With each passing hour, the picture becomes clearer. New Orleans is going to be completely evacuated and stay empty for at least three months while the Army Corps of Engineers tries to rebuild the levees and pump a gazillion gallons of water out of the city. Then, when it’s finally dry, each and every structure, from homes to high rises, must be checked for structural integrity. Contamination will be rampant, so there are massive health issues, too. In the meantime, Dallas is the biggest, most logical place to relocate thousands of displaced Louisianans.
What we see on the news are the poor wandering around the streets. What we don’t see are the hundreds of thousands who did leave, and have no place to return to. As FrontBurner reported earlier, Dallas’ 65,000 hotel rooms are looking pretty valuable right now. Each year, more than 3.8 million people with 3,600 different conventions visit Dallas, so we know something about handling crowds. For the time being, most people will be ushered into shelters like the one at Samuell Grand (6200 E. Grand), where 200 refugees from Katrina arrived this morning. In any case, everyone needs to get their extra toiletries, clothes, and other essentials together for donation. We need to show these poor folks some real Dallas hospitality.
