Tyler Durden, Pretty in Pink

Brad Pitt has become a benefactor of the Lower Ninth Ward post-K:

Katrina Anniversary

Today is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina striking New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Much of the region is recovering fairly well, but New Orleans proper is struggling with numerous issues, of which an escalating crime rate is the most serious. Still, around 85% of the region's population is back--though only about 60% of the city's and 35% of neighboring St. Bernard Parish's people have returned--and the place is slowly being rebuilt.

Conspiracy Theorist

Now the Mayor appears to be blaming a racist conspiracy for the slow pace of New Orleans' recovery.

The slow pace of New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery is part of a plan to change the city's racial makeup, Mayor Ray Nagin told a national newspaper publishers' group last week.
. . . .
"Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere," Nagin told the association. "They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community."

Read the rest here.

The Times-Pic's columnists aren't buying Nagin's latest bizarre comments. They seem to think that ineptitude on the state and local levels has much to do with the sluggish recovery. Check those columnists out here and here.

The rebuilding is complete!

For those of you who don't live here, a most reliable source has declared that the rebuilding of New Orleans has been completed.

Devastation and frustration

Three photos of Waveland, Mississippi, near the Gulf. About a half mile or mile of the town was flattened by Katrina's storm surge. A railroad berm evidently served as a breakwater, and the part of town north of the berm wasn't damaged quite as badly as the part on the water.

Scary City

We are looking ahead to Sunday's playoff game against the Eagles around here. The Saints have had a surprisingly good season, and, man, has that been good for morale. Things in the suburban areas like my town are moving towards normality--at least we feel safe and comfortable. Things aren't nearly so rosy in the city itself. The crime rate is surging again, and TPTB are struggling with the problem. Many of the streets remain unlit after dark, and, as an article in today's newspaper points out, even routine encounters can invoke fear:

City is in a dark and scary place now

Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Jarvis DeBerry

My gas gauge was completely on E, and the nearest gas station was the Chevron on the corner of Canal Street and Broad Avenue. It was late. No, it wasn't really late; just dark. Approaching 7:30 p.m. on an increasingly foggy Saturday night in a city that had seen more murders than days in the new year, and I pull into a gas station alone.

Nobody's there. Not even a cashier behind bullet-proof glass. And for the first time in -- well, ever -- I step out of my car worried that someone in New Orleans will hurt me.

Read the rest of the article here.

Update--The mayor announced a multifaceted approach to the current crime wave late yesterday. I lived in Uptown N.O. during a couple of crime waves in the 1990s. There was one carjacking epidemic that got to the point where you simply did a quick stop-and-go at red lights between 10 p.m. and dawn. The crime problem isn't new, but it takes on a new urgency as TPTB try to make the city attractive to businesses and residents who left after the storm.

The Beach Trip

Due to generally crappy weather, I didn't put up the pool for Toby's trip home, and he was aching for the water. Late yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a chance, so we got in the car and headed to Waveland, Mississippi, location of the beach nearest to our house. Waveland was also Ground Zero for the Hurricane Katrina storm surge. I had been along U.S. Hwy. 90 through Waveland and Bay St. Louis, but this was my first drive along the beach there. "Holy crap!" is an understatement, even an entire year after the storm. Waveland/Bay St. Louis used to be blue collar towns with white-collar enclaves right along the shore. Some of the houses along Beach Blvd. were quite lovely, though not quite as nice as the mansions that were obliterated in nearby Pass Christian. Anyhyow, there are only a few structures (perhaps 2 or 3) left from before, and none of the signs or landmarks that I used previously to navigate through the town and to the beach. For a half-mile or mile back from the shore, it's a maze of weeded-up lots and slabs, though many of the trees remain. There are even a few M*A*S*H-type tents set up, one of which is the local produce market.

Fortunately, Toby was oblivious to the utter devastation, and he had a wonderful time splashing around in the surf. The powers-that-be in Mississippi have done a yeoman's job restoring that beach, which is manmade and man-maintained to begin with. Also, the Gulfport/Biloxi casinos are reopening, which should pump some money into that area. It's nice to have the beach option back in the picture when the kids are home.

A great moment in bad timing

Today, the locally based Ochsner hospital/clinic organization announced that it is purchasing three hospitals from the Tenet Corp., including Memorial Medical Center in Uptown N.O. Ochsner has a good reputation locally, and I use their services myself. Anyhow, in about an hour, the Louisiana A.G. is holding a news conference regarding a doctor and two nurses who are charged with murder for euthanizing patients at Memorial in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Ethical and criminal issues aside, that's not the kind of public relations issue I'd want to deal with regarding a new acquisition.

Deluge Revisited

I dreamed last night that I was hard at work in my office when it started raining really hard. It was even harder than during the May 1995 flood. DW called, and I looked out the window, only to see a couple of feet of water in the street and on the side of the courthouse. I went back to work, and it rained even harder. When it was time to go home, I looked out the window to see the courthouse standing in eight feet of water. I called DW, and she was upset that I hadn't come home after the first call, when there was only two feet of water. I realized that I would have to sleep in the office, and I was uncertain about when I would be able to go home, but I was secretly happy, because in the dream, anyway, the flood meant that we likely would be moving.

Sponge-Bob from Bikini Bottom

 

Local history

I picked up "The Great Deluge" yesterday, a history of Hurricane Katrina authored by Tulane history professor Douglas Brinkley. I'm about halfway through the book now. Brinkley is a dispassionate academic by trade; this book is scathing and judgmental, and, in some cases, rightfully so. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is particularly lambasted for his lame leadership during the storm and its aftermath. I gather that Nagin did not provide Brinkley with an interview, but I notice that several individuals who remain in the mayor's inner circle did contribute to the book. The NOPD, FEMA director Mike Brown, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and President Bush also get a big thumbs down from Brinkley. Brinkley is slightly more favorable to Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, though it's clear that she was in over her head. On the other hand, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the mayors and police forces of coastal Mississippi, various hosptial staffs, and a good many private citizens are shown to be genuine heroes.

Unfortunately, the book is chock full of typographical errors and misspellings, inconsistencies, and mistakes in geographical references. For instance, Brinkley refers to the residents of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, alternatively as "Chalemetteans" and "Chalmations," (which some people in Chalmette find insulting), and the Lake Borgne Surge pummelled St. Bernard Parish, not coastal Mississippi. I suppose the book was rushed into print. It is compelling reading, however.

Katrina Report

I've been skimming through the Senate's report on Hurricane Katrina. It's too long and detailed for even a major nerd like me to read the whole thing. So many failures by so many people and so many systems. I just hope Congress doesn't get too ambitious and restructure FEMA during this year's hurricane season.

I was able to get my favorite Cuban sandwich today; perhaps things really are going to be okay around here.

A Mormon ruin

A few minutes ago, I drove past the pile of rubble that used to be the New Orleans chapel of the LDS Church. I didn't have my camera, so I posted a recent photo of the building in the aftermath of Katrina. I'm accustomed to seeing the steeple and roofline above the sound wall along the I-10, and today I didn't see it. I got curious and went to investigate. Sure enough, the building has been torn down. It was under several feet of water for a couple of weeks, so I can only imagine how gross it was inside. DW and I had our local wedding reception there after being married in Utah. Gentle reader Mayan Elephant and his DW attended our reception, and we and they attended church in that building at various times. I haven't been inside an LDS Church in a few years, but, still, I was a little sad to see that pile of wood, bricks, and sheetrock there. 

Louisiana burning

Yesterday, this fire burned 180 acres about 10 miles north of my house, while another fire in the woods west of town was visible from the I-10 bridge. Evidently, some people don't understand the meaning of the words "burn ban." 

A visit to the Breach

I took a small detour on my way to a doctor visit today. The Breach on the 17th Street Canal runs for about 200 yards behind these houses. 

Across the street from the breach. 

More suffering in the Big Easy

I just came from the food court in the Place St. Charles office building, where I had hoped to munch on my favorite media noche sandwich and fried plantains. Evidently, the sandwich press there is broken, so I had to order something else. Yet one more annoyance caused by Hurricane Katrina. Oh, the humanity! Sniff. On second thought, I hope I don't end up sniffing. I seem to develop a very nasty cough every time I come to the city; it had me sick yesterday and Saturday. Today has been so far, so good.

Judging from the trash on the streets, Carnival is going well. It'll be interesting to see if the powers-that-be use the tonnage of trash to estimate attendance--there are still tons of debris and garbage left over from the storm that haven't been collected, and I wonder whether the city has the manpower or the funds to collect the Carnival garbage.

Storm-tossed sea

A coworker sent me this photo of the Katrina storm surge bursting through the levee along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a canal that acted like a funnel for the water pushed by the storm. 

We spent the better part of the weekend patching our fence. There are a few adjustments left, but it was a larger engineering project than I initially contemplated. Nevertheless, I'm determined to get over my poor homeowner self-image, and this fence-mending project is a good start. 

Da big cleanup

The NRDC is finding high levels of toxic mold in New Orleans' homes and air, and is finding high levels of arsenic in the sediment, particularly in N.O. East, where most of the floodwater came from the Gulf via the Miss. River Gulf Outlet, a/k/a "Mr. Go." I'm quite allergic to mold, so it's a good thing I live on the Northshore, where I'm at least several miles removed from houses with mold damage.