Posted on 09/01/2005 5:33:22 AM PDT by OESY
...And I mourn the places I know...
St. Joseph's Church, the enormous old Sicilian shrine on Tulane Avenue, which every year on its patron's feast day would build the "St. Joseph Altar," piling tables high with flowers, pastries and bread — inviting anyone who passed by to come in and join this presage of the heavenly feast.
Mandina's Restaurant, the blue-collar hangout where cops rubbed shoulders with carpenters, DAs with ex-felons, over plates of steaming turtle soup spiced with sherry and lemon.
The New Orleans Zoo, a delightful refuge where the children of this most urban and urbane city learned about real wildlife....
Xavier University, the first college built in America to serve African-Americans, founded by St. Katherine Drexel and her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. A lifeline for a community whose educational needs are still, to this day, underserved, this school helped build up the group which holds in its hands the future of New Orleans — its black middle class.
Napoleon House, a tiny French Quarter café whose walls were already waterstained, where oyster po-boys and Dixie beer seasoned more impassioned political arguments than I care to recall.
The Confederate Museum, with irreplaceable relics of our nation's bitterest war — flags of both sides and every state pierced by dozens of bullets; uniforms stained with the blood of patriots; a crown of thorns, woven by Pope Pius IX, sent to an imprisoned Jefferson Davis.
Preservation Hall, a landmark of jazz where visitors could stand at windows open to the madness of Bourbon Street and listen to Dixieland played in the old style, by brilliant black musicians in white shirts and thin black ties, and feel the lifeblood of history coursing through every smoky, melodic line....
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Evacuation at Superdome halted after shots fired at helicopters.
Perhaps they should send in helicopters that can fire back at this point.
it's sad of course, but let's worry about the people first.
They should fire at the people who fired. It's marshal law.
This really is something out of a sci-fi flick.
Of course, you will not hear the liberals screaming about the looting in New Orleans like they did about the looting in Iraq.
In New Orleans, these are poor people just trying to survive by stealing televisions, stereos and automobiles.
"Preservation Hall..."
Loved that place! Sadly, I think New Orleans, as those of us who enjoyed visiting there knew it, is gone forever. And wonder what's happened to Marie Lavaux's historic (and reeeeally old) headstone? Don't know about her...google it.
"Evacuation at Superdome halted after shots fired at helicopters."
just heard this myself on the radio; not sure how true it is. I guess we'll see.
It was a sin city. Never rebuild a city that's in the path of hurricanes and is below sea level. Rebuild elsewhere on higher ground.
“With most of the city under water, Army engineers struggled to plug New Orleans' breached levees with giant sandbags and concrete barriers, and authorities drew up plans to clear out the tens of thousands of remaining people and practically abandon the below-sea-level city.”
They had 2 days to evacuate and they knew it was going to be at least a Level 4 hurricane... and that the dikes could only sustain a 3.
They new all this... and still had no plan ready for when the storm abated.
Idiocy... criminal idiocy.
They are just undocumented shoppers.
Yes, New Orleans as we knew it is gone. Whatever is rebuilt or survives, it sure won't be the same New Orleans.
The city as we know it is gone. How do you rebuild an entire city in this state? And if we could how can we justify it when the same thing can happen again next week, next year;It's just a matter of time. We can't live in a place below sea level that close to the shoreline.
>> The New Orleans Zoo, a delightful refuge where the children of this most urban and urbane city learned about real wildlife
Sorry, but NO isn't showing it's 'urbane' side right now. It is, however, showing a particular strain of biped wildlife.
As others have pointed out, NO gets (got?) a huge chunk of convention business, despite the fact that much of the city was a literal no-go area. I'm not surprised at the lawlessness...I AM surprised that it hasn't been put down.
Most of the floods of the 20th century have been due to sustained periods of heavy rainfall and hurricanes. Yet, as beneficial as this system is to the city, inevitably it will spell New Orleans' doom.The levee system that has been built along the river, coupled with the canal system to keep the interior of the city dry, prevent the land from being replenished by the annual spring floods. As a result, the land will continue to sink until eventually there will be nothing to stop the waters of the Gulf to rush back upon the fragile land.
In addition, the fresh water that is pumped into the brackish wetlands surrounding the city is creating an ecological disaster. When the Bonnie Carre Spillway is used in order to spare the city of New Orleans from floods, the consequences to the coastal estuary system is profound. As a result, in order to save itself from the waters surrounding it, the city of New Orleans is slowly destroying its own environment.
The final death knoll of the city may very well come from the river itself. Scientists and environmentalists know that the Mississippi is trying to change its course that will bypass the city in favor of the shorter route to the Gulf through the Atchafalaya basin. So far, the Corps of Engineers has prevented the river from doing this. But, one day, it will happen, perhaps following a direct hit from a hurricane. As late summer and early fall approach every year (hurricane season), New Orleans stands with the threat that it will lose its own lifeline. No canal system and no levee system will prevent the disaster that will follow.
Perhaps, in some strange way, this is a silver lining. Many parts of New Orleans, outside the tourist areas and downtown, were places you wouldn't go after dark without your car doors locked (or a gun), all that is destroyed. Whatever is rebuilt, wherever, can be a new beginning.
Martial. Not marshal.
Regards,
CD
Looks like it HAS happened...
So it's not only liberals who think the looter's actions are just jim-dandy, apparently & sadly...
Why are you surprised that the lawlessness hasn't been put down? No government - state, federal or local - has any intention of protecting citizens, especially against criminal savages. Don't ever let anyone take your personal firearms away from you because you WILL need them.
The French Quarter and the Garden District will survive. I really don't know what they'll do about the rest of the city. It's going to be a monumental task, and none of us knows yet just how extensive the damage is.
Very good!
I don't think that New Orleans will be surrendered to the bayous, but much of what is there will move upriver to higher ground, or someplace else where the needed infrastructure can be found, like Mobile or Houston. People will always want to see the historic sites like the French Quarter and party during Mardi Gras. However, much of what else is in New Orleans, such as the port facilities and the oil industry, should be moved somewhere else in order to insure that major disruptions such as what we are experiencing now never happen again.
The buildings were not the reason you couldn't wander around NO at night. Whatever is rebuilt, wherever, if it has the same "contents", will be just as dangerous.
Democrats run the city. You expected more ?
The City of New Orleans should have had a housing code that required a lifeboat for every 8 residents.
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