New Orleans

**pqb57** · 09-26-2006, 06:30 AM

I was wayching the news yesterday, and they had a piece about the home opener of the Saints. They showed pictures of all the people living there after Katrina, then how it looks today with all the improvements that they made. I remember how fast they got the business district up and running, but you still see devastation in the neighborhoods, people who were lucky enough to get a trailer from FEMA being threatened with eviction because they aren't fixing their houses fast enough. I know you have to have business in the city to survive, but you also need people in the city and it seems that the neighborhoods were put on the back burner so the businees areas could be taken care of.

**bumplett** · 09-26-2006, 08:04 AM

we have a time share in New Orleans - we still don't know when we can go back - so even though they have some business up & running, I don't know how long (if ever) they will have full business again.

I agree with you, seems like you would put the neighborhoods first, after all, these are people's HOMES (which are far more important than business)

I wonder how many people will ever go back to live after this? --

I know that it will never be the same beautiful city that it once was - the magic is lost now --

**Laurie in Bradenton** · 09-26-2006, 08:21 AM

I don't know if its the same in New Orleans as it is in Biloxi but my family that has lived in Biloxi for the last 6 generations has had a terrible time with FEMA.
Three of our familyhomes were washed away and the decision as to weather they can rebuild or not has yet to be made. Since the homes were more than 50% destoried they had to be leveled. Now the question is :
A. Should they be allowed to rebuild? Less than 4 blockes from the waters edge. Or should the whole area be turned over to commercial buildings like casinos, parking lots, resturants and shops.

B. If they can rebuild what type of house should be allowed to be built? The homes that were there were very old wooden homes on cement blockes. New building codes are being fought over in all levels of government.

Right now some of the areas are still without power. No traffic lights even on the back streets.
My aunts street looks so odd, lots of emtpy lots where homes used to be. A few old oak trees with no branches, several FEMA trailers and lots of For Sale By Owner signs. She has already sold the lot to a casino and has not been back to the lot where her house was since she left in the middle of the storm. My uncle went back after the storm to find the house two streets away in a pile of rubble. Nothing left. Since the home was in his family for 2 generations there was no insurance so they have taken the money the casino offered and moved to a piece of property owned by one of my cousins several miles inland. The area will never be the same. But jobs are needed and folks will drive in until there are more places to live. Several of the apartment complexes are back up and running and full. As soon as apartments are repaired they are rented. Several have waiting lists.

Laurie in Bradenton

**PrairieRose** · 09-26-2006, 09:10 AM

Our ds and ddil go to New Orleans about 2 times per year (since Katrina) to volunteer with homeowners who need help (elderly people mostly). And they say that we've been sadly misled on the news shows about how things are getting back to normal. Ds says that the French Quarter is operational and the more affluent part of town (which they all call the isle of denial) is ok but 3/4's of N.O. is still wiped out and he doesn't think it will ever be rebuilt. He says it's so strange to be working near the interstate in a house, have to go outside for a breath of fresh(er) stale, stagnate air and see the interstate, but only hear crickets chirping. Very little traffic, almost none. Makes me furious about how this is/was being handled for the victims.