10/11/2005, 5:10 p.m. CT
By ROSS SNEYD
The Associated Press
Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, applauds as James Williams, from River Ridges, La., hugs his mother, New Orleans resident Audrey Coestly in Jefferson Parish, La., Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005. Jackson and Williams arrived with about 200 job seekers and New Orleans residents evacuated during Hurricane Katrina.(AP Photo/Don Ryan)
METAIRIE, La. (AP) — About 200 people including New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina rolled into this suburb on buses Tuesday, seeking to share in government jobs to rebuild the city.
The journey, organized by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, started Monday in Chicago and wound through St. Louis and other cities that gave shelter to evacuees. Potential employers greeted the arrivals at a Metairie restaurant with applications for construction and restaurant jobs.
Jackson has pressed for displaced New Orleans residents and others to receive help from the federal cleanup contracts and housing that have gone to out-of-state contractors.
Many in the crowd said they had come from hometowns such as Mobile, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn., looking for work.
"If I get the work I'll stay a year," said Harold Adams, 65, of Memphis.
Local officials said they welcomed people from across the South.
"I think it's wonderful because there are a lot of jobs available," said New Orleans Councilwoman Renee Gill Pratt.
Mayor Ray Nagin also welcomed people back. Late last week, Nagin had forecast that new arrivals would face "a mess," citing a lack of housing. On Tuesday, he said housing would be found.
"We're going to make sure everyone is taken care of from the housing standpoint, short-term and long-term," he said.
Nagin sat with James Williams, a New Orleans resident who spent the past six weeks in Chicago and was reunited with his mother, Audrey Coestly, of nearby Kenner.
Williams said he plans to find work and then re-establish his home in New Orleans before retrieving his wife and three children, who remain in Chicago.