Katrina’s aftermath: Boomtown

GULFPORT, Miss. – Bonnie McNamara laughs when she talks about the two guys who separately offered to pump gas for her during a recent visit to a self-serve station in this hurricane-ravaged city.

“We may be devastated, but we’re not desperate,” the 31-year-old said of the surplus of single men who have crammed into this city to help rebuild the Mississippi coast.

Gulfport and its neighboring towns – from Waveland in the west to Pascagoula in the east – were epicenters of destruction when Katrina came ashore Aug. 29. But more than two months later, with the reconstruction in full swing, Gulfport has the feel of a latter-day frontier boomtown.

Fourteen daily flights land at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, nearly always full. As people get off the plane, men outnumber women by at least three to one, and the logos on their shirts tell why they are here: Salvation Army Relief; Local 1137 of an electrical workers’ union; a mobile home transport company.

At night, restaurants like T.G.I. Friday’s, Hooters and Chili’s are packed, with hourlong waits for tables and a lively, manly bar scene.

“People who work long, hard shifts, they get out, they want to let off a little steam,” said Gulfport Police Capt. Pat Pope, who heads the department’s narcotics division. “It’s the Wild West, Tombstone… . The streets are safe, things aren’t out of control, but we do have a drug problem.”

Money is fueling the activity. Insurance settlements and cash payments from FEMA and the Red Cross have many locals feeling flush. Workers labor from dawn to dusk six or seven days a week and have money burning in their pockets.

Businesses are eager to reopen and take advantage, but are struggling to find staff. Restaurant tables sit empty as long lines of people wait outside due to a lack of servers.

Desperate to keep his business open, a friend of McNamara’s talked her into working at his fast-food franchise on her days off from her regular job as a hair stylist.

It took manager John Dudney six weeks to hire the staff he needed at Michael’s nightclub. He was able to hire high-volume bartenders who lost work at the casinos, but had to raise wages from $6 to $8 an hour to attract security and other workers.

“If I’d put $8 out there before the storm, it would have taken two days to staff up,” he said. “Now, it’s taken two months.”

With its eclectic mix of country, rock and rap tunes, the club has been packed every night since it reopened. The local women who come to dance said there are no shortage of suitors.

“Sometimes it’s nice,” said Robyn Perkett, 21, “and sometimes you just want to come out and have a good time.”

Brooke Conover, 22, a waitress at Chili’s, said she’s been getting phone numbers written on credit card slips for weeks – but she’s not interested. “All these guys are either married or they’re lying.”

When McNamara, the hair stylist, and a friend spent a couple hours at the bar of the Gulfport T.G.I. Friday’s on a recent Friday evening, they met a young man from Texas in town to work for a railroad subcontractor repairing tracks, a female insurance adjuster in from New Orleans to cut checks for Katrina victims and a mortgage broker from Vancouver, Wash., who was buying investment properties.

Law enforcement officials blame newcomers for a surge in drinking and drug offenses.

“We’ve arrested a lot of people who are not local people,” Gulfport Deputy Police Chief Paul Bennett said. “We’re getting a lot of reports of bar fights, or parking lot fights.”