http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/NEWS01/509040333/1002
This article shows the drain on our local resources. In the beginning, people will welcome the refugees with open arms, but wait till time passes, the novelty wears off and reality sets in. It has probably already come to pass that a resident of Rapides Parish can't find a job or rent an apartment because a refugee already snapped it up. This situation is going to be with us long after Jesse Jackson shifts the media's attention to some other location.
Starting over in Cenla
By Emily Peters
epeters@thetowntalk.com (318) 487-6372
After sweltering on top of a building for nearly three days before rescue boats came to save her from the abyss of New Orleans sludge, June Taylor decided she wouldn't wait around anymore.
She evacuated to her daughter's house in Alexandria and immediately sprang into action to start a new life for herself in Central Louisiana.
Friday morning, she flitted around town making stops at the Social Security office and the state departments of Motor Vehicles, Labor and Social Services.
"I'm beginning again," she said, sporting clean clothes borrowed from her daughter. "I am amazed at the efficiency of Alexandria. These are beautiful, compassionate people. It's a wonderful new place to start."
Taylor is one of thousands of evacuees in Central Louisiana who are considering a new life here since New Orleans may not be able to offer them a livelihood for months to come.
Many already have started to look for jobs and residences. Some will stay for months as New Orleans recovers, and others are planning to stay permanently.
"I think for several months, we'll have 7,000 to 8,000 more people in this area," said Elton Pody, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce of Central Louisiana. Rhonda Reap-Curiel with the Chamber of Commerce is confident there are plenty of jobs to employ all of these people. She's asking every business in the area to register their openings on www.laworks.net.
Kissey Smith probably will be checking out that job Web site.
When she floated her autistic godson out of the floodwaters on a mattress, she left behind her house and a management job at Goodwill Southeastern Louisiana. While waiting in line Friday to apply for food stamps, she flipped through a Rapides Parish telephone book to find out where to apply for a job.
"I just know I'm never going back to New Orleans," she said. "I guess I'll work wherever there is a job available."
Some local businesses, including Eddie's Barbecue, already have started hiring evacuees. Other employment opportunities are available in health care and at StarTek, a call center, while many national companies will offer transfers for their displaced workers to relocate here. Displaced school employees may apply with the local district, and companies have included advertisements in today's Town Talk for production operators, millwrights, forklift operators and construction workers.
Housing is another story.
While new housing developments are booming just north of the Red River, Pody said the choices of rental properties are slim and getting slimmer.
"Everything we have has been taken," said Debbie Stevens, who manages various large apartment complexes under White Property Management in Rapides Parish. Evacuees have rented her last 50 to 60 apartment units, most on a month-to-month basis, she said.
Property owners are asked to report any vacant rental spaces to www.hurricanehousing.net, and evacuees may check that site starting Tuesday.
"We've looked for apartments, but they're all booked up," said evacuee Mark Chanove, but that won't dissuade him.
Chanove is a native of Alexandria, who already has updated his resume and is talking to area employers. He is prepared to stay in Alexandria for the long haul and will enroll his young children in local schools.
Local officials have discussed using Wooddale Park, a public housing unit, and barracks at the former England Air Force Base to temporarily house evacuees who can't find other places. But no final decisions have been made.
Taylor, 52, said she will consider temporary housing since her daughter has three children and a husband in Iraq.
"I just need to get out on my own," she said.
Town Talk reporter Andrew Griffin contributed to this report.
Originally published September 4, 2005