[Update #1] I changed the title to better reflect the content.
Refugees are being
forced from Tallahassee hotels for Monday's college football game between FSU and Miami.
While here in Houston, which is the same distance form NO as it is from Tallahassee, Mayor White and other officials are postponing football games and other events at Reliant Park, said White:
"We're going to kick people out who were planning to do things. This is an emergency," he said. "If it entails somebody suing us, then OK."
and
Six Flags Astroworld, across the South Loop from Reliant Park, announced it will be closed today, Sunday and Monday to ensure traffic does not interfere with relief efforts.
Right on Mayor!
Bill White, before being elected Mayor, was a business man. But he has his priorities straight here. I don't know anything about Tallahasse Mayor John Marks but he should take Mayor White's lead, as should every mayor within 500 miles of New Orleans. No! Every Mayor everywhere.
It's a stark contrast between the two cities. It may not be fair to single out Tallahassee, a much much smaller city, but perhaps it goes to show who pulls the strings in Tallahassee. I can't find direct figures but big college football programs like FSU can bring in tens of millions of dollars annually. I didn't ask him but I guess Dr. E. Kevin Ayers would know, he did his doctoral thesis on it: The Economic Impact of the Florida State University Football Team on the Local Economy
It's shameful really. And though on the surface politics doesn't seem to be in effect here, as both Houston and Tallahassee are goverened by and represented in the House by Democrats, it seems to be a difference in business attitudes: it comes first in Florida. And football is big and is big business in Florida.
Look, I love football too, loooooove it. But this is just selfish.
[UPDATE #2]
Another story on refugees being displaced from Tallahassee hotels.
The Mysings, who have been staying at the the Sleep Inn on Capital Circle Northwest, said they were told by hotel staff that they would have to leave the room because it had already been booked by fans attending Monday's Florida State/Miami game.
However
The FSU football game prompted fears that evacuees would be forced to leave their hotel rooms to make room for fans. But FSU officials were appealing to fans coming to Tallahassee to stay with friends rather than in hotels.
Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell released a statement Friday saying that hotel space was available and that stories about people not having a place to stay were "Internet rumors."
I would hardly call two reports from two papers from two different reporters initially looking into comments posted on the BB of the Times-Picayune as rumors. If there are hotels with space someone should tell the refugee guests this and arrange for their transport to another hotel. And it's nice that FSU officials are encouraging fans to stay with friends but I suspect that if the refugees had friends in the Tallahassee area they wouldn't
need to stay in the area hotels. FSU officials should encourage people to come to the game but don't stay overnight.
