My Mom asked me today what the word arrogant meant (a.k.a. another side of Katrina).

Mom works for the housing department of the local government. With the recent departure of Katrina, came the arrival of its evacuees, many of whom relocated to our area. Mom was on the front lines of assistance, trying to place as many families as possible into "new" homes. These homes are far from being new or perfect, but they are much more than what many of these evacuees had left behind, providing a safe place to sleep and a roof over their heads. The program that my Mom worked for normally placed low income families and battered/abused women into government subsidized housing.

This word "arrogant" apparently had come up in conversation among her coworkers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been issued a deadline by the President to remove evacuees from local shelters and place them into new homes, some of the evacuees are being picky and refusing their new homes....Mom and her coworkers get stuck in the middle. On paper it looks as if the local government is not accomplishing it's goals, in reality, many of the evacuees are refusing the housing options being offered with the hope of getting something bigger and better. A local participant in the program would have been removed from the waiting list once they refused options twice in a row, why should we be lenient on Katrina victims? Beggars can't be choosers.

On another note, alot of the local Katrina victims are extremely grateful at the "raise" they've received with the new jobs they've acquired in the area. Unfortunately, many of them are realizing that $20K doesn't go very far when you're living in one of the top 5 fastest growing local economies in the US.