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I've seen this first hand, as many of you have.

My mom, dad, brother and I lived in a project for 10 years or more in the late 50s and early 60s. People of all colors and nationalities lived there as well.

At that time, it was a stepping stone to a home of their/our own.

At the project, at least one member of a family worked.

Through the years, after money was saved for a house, families moved. These were good, hardworking families.

Something happened in the mid 60s...welfare.

What a difference it was...very noticeable....loud parties at night,destruction of apartments,etc.

We moved, shortly after.

Once in a while I go back to the area. It's sad to see the state that it is in... because I look at it as some of the best years of my life. Having that many friends to roller skate, play baseball, hopscotch, swim, etc., within a short distance, was like one big summer vacation.

Not sure where to post this but, I found it interesting. Hope you all do too.

http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/09/ill_wind_may_no.php

September 08, 2005

Ill wind may not blow to the Whitehouse
Newton Emerson is on great form in the Irish Times today. Since it deserves a much wider play on the Internet. I have permission from him to republish it on the net. It's a rhetorical gem.

By Newton Emerson

As the full horror of Hurricane Katrina sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if this is the end of George Bush's presidency. The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that every copy of the US Constitution was destroyed in the storm. Otherwise President Bush will remain in office until noon on January 20th, 2009, as required by the 20th Amendment, after which he is barred from seeking a third term anyway under the 22nd Amendment.

As the full horror of this sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term will not still be damaged in some terribly satisfying way.

The answer is almost certainly yes, provided that the entire political agenda of George Bush's second term consists of repealing the 22nd Amendment. Otherwise, with a clear Republican majority in both Houses of Congress, he can carry on doing pretty much whatever he likes.

. . . As the full horror of this sinks in, thousands of desperate columnists are asking if an official inquiry will shift the blame for poor planning and inadequate flood defences on to the White House. The answer is almost certainly yes, provided nobody admits that emergency planning is largely the responsibility of city and state agencies, and nobody notices that the main levee which broke was the only levee recently modernised with federal funds. Otherwise, an official inquiry will pin most of the blame on the notoriously corrupt and incompetent local governments of New Orleans and Louisiana. . . .

I know what you are saying. I worked for a Housing Authority for 23 years and during that time things just got worse and worse.

There were people housed in the projects that had been living there since the 40's. Grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren - the units just passed on from one generation to another and the last names never changed.

Every year we received huge grants from HUD to upgrade individual projects and year after year those same projects were destroyed by the residents.

No one worked, they only had to pay 20% of their income for rent and welfare took care of that, drugs ran rampant. Sad that people have no self-esteem and can live that way.