What else is going on in this brain? Oh- I went to see a client last week who lives in the Lower 9th Ward. My God, I have lived in this town my whole life minus about 8 years, and I had never been to that part of the city. Ever. I was really ashamed to tell her that. She lives in this gorgeous creole cottage that has been completely redone, with solar panels on the roof and everything.
The thing is, she and her husband and baby are the only people living on their block. There are two or three families/people on every block, most in trailers. It is so sad. I really admire someone like that, with that pioneer spirit. There are no services out there, no cops, fire dept, grocery stores, etc. The kicker is that most of the houses are gutted, just waiting for the "Road Home" to make them whole. What a joke.
Anyway, it is so sad! What a beautiful part of town. It is all residential, New Orleans style homes, and I think mom said it is an area with one of the highest percentages of home ownership in the country. The problem I guess is that most people once they pay off the mortgage don't have insurance to cover water that was up to the roof. It is worse than Lakeview.
Then we went to St. Bernard today for the crawfish festival. God the mudbugs were good! But the parish is in striking contrast to the one next to it, the 9th Ward. It is mostly white, whereas the 9th Ward is mostly black. St. Bernard has services, and a bank, and grocery store. They also have all these little spots set up with bunches of trailers. I think one of them was for the govt workers since it was next to city hall.
They had a place to go to apply for Road Home grants. This stuff doesn't exist over the parish line. I know Nagin is an idiot, but I can see his point when he says people don't want the poor blacks to come back. Just one look at this place will tell you that. I wish I had brought my camera. Maybe I'll have to go back again just to take pictures. I should have done that when I had a client in the Bywater too.
Anyway it is depressing. Where are all the people that belong in these scores and scores of houses? Are they coming back? And how? What a logistical nightmare. I felt sick to my stomach when we drove out of there. I am not completely naive, I know there was blight there before, but still. Those people deserve better than they are getting right now. Ugh.
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