Be sure to check out blogHouston.net where Anne Linehan and Kevin Whited are doing an excellent job of chronicling the local resources in support of Houston’s extraordinary Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Anne and Kevin have several posts relating to the relief effort, and they will be adding additional ones over the next several days. Check out their site periodically for updates. A great organization job by two of Houston’s best bloggers.
Update: Local blog The Lone Star Times is liveblogging from the Astrodome, providing a fascinating resource for keeping up with the unfolding developments within the largest refugee camp to be established on U.S. soil in many, many years. The Chronicle has also started up the Domeblog that is providing periodic updates from the Astrodome.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
I am a former resident of both New Orleans and Houston. Mayor White is making a huge mistake in dealing with the New Orleans refugees in Houston. He is right to provide comfort to them and encourage generosity toward them from Houstonians. They have suffered a great tragedy and many will have nowhere else to go.
However, his seeming (as quoted in today’s Chronicle) denial of the security problem that a substantial minority of them pose to the city may well backfire on him and all of you there. If he does not take action to mitigate the inevitable crime wave that will result from their presence in Houston (think South Florida after the Mariel boat lift), he will have contributed to the backlash that follows. Worse yet, a significant rise in crime rates will push Houston toward the downward spiral New Orleans has been suffering for decades. High crime causes more affluent citizens to leave for the suburbs. The shrinking tax bases makes it impossible to fund the law enforcement necessary to deal with the crime, so it just gets worse. The poor cannot move and suffer the most.
Apologies if this gets posted twice:
I am a former resident of both New Orleans and Houston. Mayor White is making a huge mistake in dealing with the New Orleans refugees in Houston. He is right to provide comfort to them and encourage generosity toward them from Houstonians. They have suffered a great tragedy and many will have nowhere else to go.
However, his seeming (as quoted in today’s Chronicle) denial of the security problem that a substantial minority of them pose to the city may well backfire on him and all of you there. If he does not take action to mitigate the inevitable crime wave that will result from their presence in Houston (think South Florida after the Mariel boat lift), he will have contributed to the backlash that follows. Worse yet, a significant rise in crime rates will push Houston toward the downward spiral New Orleans has been suffering for decades. High crime causes more affluent citizens to leave for the suburbs. The shrinking tax bases makes it impossible to fund the law enforcement necessary to deal with the crime, so it just gets worse. The poor cannot move and suffer the most.