An email circulating for the past several weeks claims that shuttle buses arranged by FEMA and the city of Austin to take unemployed Hurricane Katrina evacuees to a job fair went almost entirely unused because "they don't intend to work as long as they can sponge off of the system." Well, strange as it seems, it is a fact that only one person took advantage of the free transportation all day long, but city officials have a completely different explanation for why that happened. Read more...
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When I first read this email, I completely believed it. There are far too many “victims” of natural disasters that are more than welcome to sponge off of the “working our butts off” taxpayers! But, I thought to give them the benefit of the doubt. I’d read up and see if it’s a hoax or not. Looks like most of the statements in the email can’t be denied! However, it also looks like (maybe to avoid further lawsuits by sue happy freeloaders) city officials are taking the blame for not “publicizing” better. Come on people!!! Isn’t it bad enough that we FUND illegal immigrants to live here on our hard-earned (and all too greedily taken from us) money??? Now we have to cower to a bunch of people that CHOSE to live in an area prone to natural disasters and it finally bit them where it hurts??? I say if ONE person made it to the buses, it was publicized enough that more could have made it. You don’t just see 12 big buses parked in your neighborhood and NOT SEE THEM! So what if it was only “confirmed” at 11th hour – at least it was confirmed! And they must have had some idea it would be an option. Regardless – it was FREE transportation! If they truly wanted a job, they would have found a way to get there… So I’m leaning more towards believing they want to live for free. How long are the hard-working taxpayers in this country going to be enablers and cowards??? It’s ridiculous. Quit letting freeloaders sit around and get fat and lazy and breed more freeloaders on our dime!!! If a Katrina evacuee can read this, they’re getting too much money – they shouldn’t be able to afford internet without a job. If one of their family members is reading it for them, your family member needs help – it should come from YOU not me!
Wow, 200 out of how many thousand?! Sounds like proof to me. Not sounds like the original author was right on the money. Just like the report out of Utah that was disputed by the PC politicians here. The truth is just as was stated in the original email.
OK, so some of the referenced e-mail material was true and some false.
However, the Red Cross states in the referenced URL that they helped 10,000 FAMILIES in AUSTIN alone who claimed they were victims of either Katrina or Rita.
Excerpt from Red Cross Press Release, dated October 12, 2005:
“We’ve seen approximately 10,000 families, providing almost $12 million in direct financial assistance here in Austin,” said Wayne Brennessel, executive director of the American Red Cross of Central Texas. “Now that families are going home or settling into their new lives here in Austin, we feel confident we have met the immediate emergency needs of thousands of families to help them get started onto the next phase of recovery.”
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/news/2005/redcross_phonehelp.htm
So, at a very minimum there should have been at least 15,000 people from these 10,000 looking for work!
As a rebuttal to this e-mail being circulated it is also stated:
“The job fair was actually quite well attended, reports the American-Statesman, noting that “more than 200 people showed on a rainy, 30-degree day, many commenting on how helpful the resource agencies were.”
So, is the American-Statesman implying that but for the fact that it was a winter day, 30 degrees and raining, there would have been many more than a lousy 200 people show up for a job fair? Get real! From that stupid statement, I could also infer that on any given winter day when the temp dips to 30 and it is raining, all those thousands of Katrina families don’t set foot out of their door… they can’t get to their jobs — they can’t get to school.
The referenced job fair was held February 18, 2006 — 5 months and 2 weeks AFTER they were displaced !!
Give me a break!
If we’re going to talk numbers, please adjust for these factors:
1. As pointed out, the Red Cross stated it helped 10,000 Katrina families in Austin as of October. But that doesn’t mean all 10,000 were still there in February when this job fair took place. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 46% of Katrina evacuees had returned to their homes by February 2006.
2. According to the Labor Dept., the national jobless rate in February 2006 for Katrina evacuees who hadn’t returned home was 22.6 percent.
3. This wasn’t the first nor the only job fair for Katrina evacuees held in Austin, nor the only means by which jobs could be found.