The refugees from the Superdome are being moved to the Astrodome. Wow, I don’t even know what to think. Part of me has endless compassion for the victims of this terrible disaster. However, if i lived close to the Astrodome in Houston, I"m just not sure how comfortable I’d be with 25000 homeless people being moved in. There is a lot of desperation in some of the people there. They’re going to be in a stange city, many without money or a job. This just sounds like a prescription for disaster.
They already had one…
I’m sure that I’ll be flamed for this, but here it goes.
What happened to the people of NOLA (and Biloxi, and many, many other cities and towns) is terrible. There is no other way of putting it. NOLA is also a giant cess pool of crime, drugs, and destitute poverty. As is evidence by the wanton looting (of non life essential items) many of the people left in NOLA are…less than stellar citizens. I understand that not everyone left at the Superdome is a criminal. I also understand that they do need a place to stay that isn’t flooded and without running water or air. However, I am less than thrilled about having 20,000+ bored, umemployed people dropped off less than 5 miles from my house.
Many of whome have proven themselves to be criminals.
I am sure of two things:
Crime will increase dramatically in the area.
Gang violence will increase dramatically in the area.
I wouldn’t want anyone importing 20,000 people into my neighborhood. I don’t care if they’re refugees or Nuns. It’s just too many people for one area to absorb all of a sudden.
Where’s a good cite for this? Before I decide whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea, I’d want to know who’s moving them, what provisions are being made for them and whether they’re on a timetable for leaving.
I don’t believe the people stuck in the Superdome are the same people out looting.
They are evacuating the Superdome and using a caravan of 475 buses to take people to the Houston Astrodome. The Astrodome will be turned into a relief shelter to the best of FEMA’s ability but right the idea is just get them out of New Orleans and just go somewhere. There is no timetable for leaving the Astrodome. It will likely be months or more.
I should add that they are evacuating all relief shelters and everyone else in the city and trying to find places to send them.
Some are, some aren’t. There were originally about 9,000 people in the Superdome. The other 10,000+ people have been coming in since the end of the storm. The Superdome is one of the major drop off points for people rescued from the flood.
And as Rhiannon8404 said, 20,000+ new people in any area is bad news.
Given that the Superdome now has no functioning sanitation, I don’t see how anybody could argue that the people should not be provided with alternative shelter. For those who object to them being moved to Houston, can I ask what alternatives you would suggest?
Having 20,000 refuges camped out in the neighborhood for months on end would definitely be a bad thing for both refugees and the people who live in the neighborhood.
However, I will be curious to see if they refugees eventually demand a new stadium and threaten to relocate to another major city if they don’t get it.
Split them up? Send a few thousand to Dallas, a few to Austin, some to Houston, some to Oklahoma, Boise, Buffalo, wherever. Even if it was 20,000 millionaire nuns who did nothing all day but sit in rocking chairs transcribing bibles and knitting it would be a HUGE strain on any city to suddenly accept a that many people.
Good job Houston didn’t get hit by a natural disaster. If they can’t cope with a temporary influx of, ohhh, half-a-stadium of people, they God knows what happens if there’s a real strain on the city.
These are people who have no food, no clean water, and nowhere to shit…and you’re complaining about ‘a strain’ on the city? Splitting them up would be more work still, and more delays.
Maybe we can set people up with one of those “Work at Dome” schemes like stuffing envelopes.
Am I the only one who would gladly let 20,000 people stay in my city if they could?
We have more than enough to share, and I suppose if it came down to it we could find several thousand families willing to share their homes with the refugees for as long they needed.
But seriouslt, these are human beings. I can’t be the only one who would take the refugees, right?
NoPretentiousCodename, count me in. And a hearty “hope this gets into the pit so I can say what I want” to those who just don’t get it.
I’m honestly confused about this plan. If the roads are all flooded and the highway is broken how are they going to get the people in the Superdome out?
I personally have nothing but compassion for the people trapped in N.O. They’ve likely lost their homes and jobs through no fault of their own. 
The people noting this will cause problems are not necessarily for keeping them at the Superdome, you know.
I think that yes, this will cause problems, and I’m glad it’s not happening in my neighborhood. But if it were my neighborhood that had the best facilities for this type of thing, I’d grit my teeth and bear it, and hope the problems are minimal. As I hope people would do for me if I were a storm refugee.