Katrina Update #50Katrina Update #50Every day, New Orleans seems to creep more and more back to normal. It's a slow process, and, to be sure, there are certain attributes and areas of New Orleans that will never be the same. But things are getting more granular: they are starting to give tickets to people who park illegally on the Neutral Ground, and the city just passed an ordiance reaffirming that those election day type signs on the Neutral Ground are now really illegal instead of just plain old illegal. The difference being that now they will be removed and if they reappear (presumeably) their owners will be fined. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson said signs on neutral grounds and telephone poles were necessary in the early weeks after Katrina, when normal means of advertising and communication were unavailable, but that 'the time has come we need to start cleaning up our city.'"
Parking on the Neutral Ground, in itself, is an interesting phenomenon. When a storm is coming towards New Orleans, residents are allowed to park their vehicles on the Neutral Ground, which is higher than any other ground around it. This is allowed in the hopes the vehicles will be high enough to stay dry if the street floods. During Katrina, many vehicles flooded even though they were parked on the Neutral Ground. After Katrina, those vehicles just sat there (many of their owners have still not returned to the city). As the out-of-town first responders and construction workers came into town, they saw these cars and just thought that was what we did down here. With no one around to tell them otherwise, they just started parking on the Neutral Ground. The one where the St. Charles Streetcar runs is severely dug up in places and will need quite a bit of work before Streetcars can run again.
Colder weather has set in here, and it is not uncommon to see residents bundled up in parkas – after all, it is only in the upper 50's during the day and might get below 40 at night! Yeah, I know – I guess our blood still hasn't thinned out yet, because we think this weather is just absolutely gorgeous. Thanksgiving is upon us and we are planning a knock-down drag out family affair right here at our house. Looks like we may have as many as 30 or 40 people that show up here at some point during the day. Given that this is the first major holiday since Katrina where we are all back in the city, it certainly will be one to remember. All of us have so much to be thankful for this year, even if it is just to say we have our health, our loved ones, and some FEMA money!
The very first time I came to New Orleans it was with a couple of friends for the National Association of Music Merchants convention. That was way back in 1985. We arrived in New Orleans about 7AM, which was way too early to check in to our hotel, so we decided to visit the Gulf of Mexico. Without the benefit of looking at a map, we headed south out of the city. Having lived here for a while now, I can tell you that is not the quickest way to the Gulf, and, indeed, if you were to look at a map, you would easily see this. The quickest way to the Gulf is to drive east to Waveland, MS – about 45 minutes. The quickest way is not to follow the river south, which is about a 2 hour drive.
At the end of that two hour drive you will be disappointed, too. Since the furthest south you can go in Louisiana takes you to a locked gate belonging to the J. Paul Getty oil company.
But that does not mean it was an uninteresting drive. Plaquemines Parish runs along the Mississippi River to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. It is estimated that all of its 40,000 homes were demolished or severely damaged by Katrina. Its major tourist attraction is Ft. Jackson, which is visited by roughly 12,000 people annually. This remarkable fort was created on the site of the former Ft. Bourbon, which was destroyed in a hurricane in 1795. It's purpose was to keep troops from the North from capturing New Orleans by coming up the Mississippi River. At one point, they dropped a huge iron cable just underneath the surface of the river between Ft. Jackson and Ft. Philip on the other bank so any ships that tried to pass would have their bow crushed beneath the water line, and then sink. Ultimately, the union prevailed. But we were fortunate enough in our aborted attempt to visit the Gulf to stop and see this amazing piece of history.
Ft. Jackson, before Katrina
The fort is remarkably intact. It was last used by the miliarty for training during World War I. Since then it originally was left to rot until it was made into a national historic monument in 1960. The museum at Ft. Jackson has had the same curator for the past 40 years. She originally discovered many of the artifacts that belong to the museum. The fort was damaged heavily by Hurricanes Betsy and Camille. Katrina, however, really gave this old fort a licking. The storm surge completely submerged the fort for awhile and 11 feet of water sat in it for over a month. Most of the artifacts had to be re-found and it will be several months before they are cleaned and ready for display again. You can see before and after aerial pictures of Ft. Jackson here.
Mardi Gras
Since I haven't heard from anyone yet, I am going to keep this invitation to next year's Mardi Gras in every update until I do.
I'd like you to consider joining us for next year's Mardi Gras celebration, February 23-28. The city usually celebrates with an 11 day festival, but most people come for the last weekend anyway. To keep the costs down for the city, no parades will roll until Thursday February 23rd, and all parades will need to roll within an 8 hour window since the city has no budget for overtime. I predict this will be the best Mardi Gras in the history of the city. If at all possible, please make plans now to join us. All the parades except (maybe) Endymion will roll down the St. Charles parade route, which just happens to be very, very close to our house. Hotels are already 40% booked (usually by this time they are 80% booked), but if you hurry you can get your reservation in. The best news is that most hotels are not raising their rates this year in order to encourage people to come on down.
If you can't afford a hotel, come on down anyway. We are planning on putting people on air mattresses and sleeping bags until they are literally wall to wall. Cary will probably have a place by then, so there will probably be some more floor space there — especially since he probably will not have completely furnished it by then.
I can't overstate this: whether you have ever been to Mardi Gras or not, this is the one you do not want to miss. We are already planning our menu, and we will have some of the best food you have ever eaten in your life, I GARONTEE. If you are reading this, you are invited. Go to the people page and click on my name to send me an email, or call my cell phone.
- Joe Fontana decided to leave Coop's Place. After Jason Palmer came back he decided he'd rather be a Coop's patron than an employee. Yeah, there's a story there. But I ain't gonna write it. You'll just have to come to New Orleans to hear it.
- I added Jaclyn McCabe's cell phone number to the People page.
- I added Matt Gone's cell phone and email address to the People page.
- Engineers from Louisiana State University (LSU) have determined the design for the London Canal levee was changed from the original proposal, probably to save money:
London Canal plans vs. reality
What we don't yet know is why the designed was changed. It was thought soon after the failure of the levees at both the London Avenue and 17th Street locations that water seeped through below the flood wall sheet piling and undermined the ground on the other side, allowing pressure from the over-filled canal to simply push the wall inward. New proposals suggest the sheet pilings should be driven down 51 feet, which would take it all the way through the sand layer to the bedrock below.
- I have added a couple of links to stories in the New York times on the Links page. The first, Panel Advises New Orleans to Relinquish Purse Strings talks about the first recommendations to come from a 35 member panel enlisted by Mayor Nagin from the Urban Land Institute. The second, New Orleans Utility Struggles to Relight a City of Darkness is about how 40% of New Orleans still does not have electricty, and the difficulties in getting areas hooked up.
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