Posted on 09/11/2005 4:12:36 PM PDT by wouldntbprudent
Hurricane Katrina’s destruction of Louisiana’s largest city is boosting the fortunes of those that surround it, creating boomtowns almost overnight.
Flooded with 225,000 hurricane evacuees, Baton Rouge, located 75 miles northwest of New Orleans, has almost doubled its population.
The influx has sparked shortages of housing and commercial space and strained the city’s infrastructure, including schools and roads. Homes in Baton Rouge that once lingered on the market are now being snapped up at previously unheard-of prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneycentral.msn.com ...
Ping!
In Lafayette, the city’s average available housing stock of 150 homes has declined by a third in the span of a week, said Bill Bacque, chief executive of the city's largest brokerage, Van Eaton & Romero. Larger companies have moved on, he said, to cities like Dallas and Houston where housing and commercial space are more plentiful.
With its 11 Louisiana apartment properties filled up in a matter of days after Katrina hit, Denver-based Apartment Investment and Management Co. has been routing hundreds of people to its apartments in Houston, Dallas, Austin, Memphis and Little Rock.
"Our phones have been ringing off the hook," said Patti Shwayder, senior vice president of AIMCO.
Can't wait to hear what the Rats say about these developments!
People cant afford to stay in Motels very long, eating restaurant food. They have to rent or buy where they can find a spot.
Thanks for the link. Will plan to tune in.
Do you think he meant to say FreeRepublic.com during that plug?
But what are they going to do with the "welfare-state recipients" if they don't rebuild the "welfare-housing" in N.O.? Where will Jesse Jackson's voting base be, if there are no DimVoters in N.O.?
Oh, shock, horror.
Really, though. Where have the criminals gone since they've been evacuated from N.O. housing projects? Are they moving to Houston and Dallas and Little Rock and Memphis and Nashville and Atlanta and Detroit, too?
Or will they want to return to N.O.?
I'm series here. I'm very curious as to what others think.
probably, he is sometimes hard to understand.
Thanks for the ping!
About 30 people left the Alexandria Holiday Inn today on a bus taking them to new homes in western states.
I am wondering just how much these people really want to start over in such distant places. I also wonder if their new hosts will be truly prepared to deal with the mental and physical state of their houseguests. I spent a lot of time perusing hurricane housing sites this weekend, and I came away with the distinct feeling that these well-meaning people who are posting and responding to these offers don't know what they're in for.
There are conflicting news reports that probably make it even harder for displaced people to decide what to do. On one hand, there are people putting out welcome mats all across the country. On the other hand, there are interviews with people who swear their businesses in the French Quarter suffered no damage and that they will be ready to reopen for customers. Today I also saw reports that people are being allowed back to certain areas to reclaim their business records and personal effects.
It's like that old song by The Clash, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"
Someone tell the dem's Haliburton is said to be making HUGE(or is that hugh)profits from these "boomtowns". I want to see their heads explode.
The ones who can change will stay where they are now, the ones who can't will go back where things are more permissive.
Life is not going to be the same for them in other cities.
The good folks who have been kept down all their lives are going to stay in their new places because they will quickly recognize they are respected and welcomed and they will have a MUCH better life. They'll find out what it's like to be able to call the police when there is trouble and have the police show up, and be polite and protective. They'll find out what it's like to live in a state and city with good government.
The thugs and the thieves and the druggies and the weirdos will go back to the Big Easy because it's the only place where they will be accepted and tolerated. NO will be rebuilt, but it will never be what it was, but the other towns will thrive and prosper and the evacuees right along with them.
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