[StBernard] Poll says many plan to leave area

[Westley Annis]

Highest level is in St. Bernard

While 75 percent of respondents to a poll say they plan to stay, nearly half
of the area's residents are not optimistic about the future. ...

A quarter of the people living in the metropolitan area plan to leave,
according to a survey taken late last mont month. 

And while 75 percent of the respondents say they plan to stay in the area
permanently, 47 percent said they are not hopeful about the future of the
New Orleans region. 

The poll of 608 people in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Tammany and
St. Bernard parishes was taken between March 20 and April 3 for the Council
on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The results were released this morning at CADA's
Algiers headquarters. 

Sentiments for leaving the area were highest among St. Bernard residents
with 33 percent of the respondents saying they plan to leave. That number
dropped to 16 percent for Orleans and Jefferson parish residents, the agency
said. 

About 60 percent of the respondents said they felt the area is more
dangerous than it was before Hurricane Katrina struck. Again, St. Bernard
residents led the group in negative results, with 78 percent saying they
felt the area is more dangerous now. In Orleans, that number is 57 percent,
while in Jefferson, 54 percent of those answering said they think the area
is more dangerous now. 

John King, CADA's executive director, said the poll showed a pattern of St.
Bernard respondents taking a markedly more negative view than other parishes
questioned. 

For example, when asked "is someone in your family still showing signs of
emotional distress due to Katrina and its aftermath" 88 percent of the St.
Bernard respondents said yes. In comparison, 48 percent of Orleans
respondents and 46 percent of Jefferson Parish respondents answered yes to
that question. 

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.