Rebuilding a City
New Orleans is on the road to recovery. Many residents have returned to their homes, businesses are opening their doors, and music can be heard in the streets again. This journal chronicles the latest in the ongoing effort.
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- Moving On...
After evacuating to Oklahoma after Katrina, I received a call from my AOL editor. He told me I should begin writing a column, several times a week, to update our readers about the state of New Orleans. Still in some type of shock, I went about the business of conveying information, or at least what little information I had.
That column morphed into this blog, which ends today, February 28, 2007, 18 months after the worst natural disaster ever to occur in the United States. I can tell you that I feel as passionate about the post-Katrina experience today as I did then. I can also tell you that I fully intend to continue to convey information to the public about these issues. But most importantly, I can tell you that although New Orleans will never be the same as it once was, it may actually emerge as something better.
For that to happen, there several elements that must come into play:
- The federal government must recognize the plight of the Gulf Coast as unique in the nation’s history, and respond more aggressively than it has to date. That includes funding the still-immediate needs for housing and infrastructure. It also includes fast-tracking legislation that may positively advance the rebuilding process.
- State government must strengthen its efforts to compensate individual citizens for their losses. By now, we all know the Road Home program has been adisastrous failure. Someone with true vision needs to come forward with a better plan, and a full strategy for implementation. For that job, I would nominate Senator Mary Landrieu.
- Local officials in New Orleans, including the mayor, the police chief, the district attorney and the city council members must think bigger, and learn the true power of collaboration. As it stands now, each has their own personal agendas, and those agendas do not mesh. Names like Nagin, Riley and Jordan need to check their egos at the door – permanently.
- We must all remember that New Orleans is unique in the universe. It is worth all of this effort. It is dynamic, romantic, unique and prominent in modern world history. New Orleans will survive.
For now, I thank you for reading this material and supporting this blog. I also thank my colleague, Craig Guillot for providing a measured, steady voice over the past 18 months, and for offering a necessary perspective on all issues associated with post-Katrina New Orleans.
I encourage you to stay in touch with me at GreenbergWrites@aol.com.
Stay aware, stay involved and stay positive.
--Paul A. Greenberg
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:14:54 GMT - Farewell...and ten tips for New Orleans
This blog has been running since October 2006 but today is my last post. It’s been a fun 16 months and we’ve covered everything from festivals and fun to insurance and crime. This city has come a long way but there’s still a long way to go and I’m just one measly, miniscule voice in a room of shouting madmen from all over New Orleans.
Besides, I’m kind of Katrina’ed out. I’m ready to move on, even if that means straight into another disaster this hurricane season. I just want to hear another name or something other than the K-word. This is no way minimizes the destruction, the thousands of people that are still trying to rebuild their lives, the homes that will never be rebuilt, the dysfunction that has been revealed, the city that has been destroyed.
For those of you who have skimmed, read, lived, hated, criticized, complemented or responded to this blog and my posts, I thank you all. I would also like to thank my co-author Paul Greenberg for his balance and insightful posts. Anyone who wants to drop a line can address any feedback, hate mail, love letters or million dollar contracts to craig@craigguillot.com. Thanks for reading.
--Craig Guillot.
Now, I don’t claim to have any authority to tell anyone how to live their lives but here is my parting post—ten tips to survive life in New Orleans and help make it a better place:
1. Take care of yourself. The government does not care about you nor can you count on it helping you in a disaster. Work hard, save your money, buy insurance and tell yourself that Katrina II will strike again in the next few years. Sock away at least six months living expenses and forget it’s there. I know that’s not possible for a lot of people but stick some money on the side, even if it’s just a few bucks a week. Tell yourself that no one on this earth will help you in times of need…If s*&t happens, you’ll be prepared. If nothing happens, you’ll have a little extra money in your bank account.
2. Buy a boat. No seriously, buy a flatboat with a small motor and keep it in your backyard for the next time the levees break. If you choose to live below sea level in a place that might fill with ten feet of water, why would you not have a boat? If you’re low on funds, consider a canoe or at the very least, an inflatable boat from Wal-Mart for $20.
3. Fight for fairness in the insurance industry. It amazes me how people keep bending over and accepting outrageous insurance rates as a fact of life. $500 a month for coverage on a $150,000 with a 5 percent deductible isn’t insurance—it’s financial rape. If you can go out to the airport at 2 a.m. to meet the Saints you can write a letter to your congressman or fight and raise awareness about the insurance issue.
4. Educate our children. Maybe it’s just my opinion but it seems like our legacy of crime, corruption and poverty can all be traced to a lack of education. It doesn’t matter if we live in the burbs or our own kids go to private schools. What’s happening in the public schools of New Orleans dictates the economic and social future of the city.
5. Don’t aspire to be a city of servants. We have enough waiting, bartending and hospitality jobs in this city. I’m tired of hearing about tourism being some economic savior. Yeah, tourism is great but we need to put a little more focus on real industry—auto plants, steel factories, things that create careers that pay decent wages. If as much attention was spent on bringing industry here as is spent on funding musicians and artists and “preserving culture,” I think you’d see the per capita income of New Orleans double in a decade.
6. Don’t worry about character, just rebuild! I’m tired of hearing people talk about preserving the “character” of New Orleans. Character doesn’t provide quality homes; character doesn’t pay the bills and character doesn’t educate our children. Let’s just rebuild the damn place, whether it comes out looking like Bangkok, Thailand or Tickfaw, Mississippi. Right now we look like some kind of demented hurricane theme park.
7. Learn to respect your neighbors. I’m a suburbanite who has often heard from city dwellers what seems to be a little resentment of us. We come into the city to work and have a good time but go back home to our cookie cutter homes. So what? What’s wrong with wanting to raise our families in safe neighborhoods with better schools? Make your peace with us in Metairie, Kenner and Gretna because we are the future of the city. Right now, more people live in St. Tammany than in Orleans Parish limits and almost twice the amount of people live in Jefferson Parish than do Orleans. New Orleans will always be the cultural hub but the city itself is becoming less important to the region.
8. Spread the word. Let your friends, family and acquaintances outside of New Orleans know that while some parts of the city remain a nightmare, things are improving. Let tourists know that in the French Quarter, there is barely a sign the storm even passed.
9. If you can’t rebuild here, maybe you should move on. I know I’ll catch flack for this but if you don’t have the funds to rebuild or can’t find a place to live, then maybe you should move to another city. I know it’s a hard thing to do but I can’t imagine hanging my life in limbo for so long. Had the levee broken on the other side, I don’t think I would be here myself. We’re going on two years and at some point decisions have to be made to move on—even if that’s somewhere else. And if you’re counting on Road Home money, you may be waiting till 2010.
10. Look beyond race. Like it or not, the racial makeup of New Orleans has changed forever. We’ve got fewer black people, more white people and a major influx of Hispanics. There’s no time for racial bickering because the racial boundaries of the area are changing and there’s only one choice—learn to live with it.
Wed, 28 Feb 2007 06:25:56 GMT - Maybe Things are Looking Up
Tomorrow is the last day we will publish the Rebuilding a City blog. This blog was really never meant to be a permanent fixture on AOL. In fact, it started out as simply a way to let you know what was going on in the chaotic days following Katrina.
In ending this effort, I’ve been paying some close attention to positive developments taking place in the city, and I can’t help noticing there is a certain escalation of business activity right now. For example, Harrah’s announced last week it is moving its Central Division offices to New Orleans from This news comes just as we find out that Express Jet is opening operations here at Armstrong International.
More good news: City Park is reopening its amusement park for the first time since Katrina. At the same time, Orleans parish once again has a fully staffed and equipped trauma center, also for the first time in a very long time.
There is more, but the essential point is that we may be beginning to see a turnaround in the local economy. Tomorrow, when we officially end this blog, I would like to leave things on an upbeat, positive note. And I truly believe we can do that. Things are not perfect, and our biggest problems are not solved, but even small steps have real meaning now.
--Paul A. Greenberg
Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:04:48 GMT - Mr. President, I’d Like to Ask…
Those who do what I do for a living all have secret desires to interview certain people…for me, it is George W. Bush. Sometimes you get so close you can taste it. Like this week. The President will make his 12th visit since Katrina to the Gulf Coast this week, with a stop in New Orleans. So, I’ll let you in on my fantasy: Here are a few questions I would ask the President if somebody would just give me 10 minutes with him:
- Mr. President, in your speech in Jackson Square, just after the hurricane, you said you would ask Congress to approve an Urban Homesteading Act, in which surplus federal property would be turned over to low-income citizens by means of a lottery to build homes, with mortgages or assistance from charitable organizations. We never heard anything about that after that night – why?
- Mr. President, that same night you said, “I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work. Under this plan, the federal government would provide accounts of up to $5,000, which these evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job, and for child care expenses during their job search.” We never heard anything about that after that night – why?
- Mr. President, you said, “The streets of Biloxi and Gulfport will again be filled with lovely homes and the sound of children playing.” That hasn’t happened, Mr. President. Why do you think that is?
- Mr. President, that same night, you said, “And here in New Orleans, the street cars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return.” That hasn’t happened, Mr. President. Why do you think that is?
- President Bush, if you were private citizen and a hurricane or other natural disaster hit Crawford, Texas, what would be your expectation of the Federal government to respond?
--Paul A. Greenberg
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 17:22:42 GMT - NPR: The Continuing Pain of New Orleans
This morning NPR did what it often does so well – it offered a reasonable perspective on an issue that has so often been unreasonably reported. This time, the focus is New Orleans. This is worth the two minutes and 53 seconds it takes to hear it. Diane Roberts, an English professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee, says “Let’s not drop New Orleans for news du jour.” She talks of the importance of remembering that New Orleans is “America’s joyful heart.” She says during Lent she would like to stop listening to stories about Anna Nicole and Scooter Libby, and focus her attention on New Orleans.
Roberts wisely concludes, “If New Orleans is not itself, we are not ourselves.” She says she’s giving up reading about the “love crazed astronaut, and wondering if all major league baseball players take steroids.” The Florida English teacher clearly has a way with words, but she is at her best when she says we might all consider “giving up the inessential to contemplate the essential.”
--Paul A. Greenberg
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:59:43 GMT - “The Number 23”
If you’ve been watching morning shows and late night talk shows lately, you have no doubt seen actor Jim Carrey promoting his new horror flick, “The Number 23.” Interestingly enough, Louisiana currently has its own horror show surrounding the number 23. It’s called Emergency Rule 23.
The Louisiana Department of Insurance forced insurance companies to stand by property owners after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, despite damage to their homes or businesses with a special rule. That rule stabilized the state's insurance market by preventing insurance companies from dropping customers because there had been a "material change in risk" in their properties. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Emergency Rule 23 expires on Thursday, March 1.
How will insurers react to being liberated from 23? If Allstate is any gauge, not well. Allstate has already sent out letters to about 100 homeowners alerting them that their insurance is being dropped because they did not make the necessary post-storm repairs to their properties. The Times-Picayune reveals that a healthy percentage of those who have been notified have indeed repaired their homes, or never heard from Allstate that their coverage was in any peril.
How will other insurers in the state conduct themselves in response to the end of 23? That’s anybody’s guess right now, but hardball appears to be the game of choice. The adversarial relationship between homeowners and insurers could start to take on anugly new twist. Stay tuned.
--Paul A. Greenberg
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 00:10:49 GMT - The Importance of Good Ink
It seems the New York press is fixated on New Orleans as loser, rather than New Orleans as the determined survivor that it is. Matthew White covers this problem very well in his posting on the Beyond Katrina blog. White points to the New York Times and the New Yorker as most guilty of skewed coverage of our situation here. I agree.
It has to do with the same lack of understanding as the journalists who covered Katrina while it was happening. I was in Oklahoma within days after the storm, and I watched the whole thing unfold on CNN, MSNBC, etc. It was not until I returned early in October that I saw how poorly the situation had been covered by media considered to be among the best in world. It was then I realized that journalists who are not here, or those who come here on a day trip cannot capture the reality of post-Katrina New Orleans.
Now, with all that said, today the New York Times finally published a piece that does show the true spirit of New Orleanians. Today’s Real Estate section offers a feature story on one of our local treasures – the Broadmoor Neighborhood. I have to admit, for the first time, the Times demonstrated an understanding of the fierce determination local citizens have in rebuilding their homes and their communities.
Will we see more of the same? I hope so, but I believe the best way for major urban dailies to cover this story is to enlist the services of New Orleans journalists.
--Paul A. Greenberg
Sat, 24 Feb 2007 22:25:25 GMT - Mr. Blakely Takes a Vacation
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The idea Mayor Ray Nagin floated months ago about bringing in a “recovery czar” seemed to have merit. After all, having a person in a leadership position whose sole focus would be the rebuilding of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />New Orleans – brilliant. Enter Edward Blakely, a guy with a track record of success in such matters.
Here’s the problem: Ed Blakely can’t really make New Orleans his sole focus. Ed Blakely has four jobs: Recovery Czar, Research Fellow at a Massachusetts think tank, professor at the University of Sydney in Australia, and adjunct professor at University of New Orleans. Now, Blakely is taking a 10-day trip to take care of some personal business. He says he’d like to see his wife, who doesn’t like traveling. And he tells the Times –Picayune that media "should pretend that I'm here, and then everything will be fine."
So far, it appears Mr. Blakely has taken some bicycle tours of devastated New Orleans neighborhoods, and appointed a staff of individuals to work for him, in capacities that are not clearly defined. And now, he has decided to take a little time off and pretend he’s in the city anyway.
Blakely should take his responsibilities to this city more seriously, and work a bit more diligently to earn the $150,000 salary he receives. And perhaps he should consider working harder for New Orleans and divesting himself of some of the many employers he has. If not, Mayor Nagin needs to conduct a new search and find a recovery czar who understands the immediacy of our needs, and works to find solutions.
--Paul A. Greenberg
Sat, 24 Feb 2007 22:17:46 GMT - Subsidized mortgages in St. Tammany
About two months ago on this blog I mentioned an idea that the city of New Orleans should considering subsidizing a percentage point or two on mortgages to help attract (working and law-abiding) people to move back into some of the city’s neighborhoods.
Always ahead of the city, St. Tammany is going to do just that. The new Finance Authority of St. Tammany is now offering fixed rate mortgages with a 5.9 percent rate and a direct of 3 percent of the mortgage amount to help cover closing costs. The current interest rate is about 6.25 percent so this represents a .35 percent discount or about a $45 monthly savings on a $200,000 mortgage.
Those who qualify can borrow up to $289,704 to buy or renovate a home. The program is open to parish residents with annual incomes of $62,760 for one and two member households and $73,220 for three member households. Anyone interested in the program can contact a participating lender which includes: Ace Mortgage, American Home Mortgage Corp., Bank or New Orleans, Central Progressive Bank Mortgage, Chase Bank Home Loan Program, Countrywide Home Loans, Hancock Bank of Louisiana, Parish National Bank, Regions Bank, Standard Mortgage, Sunset Mortgage Co. and Whitney National Bank.
--Craig Guillot
Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:29:13 GMT - Bring your own balcony to Bourbon St.
I forgot to mention that of the hundreds of costumes I saw on Mardi Gras day in the French Quarter, one stood out as the most creative I have ever seen. In the middle of Bourbon St., I saw a couple of guys holding onto a wrought iron platform. “If we can’t have a spot on the balcony, we’ll just bring our own,” they said.
--Craig Guillot
Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:27:02 GMT
