Jefferson Parish wants to get rid of Taco Trucks

[BOSSHOG]

After Katrina there was an influx of Mexicans workers in and around New Orleans and with them came the trucks providing quick food for the workers close to their worksites. Now Jeff Parish (suburb of New Orleans) wants to make it difficult for the Trucks to operate.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/118240560938870.xml&coll=1

Meanwhile the customers of those trucks continue to rebuild the area.

I think the Jeff Parrish leaders should invite Parrish residents to rolll up their sleeves and take the jobs that the Mexicans are doing. Would that not solve any problem real or perceived?

[underpants]

No sex threads

Sorry couldn't resist

Gee if they paid more they would...oh never mind what the hell am I saying.

[RB TexLa]

15. What if it's certified and in a box?

[underpants]

1. .

[maxsolomon]

2. start a creole roach coach

mexicans eat po boys, too.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Some letters to the editor today

from Orleans Parrish were thanking Jeff Parrish and inviting the trucks to come to Orleans Parrish and bring the workers with them.

[tridim]

4. "Get rid of the taco trucks" is just another way of saying..

"Get rid of those damn Mexicans"

Not too long ago Marijuana was the reasoning used to get rid of the brown people, now it's fried food. :eyes:

Gawd, will the racism never end in this stupid country? I know, I know, dumb question.

[Swamp Rat]

5. Wtf?

Manuel's Tamales stands are a New Orleans tradition... an icon.

I guess I'll go patronize a taco truck today.

¡Viva los inmigrantes que nos ayudan!

LONG LIVE TACO TRUCKS!!!

[Gabi Hayes]

8. looks like he's digging around in that nice lady's (Merkel?) taco truck, ya'!

E-V-O-O

[pitohui]

16. are you aware that orleans and jefferson are not the same thing?

i'm constantly amazed at people who don't understand that louisiana, like all other states, has its own system of parishes (called counties in other states)

orleans parish has no control over jefferson parish matters

and there are lots of new orleans traditions that wouldn't be tolerated for a moment in jefferson, don't you remember harry lee, who tried to build the fence between new orleans and metairie

well, only the good die young, and his cancer is in remission, and nothing changes in jefferson while harry lee, the first and only chinese member of the kkk, is around to see that it doesn't (ok, that last part was mean, he probably really isn't in the kkk)

[Swamp Rat]

19. Um, are you aware I was born and raised here?

Were you? If so, how many decades have you been here?

Were you here with us New Orleanians when Harry Lee tried to build the fence?

Have you ever eaten a taco at a taco stand with the ONLY PERSON willing to help you fix the holes in your roof?

[JDPriestly]

6. Twas a time when people dug their own homes out of the mud

and volunteered to rebuild their own communities. I hope the people of New Orleans take the power to rebuild their community for themselves. A massive volunteer effort needs to be organized --- by the people of New Orleans themselves. They need to organize a "Take back New Orleans" movement. If they don't do that, I will begin to believe they don't really want to go back.

[silverlib]

9. What?

I had a home destroyed in the 70's on the coast of Texas by a hurricane. A community cannot rebuild without assistance. It took months on waiting lists to hire contractors. Without "imported" help, the job cannot be done. (And our imported workers were paid well.) And the town where I lived did not have near the massive devistation that New Orleans encountered.

And, we had government assistance, the Red Cross, and SBA low interest and no interest loans for those without insurance, along with even those that covered the deductibles which were not nearly as high in those days.

[JDPriestly]

12. But local people should take control of the assistance!

I would not replace the assistance. But the assistance should go to the local people for a community effort. What happened in Louisiana is just horrible. I recall that there was a flood in a community near the community that I lived in in the late '40s, early '50s. People in my community welcomed the people from the flooded area into their (our) homes as did others in surrounding communities. The local community then rebuilt their community. I do know how much disaster aid the community and individuals received, and I'm sure some people were brought in from outside to do some of the work. But the community was not taken over by outsiders. And much of the work and many of the decisions as I understood it as a child were made locally by the community. It appears that in New Orleans, the federal government is just imposing its vision on the local people. The local people need to volunteer oust the federal authorities that are taking over their community. Maybe I just see it wrong.

Should the local community be working at every level as volunteers? Yes. Wouldn't anyone volunteer to clean up their own neighborhood in a situation like New Orleans? There is no conflict between receiving assistance and volunteering your ideas and labor. And there is nothing wrong with volunteering your labor to clean up and repair your community. Working together is the essence of democracy. Volunteering for the community is essential to sustaining power for the people in a democracy.

[alarimer]

25. Yes, but why aren't they hiring the locals to do the work?

Why bring in other labor? My guess is that the contractors are making shitloads of money and paying their (possibly undocumented) workers shit wages and pocketing the difference.

Nobody can volunteer for long. That does not put food on the table. And a lot of them were very poor to begin so my guess is they are trying to make a living wherever they are.

[JDPriestly]

32. "They" should not be doing the hiring.

The local citizens should be doing the hiring. That is what I mean.

[Swamp Rat]

10. "Pull yourselves up by your bootstraps"

[Robeson]

11. ROFL.....

...You ought to send that one in to MAD. That's hilarious...:thumbsup:

[Rage for Order]

21. Yes, sort of...

Like the Vietnamese have done in New Orleans East.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0609,shaftel,72328,2.html

Six months after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, most of New Orleans East is still in ruins. Heaps of junked appliances and disemboweled furniture line the streets. Traffic lights are still inoperative. So are hundreds of mud-caked cars that litter the city. But the Vietnamese enclave is an oasis in a desert of abandonment.

The nerve-center of the resurgence of is the Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic church, a squat, cinder block of a building lying in the shadows of the roller coasters of the ruined Six Flags amusement park, which was underwater for weeks after Katrina. Six thousand of the almost entirely Vietnamese neighborhood's 9,000 people are Catholic, and the church has provided a non-governmental support system for the community.

The desire to return was immediate, Father Vien Nguyen, the priest of the church said, and many residents snuck back into the neighborhood before they were officially allowed in. "When we first returned, the church was an anchor for the people," he said. Once the neighborhood was opened the church coordinated deliveries of food and supplies. The church also dispatched teams of volunteers, some from Vietnamese communities in other cities, to help people gut their homes, all of this well before the Red Cross showed up, Father Vien said. The first post-Katrina Mass was held on October 9 and drew 300 people. Attendance has since grown to around 2,000, Father Vien said.



There was an update to this story on 60 Minutes this past Sunday, and the Vietnamese have rebuilt nearly the entire neighborhood. The people who were displaced cannot stay in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, etc and wait for someone else to rebuild New Orleans so they can go home. It is incumbent on the residents who wish to return home to go back to the city, roll up their sleeves, and do what they can to move the process along.

Yes, the federal government should be doing more to help the areas affected, but so should the displaced residents who have not returned to the city. They can't rely on someone else to rebuild their homes for them. There are plenty of volunteers journeying to the affected areas to help the residents who want to rebuild, but the key word is "help", not "do it all".

[Swamp Rat]

22. One feel 'good piece' about resurgence of the Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic

church does not account for the rest of New Orleans resident's ability to rebuild. The Versailles residents had the financial wherewithal to rebuild and were able to return in the first place, unlike most poor African-Americans. Also, 80 percent of the Vietnamese-American population in New Orleans East is Catholic and has received help in numerous ways, organized around and by the church, as well as special assistance from Vietnamese-centered groups such as VietBAK.

"The people who were displaced cannot stay in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, etc and wait for someone else to rebuild New Orleans so they can go home." - New Orleans East is still a wasteland and so is most of the rest of the city. Maybe Dallas, Atlanta, Houston should learn to accept their new residents and help them even more since they obviously need it. These three large cities are very very very wealthy compared to New Orleans and can afford it.

Maybe you can come here to help them rebuild. It should take about 5-10 years, but it will be worth your effort.

[Rage for Order]

23. I am well aware of the conditions in New Orleans

Both of my parents are from New Orleans, and I have dozens of extended family who live there or were displaced by Katrina. I had a few aunts, uncles, and cousins in NO who lost everything, and my mother and father in law lost everything in Pearlington, Mississippi, which was much more heavily damaged than New Orleans East or the Lower 9th Ward. Not to mention my numerous friends on the Mississippi Gulf Coast who also suffered significant or total losses. Being from New Orleans, I'm sure you realize that the eye of the storm passed directly over Pearlington, and the fiercest part of a hurricane is the NE quadrant due to the rotation of the storm (meaning the MS Gulf Coast suffered even more horrific damage than did New Orleans).

So in response to your suggestion, I HAVE helped families rebuild, but thank you recommending that course of action. And yes, I agree that the cities that took in displaced residents should welcome them, but I also think that those who want to return to NO should do so rather than waiting until the city is completely recovered. It has been nearly 2 years. At some point you need to have a plan B.

Why can't the residents in other areas of the city come together with a sense of community and cooperation and help each other out? Many of the residents of NO are religious, and there are hundreds of churches that would be happy to help organize neighborhood relief and rebuilding efforts in much the same way that the church in the article did that was mentioned in the previous post.

It is obvious that the federal government is in no hurry to rebuild. Yes conditions in NO suck, and they will suck for some time to come. But unless the people who truly want to return to the area move back and pitch in, the rebuilding effort will not succeed.



edit for clarity

[Swamp Rat]

26. .

:hug:

I'd like to talk more, but I am very tired now... It gets so hot and wearisome having to work all day cleaning and fixing things, etc.

Say 'hi' to ya momenim for me. :D :hi:

peace from New Orleans

[Rage for Order]

30. Thanks Swamp Rat

I think it's complete bulls**t that the rebuilding of NO and the MS Gulf Coast nearly 2 years removed from Katrina is apparently near the bottom of the list of priorities for both the White House and Congress - below immigration, war budgets, gas mileage for cars in 2020, minimum wage and a host of other issues. Certainly those issues are important in their own rights, but the sore of Katrina has been festering for far to long and deserves the immediate attention of the federal government. The recovery could be well on its way if the money we're spending on george's war was instead put towards rebuilding that region of the country.

Private citizens shouldn't have to carry as much of the burden as they are. However, sadly, that is the reality facing the Gulf Coast region, and we have to work within that reality until we can change it. Listen to the speeches of the presidential candidates from both parties. I can't remember the last time I heard a candidate from either party mention their Katrina recovery plan. We must demand that the Democratic party makes this a central presidential campaign issue starting now, regardless of who eventually wins the nomination.

[pitohui]

17. this story is about jefferson not orleans

again, people, a basic read of the facts or even just a basic read of the SUBJECT line of the thread would be nice before pontificating

but since you did ask...

lots of smart people haven't come back to new orleans and i know plenty of them, they have good reasons, starting with there is no opportunity here, there is no health care here, and there is no need for a large population here to maintain the necessary resources, today's modern port facility for example is run by 2000 people

if you believe that global climate change is real, why on earth would you encourage large numbers of people to return who have found a better life elsewhere?

this should be the time to help people who can get out...do so

i miss my friends who have left but i don't begrudge them doing the right thing and the smart thing, i just wish we too could get out

[silverlib]

18. I support your view...

Use all the means to help these people relocate, find jobs and rebuild in any area of our once great nation that they choose. There are no ends to what we could do collectively in our government, which is "we the people" to aid the victims of this atrocity, as well as independently as citizens of the world.

[kineneb]

7. no way!

they actually can produce some good food at reasonable prices! What a bunch of (barely disguised) racist drivel.

(out here we call 'em "Roach Coaches", but they still make good eats)

[musiclawyer]

13. Hey, that reminds me, I got to go outside and get a taco

from the truck. I need a snack.

[pitohui]

14. they have got rid of them, the legislation passed EOM

.

[BOSSHOG]

20. Jeff - Orleans what a contrast

Imagine requiring lucky dog stands to provide bathroom facilities.

[EFerrari]

24. I'm totally opposed to anyone banning tacos.

Or kim chee.

[KingFlorez]

27. Then they should also bar the workers from rebuilding the area

If they are so concerned, they shouldn't allow Mexicans to rebuild the area.

[lonestarnot]

28. No fucking Tacos?!!! How does one live without tacos?!!!

[JI7]

29. i always get hungry when i pass by those trucks

the food smells good. but they have a large variety of things to eat usually, not just mexican food.

[frustrated_lefty]

31. There have been local street vendors on the East Bank

for 20+ years. The burritos have been grease laden, but an occasional favorite of high school kids for decades.

Jefferson Parish didn't suffer the brunt of Katrina. It doesn't excuse the Parish, but they didn't get hit the hardest.

If you're going to put the smack down on New Orleanians, though, please do spell Parish correctly. We've taken enough hits as is.

[Nikki Stone1]

33. From what I hear, the local people DID want those jobs and were undercut by cheap labor

coming in from over the border and LEGALLY paid under minimum wage. Remember the first bill signed by Junior after Katrina was a bill allowing hourly pay below minimum. The contractors who came in to "rebuild" NOLA brought their own people with them. Locals with skills (or not) couldn't get hired.

If the most they can do is go after the taco trucks, then that is pathetic. But it's a sign of the frustration and rage of a people being ignored by the Bush cronies who came in to remake their city and transfer a lot of wealth to themselves by doing it.

(And yes, my friend in NOLA found it incredibly difficult to get work down there after Katrina. And she did dirty work (when she could find it) pulling down hurricane soaked walls, gutting houses, setting up FEMA trailers, etc. She eventually left NOLA because she couldn't make enough money to survive. )