I know most people who see New Orleans on the national news think of it as some third world country. But you have to know how the media works - everything has a designed effect. In reality, if you've ever been to New Orleans, you'd know the city is built on contradictions, contrast and irony. You have multi-million dollar homes in the garden district just 3 blocks from housing projects. If you look at the news, all you'd ever see is the housing projects and the conditioned government dependent residents complaining how the government has failed them.
In reality, the west bank of New Orleans ( a working class middle income area) is thriving. It is different because its become so crowded. Its part of the 20 percent of New Orleans that didn't flood and I would guess its population has grown 3 fold. You never know how long its going to take to do a simple task or how much something is going to cost. Value shopping is a thing of the past as is one trip for everything.
There are good things happening. #1 - the crime rate has plummeted since most of the government dependent crowd has left. Sorry if that lifts the dresses of liberals but its a fact. Its a lot more work to live here - there's always something to do. You work 8 or9 hours and come home to work another 4 or 5. The people working tend to be cooperative and more patient. My neighborhood has never been closer. A few weeks ago I rebuilt my garage but was having fits trying to get rid of the debris. Most of it was wood so I got this brainstorm- buy a fire pit and cut the wood into 2 foot pieces. All of a sudden, it aint debris - its fire wood ! A few of my neighbors snickered at first, but when that pile began shrinking I started noticing more fire pits going at night. There were 6 is consecutive yards going tonight. We may grow some new appendages because of the pcbs but what the heck
I was 6 when Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965. I grew up in that reconstruction and it shaped my life. That reconstruction was a vibrant and productive era in New Orleans. The reconstruction from Katrina will be that and more. The media thrives on telling everyone how bad FEMA screwed up. The fact is they were a God send and anyone with the wish to rebuild are rebuilding. Yea, its work but it would've been almost impossible to do without the immediate help of FEMA and insurance funds. Some people are to gripe that any amount isn't enough. Some people just are not capable of building anything - only taking.
We are about to enter a mayoral election in New Orleans. I really don't care who wins because one fact remains- you can't live in New Orleans unless you want and are able to work. Its that simple, it requires much more work to do anything here after Katrina. And I think that's a good thing- call me crazy.
