In days of vigils over Ariel Sharon and trapped miners, both important and compelling, it was good to be reminded that New Orleans is hurting and still in much the shape they were in 3 months ago.
From Tim’s Nameless Blog, a returning friend writes:
I have now returned to my apartment in New Orleans. To assist the Corps with building Cat 5 levees, I brought the five cats, although they don’t show any signs of being willing to work.
My neighborhood is OK, but the city is hurting. “We’re all in it together,” has given way to the old, “Every man for himself,” as the NIMBYism over FEMA trailer siting shows. Developers are champing at the bit to build condos for the rich to use a couple times a year, but almost nobody is interested in affordable housing.
SlidellforLife wrote this on the Pugvillage Forum:
I grew up in New Orleans, so I was excited to see it since the storm, 4 months ago. I am sad to say that much of the damage is just as Katrina left it, mainly upside-down and in the street.
My extended family (everyone but me) lives in the area. All of the locals have one messages “Things are not better here. Things are getting desperate, but people don’t know it outside the gulf coast.”
There are lots of photos on the Web, but for me, the most haunting were these and these of Biloxi/Gulfport.
It’s easy to forget, but let’s not, because these areas can be an opportunity to create something great out of the rubble of a hurricane, but not without the eyes and ears of the people outside of their cities watching and helping.
Technorati Tags: katrina, neworleans, mississippi, biloxi
