I'm preparing to visit New Orleans next weekend, for the first time since Katrina hit. I am going to spend a day or two with my extended family — aunts, uncles, cousins, etc — who have been cleaning and reviving their homes in the suburbs to the west of the 17th Street Canal since returning.
What do I say to them? I live in metro Atlanta, which is now home to a significant number of refugees who have discovered a place that has been moving forward at the same pace it was before the storm. Life is no different here, but it is totally upended in New Orleans. The NFC South rivals could hardly be more different.
New Orleans was a deteriorating city before the storm, and those economic challenges to the devastated city are amplified in the hurricane's aftermath. There are a number of challenges the city faces at this time:
- First, as a matter of security, there's the challenge of protecting the area from future storms. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for the New Orleans Area Hurricane Protection System, currently being repaired in preparation for the next hurricane season beginning June 1.
- Corporate presence was nearly nil before the storm — Entergy was the only Fortune 500 company headquartered there, and several notable small companies including Ruth's Chris Steak House moved away in the immediate aftermath. Several bedrock items that companies evaluate — education, infrastructure, tax base — do not appear to be in a condition that would attract any influx of company offices.
- Many areas, like the poor Lower 9th Ward, remain as devastated as they were just after the storm hit. Most of the residents of that area have not returned — most likely because they lack the resources to rebuild, and perhaps even the resources to secure transportation back to their homes.
- The rest of the country appears ambivalent towards the future of the city. There is no sense of urgency or sense of unity with regards to preserving the city or its inhabitants — I believe this is partially engendered by the right-wing media's depcition of "Katrina victims" as "FEMA refugees," unwilling to work and wholly addicted to welfare. People in other cities openly mock their misfortune, yelling "FEMA can't buy you everything!" when the LSU Tigers lost at the University of Georgia late last year (as just one example).
The future doesn't look promising. A rosy picture shows the "sliver by the river," the higher ground initially developed before roughly 1875 which was largely undamaged in the storm, returning to life basically as normal, but the land behind it — including the low-lying 9th ward — abandoned and returning to swampland. The population of the city will be much smaller.
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Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Excellent piece, JP.
As for what to tell your relatives, you could just explicate for them some examples of people in similar circumstances who were forced out by the disaster and never returned. Hundreds of thousands of them who had been living in poverty found better paying jobs and better circumstances almost instantly in nearby cities which have been living with a labor shortage for years, like Houston and Dallas.
And these aren't bad cities - Houston even has Bayous - and they have had a population of Louisiana refugees since before Katrina, and with the evacuees they've now got defined packets of Louisiana culture that are significant enough to retain their identity for some time, especially in Houston. But most importantly these cities have jobs and opportunities which were never going to be there in New Orleans even before the storm. In the long term, having to leave the city will have been a blessing for most who got out.
Dave
2 - JP
Thanks, Dave. That's the conclusion I've come to, although it's very tough to find the right words.. I appreciate the input.
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I agree that you wrote an excellent piece, JP. It is hard to return to a devastated home.
Frankly, in asking what you tell your relatives. you tell them how good it is to see them, you lather out the affection (however it is done in your family) and you keep your trap shut unless asked. Then, don't hold back. If you honestly do not think there is a future for them there, say so. They are family - you help family.
Whatever you do, drink some Community Coffee for me. That is what I will always remember about New Orleans - that and the bus driver who was as impolite as a New York bus driver - I felt vey much at home in New Orleans over the few days I spent there 28 years ago.
4 - Joey
JP,
Ruvy is right. Love on 'em first, then if the subject comes up, or they start complaining about conditions, hold back and remember a tongue coated with honey speaks sweeter.
Perhaps in due time they will see. Hopefully another event won't come cruising through anytime soon. But the odds are not with them there. Especially with a weakened infrastructure.
Another point nobody reallys talks to is the rise in the crime rate once the imported labor force shows up to rebuild. I have it on good authority that there is already talk of turf wars between local gangs and incoming transplants, with the hedge money on the black tar heroin trade embedded into the incoming laborers culture. Need I say more?
I have done alot of work down there since November and was basically told that NOLA won't really be safe for another 10 to 15, perhaps 20 years. I guess I've been there enough.... and unless I'm working down that way again responding to emergent situations, I'm not going back.
5 - NR Davis
Best advice I can think of, Ruvy. Lots of hugs.