Back from NOLA ...

(Matt is a friend who lives/lived in New Orleans, has evacuated with his family to a couple of places, and is currently in the D.C. area, perhaps for 'good'. This is his chronicle of a very recent trip 'back'.)

... on what would seem to be a more permanent basis. More about that later.

Did the obligatory disaster tour with a townie friend just to see how things are going. I'll be honest - while I saw things had improved, and was flat out amazed to see many people in the Lower 9th/Holy Cross area and eastern St. Bernard in FEMA trailers fixing their homes up. These areas will be built back through the sheer will of the people. Brother Martin and Holy Cross schools were open, albeit mostly in trailers, but it was such a symbol of loyalty of its alums and the Church that even a cynic like me understood the meaning. It was all inspiring to see. I also saw my first disaster tour bus. Kinda creepy.

But to be honest, heartbreaking as well. You see the hard work that these people are putting in, spending all they have, not waiting for FEMA or the Congress, and there is the real possibility they may be told they will not be allowed to continue their efforts and their houses will be razed. Or that they will rebuild and will be let down again by promises of protection that won't be kept.

There's still no clear plan on how to rebuild NOLA, and for all the talk about the Army Corps of Engineers working 24/7 to fix the canal flood walls and levee breaches, I saw no one working on either the 17th Street or Industrial canal breaches. Less than 100 days to go. They have put a fence around the 17th Street canal breach so you can no longer climb around it, but my friend and I did find a pile of those huge sandbags you saw on tv being dropped by helicopter into the breach. As you flip through the pictures linked below, that's what I'm standing on.

Gentilly, Bywater, Lower Ninth, Arabi, East Chalmette and what I saw of Lakeview all benefitted from green - the grass and the trees have brought some color. Still I didn't see any birds or insects, where they were in abundance on the Northshore. And there are people around. Noticed many people "from away" (mostly church groups and spring breakers) cleaning up areas in the Lower Ninth and Holy Cross areas.

But, it just seemed like so little has happened since I left last December. The Northshore is back to its normal. Or its new normal. Around Old Mandeville, people have started to raise and others raze their homes. To me, it looked better with the really demolished homes removed and the lots smoothed out, but I think many old timers from that part of town are wary of what will be built in its place. On the north side of Mandeville, a new subdivision seems to have been built almost to completion in the 3.5 months I've been away. Smaller, attached homes. Necessary, and no doubt only the beginning of this kind of development, but lacking even the charm that my house on Logan Lane has. It looks like a large, long term FEMA trailer park may be going in on 1088. The flavor of Mandeville has changed more since I've left. People seemed to have adjusted to the traffic (or maybe NoVA has blinded me) but I was shocked actually get a little rude treatment from people. Fast food and gas stations still close at 7pm due to a shortage of workers.

My subdivision looked pretty good. Only one house for sale and only 2 houses that needed roof repair. I would say about 80% of the tree debris that is visible from the road has been cleaned up - and it makes a huge difference. Managed to get in a spinning class at the PAC. It was great to see the peeps. Few old faces gone and a few new faces. I had the impression that many were still in a holding pattern - it seems everyone in Mandeville works for an oil company or sold medical supplies and since there are no doctors in NOLA (it's really bad) and other than Shell the oil companies are still kind of mushmouthed about their return plans, so there are many people still kinda stuck in a holding pattern on the Northshore as well.

The new Acme in Covington was - like every other open foodie place - totally packed. It did not stop me from eating huge amounts of raw, chargrilled and fried oysters on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Tip - sit at the shucking bar at the new location, you'll get bigger and better oysters. As to be expected, I drank many beers. Also, as I had expected, but I guess had not thought about the degree, I was just amazed by how good to me my friends and the people I knew from Louisiana are to me. We'll all like to talk about having those relationships where you claim you would do anything for that person, or you know people that would do anything for you, but I'm not sure how legitimate that is. I believe it to be deep and genuine with those folks in Southern LA.

My friends seem to be doing well. I'll admit however, and this may just be because I've been away and can now notice it, that there is a noticeable level of distress amongst some of them. While I'm not surprised as I had been in the middle of it for some time, a high paying job and a fat savings account can be no match for some things. I understood this, but seeing people I know, who share with me some of their concerns, reminds me of this. Take heed.

I wonder if I've rambled in the email so much because I am worried that my overarching opinion -- that NOLA and the surrounding area is still in very bad way (I was frankly shocked in some ways) -- will overshadow my belief that the area deserves to and should be rebuilt (we can debate on the form that it takes) and that the slowness of response, failure to accept responsibility and current and ongoing bickering about money is something we should all be ashamed of. We all live in places that could be destroyed, we all could lose everything and among the first to help would be people from Louisiana. Remember that.

Anyway, my pics from the trip: here and here.

When you compare them to this and this ...

Not too much has changed.