Dan wrote:
> First with regards to New Orleans -
> While tourism involves low wages, in New Orleans they are still
> liveable wages. It also depends on what you are doing. Just as one
> example, I used to see job postings for baristas all over the place -
> definitely something that will pay better than being a dishwasher or a
> laundry attendant. Outside of tourism, there are still growing
> opportunities in banking, education, and healthcare in New Orleans.
> Depending on market trends, the oil industry can also be a good source
> for jobs. Anyhow, I never wrote that it was a thriving economy - just
> that there are plenty of job opportunities, which is true.
But it's quality, not quantity...sure there may be plenty of jobs but do
they pay a viable and living wage?
Casinos and meat processing plants generate plenty of jobs. I guess in
depressed rural areas like Mississippi or South Dakota they are better than
nothing, but apparently in NO a lot of jobs don't pay much better than those
jobs either - and NO is a city with it's attendant higher living costs.
> Yes, New Orleans is generally a poor city with a high crime rate,
> a police force that only Chief Quimby could be proud of, and plenty of
> corruption. On the one hand this keeps the cost of living down. On
> the other hand, I had a friend who used to say, "the only thing about
> New Orleans is that no matter how nice a neighborhood seems, you can go
> 5 blocks in any direction and be in a crummy neighborhood." Still, it
> seemed pretty rare for people outside of the "crime cycle" to become
> victimized in a violent way.
IOW New Orleans meets all the criteria for a Third World city...
> David Duke has thankfully been leaving people alone in the New
> Orleans area. He pretty much stays in Metairie (and shops at Dorignacs
> - I know folks who have seen him in there) and on the Northshore. Not
> that I want to defend the SOB in any way, but one thing that needs to
> be noted is that he really only comes out for elections. The reason is
> that it is how he makes his living - every time he runs for office, he
> gets campaign contributions.
> Regarding bible beaters - yes, it is also true that New Orleans
> is a very religious city, or at least a very spiritual city, but I
> wouldn't describe the majority of its residents as bible beaters or
> over-zealous missionaries. Actually, it is a very tolerant (even with
> Duke occasionally hovering around the area) and religiously diverse
> city. One interesting thing about New Orleans is that there is no
> neighborhood (or very few) that is made up predominantly of any one
> religious or cultural group, so relations between various cultural
> groups tend to be peaceful (and don't let the name of one neigborhood,
> the Irish Channel, confuse you - it's truly a misnomer today).
>
I'll admit that NO is an island of tolerance...
> For the other comments:
> Greg clearly has a hang-up with the South in general (and
> apparently Florida, Texas, and California).
Yup, I don't care for the South in general...as for California there are
simply TOO MANY PEOPLE, which leads to too much nuttiness, a decline in the
quality of life, high living costs, etc...
He'd probably make the
> same comments about the Raleigh-Durham area, too -
Actually I hear it's a decent place to live...of course others are welcome
to test my theory ;-)
take it all with a
> grain of salt. It's a little like that guy who posts his hatred of
> Maine when the opportunity presents itself (I'm waiting,... where's
> that comment about how awful Bar Harbor is?).
> Anyhow, I've had the opportunity to live in 4 distinct regions of
> the country (including the South and the Midwest) and can just as
> easily find flaws with each of them, but in each case it would be a
> generalization that would be just as grossly misleading as those made
> by Greg.
My "generalizations" have basis in fact...
> Also for what it's worth, in all my visits to Atlanta (or anywhere
> in the South) I've never been asked by anyone, "Which church do you go
> to?"
You never worked in Cobb County, eh?
--
Best
Greg
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