Keep the Evacuees as close to the Gulf Coast as Possible

The so-called refugees are being sent to areas all across the fruited plain. This is a wonderful outreach for the poor victims of Hurricane Katrina, but the terrible downside to this relief effort is that these people are mostly from New Orleans and they may not acculturate to, say, San Francisco, or Boston or wherever else they may be sent.

If the "refugees" are forced to live in failed gov't housing in these, and other cities around the country, what will become of them?

Wouldn't it be better to keep them as close to their hometown as possible and have them play an important role in the rebuilding of their cities in the days, weeks and months to come. How will they get back to New Orleans if they are entrapped in public housing in Boston or somewhere way up north? SwissPolitics.org has a good piece titled, Katrina could prompt new black "great migration." Be sure to check it out.

I don't see the forced migration as being a good thing for the evacuees or the country as a whole. They need to be able to return to their cities and help rebuild them. They need jobs and their cities need to be rebuilt. It could be a win/win situation.

If they are forced to migrate to far off areas of the country (and they are), no one will be properly served. The newcomers will not have jobs and they will have to compete with existing homeless and jobless people living in gov't housing. This is a made to order lose/lose situation even though it may seem like a "feel good" situation at the outset.

I don't know who ultimately makes such far reaching decisions as to which far off cities the evacuees are sent, but it would be nice if wise counsel was sought before lives were ruined and cities were ultimately transformed for the worse.

What can be done to argue this case?