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New orlenes refugees.....

i hate to say given the crisis this did make me laugh....

we got a press release from the governor this morning stating that he was trying to offer up the Glasgow Air Force Base as temporary housing for up to 600 fmilies effective immedialy.

now this is great and im all for it but i had one thought that made me laugh. what a culture/enviromental shock this would be for 600 poor families. for those of you not familiar with northeast Montanas layout ill give yah some info. i live in a town of approximatly 3500 ppl, Glasgow has us beat by maybe 500 ppl. it is a 90 mile one way drive to the nearest Walmart, tack on 50 more miles for Glasgow. its September, last night it was probably 45 degrees out at 5 am when i took the darn dog out. this is the coldest its dropped so far this summer and i was a bit chilled standing outside in my boxers and i go swiming in 70 degree water on a 85 degree day. in another month or so it should start snowing. now can you imagine a bunch of big city southerners coming up this way? i couldnt help but chuckle.
 
If no one will say anything then I will.

The short answer is if it's dry it'll probably seem pretty nice.  I suspect people from Billings or Butte or Montana's other metropolises would be equally freaked out if they found themselves as refugees in Wolf Point.  They'd be thrilled by the quality of the local paper, but they'd miss other things from their lives.  Even if they're more accustomed to the temperature than someone from the Gulf Coast.

I think any community would be improved by bringing in a bunch of people from New Orleans.  And, despite years of effort by the Chamber of Commerce and others to turn it into Disney World, there's more culture in any square foot of New Orleans than in entire states.  If only it were in a less extreme place.  But then it wouldn't be New Orleans - it would be Hartford or Lubbock or Anaheim and that would be an enormous loss.
 
I don't know the effect 600 familys will have there. But, here in Dallas we are gettin 'em left and right and we are having a hard time finding them jobs and trying to start their lives over again. We have to change the school system to make room for the kids and we still have no idea how long we can keep then in the arenas.

-Rail
 
I agree - a sudden influx of refugees will discombobulate any place. That's well known by everyone other than US military and FEMA planners. But if we replaced 600 families in my large town with 600 from New Orleans, we'd be a much improved place.
 
lol a good deal of ppl from Billings are originally from northeast montana. in a city of 100,000 i see atleast 12 ppl who used to live in Wolf Point everytime i go down there and they are rarly the same 12.

im not terribly worried i dont actually expect to many to actually make it this far north but if they do i hope one family atleast sets up a resturant, i love southern cooking
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A Rush to Set Up U.S. Housing for Storm Survivors
By ERIC LIPTON
The New York Times
September 13, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005....ld.html

Many of the low income housing developments around here were built under nearly as frantic conditions a half century ago to provide housing for our local war industry.  They didn't remain for long in locations good for single family homes, especially those in suburbs having the political muscle to shut them down and sell the land.  But the poorest people were still stranded in identical developments in the least accessible or desirable parts of the city until only a couple years ago.

So expect plenty of those emergency shelter communities to remain occupied into the distant future.  But not in the places where someone will want to be.  Such as places convenient to jobs and commercial areas and parks.
 
turns out they arent sending many up this way though a couple local families are putting up some refugees. i know of atleast 4 ppl either in town or will soon be here. probably be a few more before its done.
 
So have you invited any over to cook dinner?
 
lol actually i havent met any of them yet. just learned they were in town on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday im busy with paper stuff, maybe shortly
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