Posted on 08/28/2007 9:31:27 AM PDT by Lorianne
Today, nearly two years after the storm, 11 of 14 properties on the block stand vacant, and in interviews, all but one of those who left indicated they have no intention of returning. Far from rising from the devastation of Katrina, this slice of St. Bernard Parish remains a desolate and depressing place.
It is a scene repeated in flood-ravaged neighborhoods elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, especially parts of the Lower Ninth Ward, Gentilly and New Orleans East. In St. Bernard, most of the 67,000 residents have not returned. The massive desertions are evidence that Katrina's destructive effects are no longer acute but chronic and that, as evacuees set down roots elsewhere, many close-knit communities blasted apart by the storm may never return.
Exactly who is to blame for the persistent abandonment is a matter of argument here.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
People have set down roots elsewhere. Leave them and us alone about it.
Ooops, the source should be Washington Post
I grow weary with the stories of America’s first black hurricane. Will the whining ever stop or is non-NOLA America doomed to hear these racial and political rants forever?
These people need to get off their asses and start putting their own lives back together.
Were there any stories about all of the Okies that left Oklahoma for California during the Dust Bowl?
New Orleans was a third-world city before this hurricane happened. If you weren’t part of the French Quarter/tourism/oil business you had nothing to keep you there. Why is this so hard for the media to figure out? These communities were “close-knit” only to the extent that a lot of people were trapped there. Why is it anyone’s fault that a lot of them don’t want to go back? The fact is that if somebody waved a magic wand and put New Orleans back together exactly the way it was on August 27, 2005, a hell of a lot of people still wouldn’t go back.
They are! But journalists won't accept that!
Somebody has to be blamed for people, assessing the situation, and moving on with their lives. It's somebody's FAULT, I tell you!
Okay, people complain when someone builds in a risky area, and especially when they want to rebuild in the same area after an inevitable loss. Then the same people complain when someone who has lost their home wants to live somewhere less risky. Can’t win here. Personally, if Mother Nature had had a swipe at my home there, I would find somewhere else to live.
Primal fear or common sense? Have the levees been replaced with at least a dual layer levee with crossing levees so that if one section fails you lose a neighborhood instead of a city? No? Are the pumps able to run autonomously for a few days if the city has to be evacuated again?
You don't build below sea level unless you are serious about it, and a single layer levee isn't enough.
WE DON'T WANT THEM!!!! WE WANT TO SEND THEM BACK!
Bingo!!!
I don’t know about the era in which it occured as I came along slightly post WWII, but seems that every ten or so years the Lefists at PBS have to deluge us with the misery of the “Okie’s” proctumentaries, and whine for them.
The thing about those people though is that they were a tough lot, quite resilient and accepted their fate, confronted the Devil and went forth without a bunch of BS. They made the best of their situations, and progressed with their lives in most cases. I have much respect for them from what I’ve read.
Disclaimer: Although all of America was effected by that event, I’ve no relatives that were directly involved from Oklahoma. It was a tough time.
The thing that gets me is the total lack of vision into possible alternatives. Perhaps these people don’t WANT to return. Perhaps they have made a life for themselves some where else. Perhaps they simply are already in better circumstances?
The author does not even bother to even ask the question.
I wish I had an exact number if Houston murders that can be attibuted to the scum from New Orleans.
Bingo! The media needs to help perpetuate the myth that New Orleans is still under water, lacking electricity and clean water. They want people to believe that absolutely nothing is happening in New Orleans, that no one is there, that business simply doesn't exist, and that the federal government, (President Bush) is to blame for all of it. They want everyone to believe that John Edwards is going to pick up the ball.
None of that can be further from the truth.
It is funny and infuriating to me how a city run by people who can find the money to quickly renovate the Superdome can continue to complain about the lack of federal aid for the people. The media conveniently ignores this fact.
You should read this article starting with the eighth paragraph. This only confirms what those of us who are truly familiar with New Orleans already knew.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_new_orleans.html
Thanks for sharing that. The first time I went to New Orleans after Katrina I was really surprised to see so many wealthy neighborhoods also devastated, and I knew that many of those were largely black neighborhoods. All you see on the news is the Lower Ninth and St. Bernard.
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