In Mississippi, Canvas Cities Rise Amid Hurricane's Rubble

By ERIC LIPTON
Published: December 20, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/national/nationalspecial/20tent.html?hp&ex=1135141200&en=5d632ca0a8ecf712&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss., Dec. 18 - From a distance, it looks like an Army base camp, or perhaps the old set from the television series "M*A*S*H." But here, a little more than a stone's throw from the Gulf of Mexico, on a muddy gravel lot that used to be a Little League field, a makeshift village has emerged for some of the many families who, as winter approaches, are still homeless because of Hurricane Katrina.

"Hold it there," one evacuee, Mary Magee, said to her neighbor, as she tacked holiday decorations to the entrance of her family's olive-colored tent. "Just hold it still."

The tent city here is one of three set up in recent weeks along the Mississippi coast, making room for families now that the emergency shelters have closed and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working through a backlog of some 5,000 families still on waiting lists for government-supplied travel trailers or mobile homes."

tent cities

republicans will be curses for this ineptitude?

Merh, BossHog, Maddy, Gildor Inglorion, and other Mississippians, I can tell you, we will curse them for at least 7 generations. Probably longer. Much longer.

a competent government would sponsor a contest to develop inexpensive, hurricane proof housing, you'd think.

but I have an extra tent I could donate...are there any agencies accepting tents for these people?

And this tent city is made of plywood and canvas. A regualr tent would be really insufficient for the application. But it's a good thought, anyway, KW. :hug:

I know it would be insufficient, but for those who have no shelter whatsoever, it could help.

I feel so damn powerless.

I know what you mean. I wish we knew of a way to help individuals. Like that Books for Soldiers website where people list their needs and other people can respond to those listings.

I'm glad Mississippi is getting some recognition in the NYT. They're hurting big time down there.

housing settlements.

Like “Hooverville” in the 1930’s.

Hooverville is a term describing a series of villages that appeared following the Great Depression in the United States from 1929 through the 1930s and 1940s. These villages were often formed in desolate areas or unpleasant neighborhoods and consisted of dozens or hundreds of shacks and tents that were temporary residences of those left unemployed and homeless by the Depression. The government did not officially recognize these Hoovervilles and occasionally removed the occupants for technically trespassing on private lands.

The word "Hooverville" is a spin on the last name of the 31st President of the United States during the beginning of the Depression, Herbert Hoover.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville

If only that would catch on! But given the MSM hoes, I doubt it.

C'mon, y'all! Don't let this one sink into oblivion. U.S. citizens are living in tents this holiday season! That's the real damn war on Christmas! :grr:

:kick:

I will gladly kick this.

:cry:

No matter how many times I read things like this it will continue to shock me. It isn't right. It just isn't right. I can't imagine what it is like, there is NO excuse that people should have to live like this. It breaks my heart.

I wish for strength and faith for these folks...

to worry about the Gulf Coast...


Clip>

Each year President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush open up the White House for a series of holiday parties as many of their predecessors have. Members of Congress, diplomats, administration officials, Republican Party activists and yes, the press, get invited. In all 9,500 people will have walked from the Red Room to the Blue Room to the Green Room to the State Dining Room and East Room to marvel at the decorations and put aside the business of the nation's Capitol for at least a couple of hours. An additional 45,000 will have taken public tours to see the decorations - minus the wining and dining.

Snip>

Oh, before I forget, these festivities don't cost the taxpayers one dime. All the expenses for the receptions are paid for by the Republican National Committee. We in the press try not to dwell on that.

The evening wasn't without some keepsakes.

Sometime during the two-hour affair the guests are invited to go downstairs into the Diplomatic Reception Room, where the president and first lady stand under a portrait of George Washington. There two-by-two we stood for about 15 seconds next to the first couple as an official photographer took our pictures. In about a month, an envelope from the White House will arrive with two glossy 8-by-10 photos.

Clip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/national/nationalspecial/20tent.html?hp&ex=1135141200&en=5d632ca0a8ecf712&ei=5094&partner=homepage

:kick:

there is no excuse for american citizens suffering from a natural disaster in this day and age to live in tent cities -- let alone 3+ months after the fact and heading straight into winter! un-fucking-believable.

oscar wilde was right, we went from barbarism to decadence without hitting civilization in between.

:mad:

:kick: