Cynthia Smith was and thankfully still is employed in the $10 Boutique, located inside the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi. Smith, her 5-year old son and several family members had to swim in the flood waters to find shelter and only recently moved back into their home after living in a FEMA trailer for most of the past year. Smith has worked at the casino since 1999, which reopened on August 29th after $800 million in repairs.
Following Katrina an estimated 15,000 gaming industry employees were left without jobs but since the reopening of eight casinos around 13,000 employees are back at work despite as yet resolved housing challenges. Many gaming employees either live in FEMA trailers or in neighborhoods on the mend.
A positive sign is that many of the casinos are hiring more people now than they did post-Katrina. The Beau Casino has 400 more workers than before and the Isle of Capri hotel and casino in Biloxi has increased their payroll by 200 people.
An astonishing statistic from the article reveals “about 100,000 people are still living in government-issued travel trailers or mobile homes in south Mississippi.”
We have over a hundred thousand troops in Iraq and we have spent over one hundred billion dollars and continue to spend billions and yet over 100,000 people in Mississippi alone are not back in their homes? Katrina was an opportunity for not just the average person to help those in need but for the U.S. Government to show it does not leave its citizens in the lurch. Instead I for one am left to wonder how much this wonderful government of ours actually cares about its own citizens. I often ponder if a natural disaster had struck Beverley Hills, Pacific Palisades, the Hamptons or any other wealthy enclave if a year later so many people would be living in FEMA trailers or mobile homes?
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