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No brass band (shucks.) No parade for me (again shucks.) None the less, I am here and I am glad to be here.
What are my expectations? First and foremost, to survive. Beyond that I hope I significantly impact one persons quality of life and as a bonus, maybe a hundred.
The present projection for this city to recover, time wise, is five to ten years. Some of the current problems plaguing New Orleans are: lack of storm runoff drainage and water in the gas lines. A side issue is property abandonment.
Cosmetically, the city looks normal. People are going about their business, cars are stacking up on the freeway behind fender benders, and shops are bustling. The topside debris has been carted off to some far off land. The city looks and feels like a city but.
The aftermath of the storm still garners attention. For instance, the flood water was a great way to find out where the city is height wise. Watching where the flood waters stopped, doubled and tripled the value of the
land on the other side of the flood waters. Yes, it is true, the entire city did not flood. There was a magic strip of land next to the Mississippi River that turned out to be high enough to avoid being flooded. This strip of land is pretty much anything south of Saint Charles Ave.
When I was here last year, I was amazed that the Bourbon Street part of New Orleans was open for business already. Now I know why; it didn't flood there.
There is water in the gas mains. No sooner do they get them blown out and dry and distributing gas, then enough water seeps back in to extinguish the pilot lights, preventing any use of the gas.
There is a construction company contracted to do nothing more then to dig and install new gas lines. The old lines have been determined to be too compromised to be salvageable.
It is not unusual for this city to get two inches of rain from any storm system. If the storm drops less then two inches, the storm drain system can handle it. More then two inches and the streets flood.
There is apparently so much underground debris that the storm drains are incapable of carrying off any reasonable volume of water. Yet this is a city so broken, that this is a minor annoyance for the time being. A minor annoyance to everyone except for the people experiencing it.
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Property abandonment is a big problem. Former owners are not available to give permission for entry on their property and when that property is causing problems, like water in the gas lines, it is impossible to get it fixed for the benefit of the people still trying to tough it out or trying to reestablish their presence.
So goes it. One apparent improvement over last year is that there is an omni present police force on active duty. Last year, the restless natives were causing so many problems and the police force was so skimpy, the National Guard had to be called in to restore and keep order.
The house I am being given a room in for instance, is one of the property's spared from flooding. Get this though, it was still vandalized requiring replacement of toilet fixtures and appliances. Anything else that could be destroyed, was.
What were the vandals thinking of? I find it difficult to understand why an apparently large group of people systematically attacked and destroyed every possible aspect of civility. What makes a person think that it is O.K. to destroy property, just because there aren't any policeman to tell them "No."
"Mine is not to wonder why, mine is but to do or die." Anonymous.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) I find out what is in store for me for the whole month of August. It is easy to imagine doing something glorious and glamorous but I know it is not going to be either of those. What needs to be done are the things we take for granted. Like being able to flush a toilet and not have it spit back at you. Or opening the hot water tap and actually getting hot water without any air pockets or debris in it. Or a tub that drains in a timely manner, or drains at all.
No, there is no glamour in New Orleans, just a lot of hard work.
At least I have the personal satisfaction and knowledge of being here and doing something. It is a test of patience and character.
A gold star for Jim!
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