ABSTRACT
Refinery, Murphy Oil Refinery, Domino Sugar, Chalmette Medical Center, Boasso America Corporation, as well as several national retail outlets including Home Depot, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Winn-Dixie and Save-A-Center. The local business community flourished in Chalmette along the Judge Perez and St. Bernard Highways and Paris Rd. Home ownership rates and household income were high relative to Orleans Parish and Louisiana generally (see Table A.3). Relative to Orleans Parish, St. Bernard residents were less likely to be unemployed, living in poverty, and dependent upon public assistance income. That said, with a median household income of $36,000, the parish was not considered an affluent community. Compared to the Lakeview community, for example, pre-Katrina, average annual income for households reporting less than $200,000 (97.7 percent of households) was $58,018, whereas in St. Bernard Parish, average annual income for households reporting less than $200,000 (99.4 percent of households) was $41,759 (see Table A.3). Distinctive of St. Bernard is the density of extended family networks within the parish. It was not uncommon for interview subjects to report that before the storm, five, six or more households within the same extended family all resided in close proximity. Not surprisingly, the density of family relationships featured prominently in how people described their community. As a local school administrator describes,
ROBERT FRASIER†7: The community of Chalmette was a very family-oriented place. It was lower middle class; basically blue collar people. As a school, we had families that have been here in this community forever. . . . I have grandchildren of students we had [as students] back in 1966 and so forth. So, you do not pass through Chalmette or St. Bernard Parish. You come to St. Bernard Parish. . . . The people who were here lived here and it was very family-oriented. For example, [my co-worker] had nine houses in her family in this area, okay; her children, her parents, husband’s family, you know, so there were nine houses within a few miles of each other.
