Random Thoughts on Katrina

At least they picked up the sign. Driving through New Orleans East, coming in from Slidell, on the right side of the highway, in what had been one of those groupings of stores in one area, there was a sign for Save-A-Lot supermarkets. It had been pushed forward by the winds and snapped in half, so it was laying on its side. Everytime I drove that highway I saw that sign. Yes, there were a lot worse things to see, right there on that highway in fact, but for me that sign became my white whale of Katrina. For over a year it sat there, next to a store that was no long in use, next to a whole bunch of other stores that were no longer fit to be used. Finally someone took the sign down and hauled it away.

The Sams store that was near the Save-A-Lot's has been cleared to the ground. So has the Walmart. The Lake Forest Mall, right across I-1o from all this has also been completed razed to the ground. I remember when I first moved to Louisiana we (we being my parents and brother and sister) drove all the way from the Westbank to Lake Forest out in New Orleans East for the Farrels ice cream parlor. There also was an ice skating rink in the middle of the mall.

There's a sign on the site where the Mall used to be saying that there is a Lowes coming soon. I'm not sure how they're going to find people to staff the store. They still don't have a grocery store open in New Orleans East. There are some people moving back, but they need stores near them that can provide the necessities. These stores need people that can provide work for them. It's a cruel circle.

My parents would still be living in Mississippi if hadn't been for Katrina. Or I mean my Mom would now. They only moved after the storm, when they came back to find their car patios in their front yard. I think the storm really scared my Mom, she was in a rush to move. Which has been a blessing and a curse. I miss not having her near here, more so now, since my Dad died. And when he was sick it was hard. But it is also good, because that is where all her family save for me and my brother is. There are a lot more family up there to give her support than either my brother or I could by ourselves.

I do have to admit that Katrina might have saved my life. After coming back from the storm I ended up in the hospital. My appendix had turned gangrene, the doctors told me another day and I would have been dead. I'm not much of a hospital person. I rarely go to doctors. The only reason I think I went than was that everyone was talking about "Katrina flu," people were getting it from the air and the water. The day before I had been on the Westbank with my brother, helping him pull up carpet. I thought I might have picked something up in the water from the flood. So I went. I was in a lot of pain, so even without that excuse I'd like to think I would have went to the doctor, but I don't know.

People in Lakeview, which was one of the hardest hit areas in the city, are actually making a comback. They've managed to do a lot of it on their own. With their own money, borrowing money, and getting the work done. Which is great and to take nothing from them, but they are also an affluent section of the city, so they had money to start with. Areas like the 9th Ward, which doesn't have the money to do it on their own are still hurting.

You can still drive down streets and see the big X's on the side of houses. The X was made when the rescue teams searched the house. They put the date, their unit number and the number of dead found in the house. Driving by a house with an X and a 1 or 2 written in black on the side is still chilling.

The little grocery store next to the fairgrounds where all us early birds for the Jazz Fest would go for breakfast is gone. This last Jazz Fest Larry and I huddled underneath its porch as the rain poured around us, but the doors were closed. The owners are said to have left town and have no plans on coming back.

One of our more honest (or so we thought) politicians, one of the few voices of reason after the storm, that called for us to come together as one, to not let race divide us, was proven to be less than sterling when he admited to taking a bribe, years before the storm. He did something that few politicians, especially ones from this state, did and apologize to the people and admit that he made a mistake and that he let a lot of people down.

Meanwhile "Dollar Bill" Jefferson continues to stockpile his freezer with cash and get re-elected. The Mayor is fairly quiet the past months, after making a fool of himself almost every time he opened his mouth. When we as a city needed a leader, someone to take charge and command action, get things done, he was hiding in one of the high rise hotels from the winds of the storm, not even wanting to come out of his room to talk to people.

I know people still living in FEMA trailers. But now FEMA wants their trailers back. They are telling people that they have to leave their trailers. But where can they go. Money to help people re build their lives is barely trickling in. The Road Home program has paid money to a very small percentage of the people needing the money.

It's easy to forget about us down here. It's been two years. Most people probably think that we're ok, that most people have rebuilt and moved on with their lives. But we're still a long ways from that goal. It's easy for the rest of the country to forget about us, since our government has pretty much forgotten about us. Bush doesn't want to be reminded of his ineptness in handling Katrina. He'll come down here for the anniversary and talk about how things are going so good and that things are on track and that he hasn't forgotten about us, but than he'll climb in Air Force One and fly over our lands again and look out the window and think about something else and forget who we are.