If ???

[jay]

When Katrina hit, hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the New Orleans area were moved all over the United States.  Some even moved to Youngstown.  A female restaurant manager on the west side of Youngstown was one of them.

[Rick Rowlands]

I see a lot of homes in Youngstown.  Maybe over on the west side there are vacant homes in move in condition, but on the east, south and north sides when a home becomes vacant it is quickly gutted.   Don't fault me for throwing a dose of reality onto this touchy feely, completely impractical idea.

[AllanY2525]

As a nation of people, the Japanese are decent, honorable people.  I'm sure that there are lots of places
in the U.S. - OR it's territories, islands, etc. where some of the refugees could be located temporarily
until Japan has some time to recover from this disaster.

I, personally, am going to try and scrape together a few dollars and make a donation to the recovery
efforts.  It's a small gesture, but these folks need all the help they can get.  The earthquake was an
act of nature and not their fault.  NOBODY deserves what happened there.... my heart goes out to
them.

[Towntalk]

The Japanese are a very industrious people with a strong work ethic and given a choice certainly wouldn't want to come to Ohio. Hawaii maby, but certainly not Ohio, but the idea of offering those in the devastated areas sanctuary until their cities are restored is a good act of mercy and generosity.

[Why?Town]

Things to consider:

How much worse would the situation in Japan have to get? It's already pretty bad.

The Japanese people should be able to go where they want. Do they want to come to Youngstown? If I were looking for temporary housing it wouldn't be 6000 miles away.

With our current economic situation where will they find work or who will support them?

Vacant HOMES to me, implies unoccupied residential buildings in, or pretty damn close to, move in condition. How many unoccupied residential buildings in Youngstown meet that criteria?

[Youngstownshrimp]

The Japanese would be appalled at what we have let Youngstown become, there was a time when Youngstown was the example of what wartorn Japan wanted to be.  They would be thankful for our offer to relocate, but they would desire to stay isolated on the eastside so our current population would not rub off on their new generation.

[northside lurker]

NO.  There are millions of foreclosed homes throughout the US that are in livable condition that would be better for that use.  Why would you want to put these people into homes with broken windows, no plumbing and strewn with bullet holes.  It would be more humane to put them in WWII Japanese internment camps.

How often do you look at the homes in the city, besides those you pass on the way to your museum from the suburbs? 

To answer the original question.  Yes, I think it would be a good idea.

[Rick Rowlands]

NO.  There are millions of foreclosed homes throughout the US that are in livable condition that would be better for that use.  Why would you want to put these people into homes with broken windows, no plumbing and strewn with bullet holes.  It would be more humane to put them in WWII Japanese internment camps.

[Towntalk]

YOU BET ... YES

[jay]

Just a question to consider

If the situation in Japan gets much worse, would you favor moving displaced Japanese people to vacant homes in the city of Youngstown on a temporary basis?  Other nations and cities could do the same.