point. So much for 'we the people' eh?

[JonQ]

46. Well I did clearly state

in my previous comments, and I quote "I, JonQ, despise poor people, and think they should be rounded up in to camps. And furthermore, I am saying this to make stillcool47s point". So I could see why you made that comment.

[Fleshdancer]

43. Gas should be free or heavily discounted for the evacuees

Certainly with all the profits they've experienced, the gas companies can help for one f*cking day.

[Bluerthanblue]

47. I cannot blame them for this decision- I am

terrified for their safety and well being though.

Get on a 'free bus' and go where? for how long? Those who have the least resources to live away from all that is familiar and 'safe' have the biggest reasons not to go.

I will be praying and hoping they find shelter from this hell.


:cry: