Still Missing New Orleans

I posted the following on September 4, 2005 at The Dream Antilles and I cross-posted it in various places. Five years later, there's really very little I can add to this, so I am re-posting it:

A Huge Loss
I'm one of those people who knows New Orleans, and though I don't live there, I feel the enormity of the present crisis deeply.

I lived in Jackson, Mississippi for more than 6 years in the 70s. I, and other members of the civil rights law community, loved to go to New Orleans. It was civilized. It was relaxing. It had good food and music. Not only wasn't it Mississippi, it made Mississippi and its stridency, divisiveness, violence and stress seem far, far away. It was to me actually the City that Care Forgot. It was like heaven.

It was a city that seemed to embrace what we were trying to accomplish up the highway. When Mississippi's federal judges made decisions that were predictably against us or just plain wacky, the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans seemed ever willing to grant a stay, to enjoin the craziness, to require that it be corrected. So traveling to New Orleans with a briefcase full of papers on the famous train, the City of New Orleans, was a mixed blessing: it meant you lost as expected in Jackson or Biloxi or Gulfport, but soon things would be set aright by wise men who understood the future.

New Orleans was also a refuge for me from exhaustion, from burnout, from crank phone calls, from police surveillance, from the petty difficulties of living in Mississippi, from fighting hard, from adversity, from judicial hostility. It was only a few hours drive away. It was possible to visit over a weekend. It was the destination to escape to. So I learned its music venues, its bars and restaurants, its ways of being, and I enjoyed its ambience, the slow, humid, deliberate way the City moved and breathed, its cosmopolitan civilization, its stories, its pace.

Yet New Orleans was not really paradise. It had no signficant middle class: it had the very rich and the black poor. It had its share of historical, urban racial discrimination. It had the incessant violence and pervasive discrimination that gnawing poverty breeds. It had an enormous crime rate, and its homicides were all too frequent. It had its monument to the Confederacy at the end of Canal Street. It had all of the troubled corruption and unnecessary violence of other big American cities. It had an ability to be overwhelmed by drunken conventioneers, who could be found talking to horses drawing carriages. But for me, and I think for a huge number of other people, it displayed a comfort, a sweetness, a sensuality, and a joyfulness that I felt simply as relief. It embraced us. It welcomed us.

Others have written their tributes to New Orleans this week. I heard two on the radio this afternoon, and Anne Rice has written in the New York Times today. Reminiscence isn't really my purpose here. I just feel profound grief at what has happened. In the pit of my stomach and in my heart, there is a deep aching. A City I love and its people, a City I hold in my heart as a refuge and the people who have made it so, are suffering and dying.

It would be easy for me to join the chorus blaming George W Bush and his administration for their gross incompetence and the huge and unnecessary loss of life, but that seems to be others' work. Instead, for me, there's not much to do. It's important, of course, to make donations to the appropriate organizations. And I urge each of you to do so. And it's also important to feel in my heart the enormity of my and our nation's loss. To me, it is as if something akin to paradise in my inner world has been despoiled.

Five years later, as so many others have written, the New Orleans diaspora continues for many, the City hasn't been rebuilt, the Federal Flood was an opportunity to displace New Orleans' poor from public housing and schools. Yes, many have struggled valiantly for a just, fair restoration. But I'd be lying if I said they were winning. Battles, yes; the war, well, the war just continues. Along with our pain and loss. Along with our hope.

Anniversary of Katrina

Bush And McCain's Greatest New Orleans Hits

Hurricanes aren't the only things that spiral out of control. Rethuglican politics spiral too. They go round and round and round, reprising their greatest hits, trying to revise and rewrite and edit out their greatest failures. Trying to help you forget.

Who doesn't remember this as Katrina was destroying New Orleans:



They cannot have that again. Oh, no. Not again with Gustav. So now, in an attempt to avoid a public display and incessant repetitions of their callousness, we have the new, "compassionate conservative" approach to approaching natural disasters. This from the New York Times:

Republicans scrambled on Sunday to change the tone of their national convention as delegates streamed into town amid scenes on TV of people fleeing Hurricane Gustav on the Gulf Coast. The White House said the monster storm would make President Bush's opening-day attendance unlikely.

The Republicans' nominee-in-waiting, John McCain, altered his campaign schedule to visit Jackson, Miss., with his running mate, Sarah Palin, to get briefings on the approaching storm. He was invited by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
/snip

''I've been talking to all of [the Republican Governors in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida],'' McCain said. He said the approaching storm had already put a cloud over the convention.

''It just wouldn't be appropriate to have a festive occasion while a near tragedy or a terrible challenge is presented in the form of a natural disaster,'' McCain said. Still, he said, ''I think that we are far, far better prepared than we were the last time.''

The Bush White House and Republicans in general are still shadowed by criticism of their handling of relief efforts in after Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and parts of the Mississippi Gulf Coast three years ago. Party leaders fear that televised scenes of celebrations and partying at the convention could subject them to similar criticism now.

Last time, three years ago, Katrina was a horrendous embarrassment. Bush and McSame publicly ate cake. People died. The City was destroyed. Bush didn't arrive in the City until way too late, when people were beginning to paint x's on houses and counting the bodies and searching the attics. So now we have a new, more sanctimonious, more compassionate approach to impending natural disaster. The CiC stays visibly on the bridge of the ship of state, he appears to be in command, he appears to be concerned. He wrings his hands. And mini me McSame? He's concerned too. That's why Candidate Senator McSame needs to be "briefed" in Mississippi.

But wait a minute. Don't the Republican governors of these states and their staffs have enough to do just getting ready for the arrival of Gustav and the huge evacuation of people and the gigantic task of overseeing relief efforts? Why are they having ceremonial "briefings" with a guy who has absolutely nothing to do with safeguarding lives in the storm area? Why indeed. Because it looks "presidential?" Because it's better politically than getting McSame the f*ck out of the way and letting the people who are responsible for relief do their jobs? Because keeping McSame in the public eye is the most important thing?

And to whom is it that McCain is referring when he says that "we" are better prepared than last time? Is that a concession that he had something to do with the horror when Katrina arrived when "we" were unprepared and uncaring and eating birthday cake and oblivious? Oh no. Not that. When he was eating cake with Bush, it wasn't his responsibility that a city was drowning.

Bush, or at least his handlers, may have been slightly chastened by Katrina. Not. The Times continues:

With the storm expected to make landfall as early as Monday, it appeared unlikely that Bush would go to Minnesota, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Sunday.

She said alternate plans were being prepared. That could mean possible travel to the Gulf Coast and perhaps speaking to the convention by video.

Does that mean we're going to be treated at the Rethuglican Convention to a new and upgraded reprise of this memorable Bush sham:



I'm sure you remember. After the speech the lights went out again. And they stayed out. So much for recovery. So much for saving New Orleans after the Federal Flood.

I might be being unreasonable. Fine. So be it. I think that Katrina should be hung around the necks of the Rethuglicans like a rotting, dead skunk. To help them remember its smell. And I think that all of this fake, smarmy, "concern" about Gustav and how their "celebration" might appear is just plain garbage. Imo, they should just shut the f*ck up and quietly and unceremoniously provide the federal assistance that's going to be required. Without self congratulation. If they want to delay their convention for appearance sake, fine. But it's utterly revolting to hear them trying to get credit, get sympathy for that. "Oh, we just had to cancel our coronation party. Holding it would be so unseemly." Like they really care about New Orleans or the Gulf coast.

If they cared, wouldn't the levees be rebuilt by now? If they cared, wouldn't all of the people have returned? If they cared, wouldn't the homes be rebuilt? If they cared, wouldn't all of those living in FEMA trailers and housing be in different homes? If they cared, wouldn't the New Orleans Diaspora in Houston, and Memphis, and elsewhere be over? Face it. They don't care. Not a whit. They just want to grandstand.

Heckuva job, McSame.

Gustav's Coming, We're All Watching

It looks like Hurricane Gustav (it's now a hurricane and not a tropical storm) is headed directly for New Orleans. Weatherunderground gives us computer modeling that is not at all comforting:



Notice the uniformity of all of the computer models. Notice that the computers bring Gustav extremely close to New Orleans as a category 3 hurricane.

Join me in the City that Care Forgot.

The New York Times reports that there will be a "mandatory evacuation" of New Orleans on Sunday:

Mayor C. Ray Nagin said on Friday that a mandatory evacuation order was possible for Sunday.

At that point, residents would be told, though not physically forced, to leave New Orleans, either in their own vehicles or on city-chartered buses and trains. On Saturday, officials here will start helping citizens without cars leave for shelters in northern Louisiana in gyms, churches and civic centers. Officials here estimate that as many as 30,000 of the poor, the elderly and the infirm might need help evacuating. ...snip

“With the new storm track, we think the entire metro area will experience the storm,” the mayor said at City Hall on Friday. “This is a very serious matter.”

Mr. Nagin urged citizens to begin making plans to evacuate, without waiting for the order. “Sunday morning, that’s what we’re looking at, to issue that mandatory evacuation,” he said.

There will be no shelters in the city like the Superdome, as there were for Hurricane Katrina.

Such an evacuation is an enormous task. If there have been practice runs, the media have not reported them. Is anyone confident that all of the people who wish to leave the City will be able to leave? Or put another way, will those who most need assistance to leave be able to receive the help they need to find shelter from the storm?

According to the Times Picayune, Gustav is on a "Collision Course" with New Orleans, and as of early Saturday morning, many people were headed inland for shelter:



Those who cannot leave because they are ill, or have no cars, or have no place to go, or have no money will have to be moved today, Saturday, or wait for the mandatory evacuation and then attempt to leave by bus or by train. But it appears that not all of the necessary preparations for the evacuation have been successfully completed. The Times Picayune reports:

The private contractor the state hired to provide buses for hurricane evacuations has not come through with enough vehicles in a timely manner, causing the state to look elsewhere to meet the state's timeline for moving people out of New Orleans and other areas prior to the arrival of Hurricane Gustav, Gov. Bobby Jindal said Friday.

The state contracted for 700 buses with drivers to be made available in an emergency but has "run into challenges" with the primary bus contractor, the governor said during a news conference in Baton Rouge.

"The contractor is not necessarily doing what they promised to do, " Jindal said....snip

When asked about the problem in a phone interview Friday evening, company Chief Executive Officer Henry Gerkens initially said, "I'm not aware of that. I won't have any further comment, but that's not my understanding."

That is not the kind of news that builds confidence. At the last minute, the authorities are still trying to cobble together an evacuation. Nowhere do I see officials saying, "We are definitely ready. We definitely have the situation under control. We can evacuate everyone who may wish to leave the City before Gustav arrives."

Yet again, my heart goes out to the people of New Orleans. May they be safe. May they find shelter. May they be well.

Huckava Job, Brownie, Part Deux?

Its name is Gustav. And nobody is entirely sure where it's going. But the 5 day forecast map from Weatherunderground.com makes an alarming prediction:



And that prediction is that this storm could grow in intensity and travel to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Join me in the City that Care Forgot.

AP reports:

On the cusp of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary, nervous Gulf Coast residents watched Wednesday as a storm threatened to strengthen and crash ashore, testing everything the city has rebuilt.

Forecasters warned that Gustav had the potential to grow into a perilous Category 3 hurricane and approach the Gulf Coast by Monday morning — though cautioned that a storm's track and intensity are extremely difficult to predict several days in advance.

"We know it's going to head into the Gulf. After that, we're not sure where it's heading," said Rebecca Waddington, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center. "For that reason, everyone in the Gulf needs to be monitoring the storm."

City officials were taking no chances, and drawing blueprints of how to evacuate the city if necessary. New Orleans plans to institute a mandatory evacuation order should a Category 3 or stronger hurricane be within 72 hours of the city.

Unfortunately, repairs made to the levee system since Katrina aren't complete, and the Army Corps of Engineers is already talking about the possibilities for another disaster:

Since (Katrina), the Army Corps of Engineers has spent billions of dollars to improve the levee system. Though experts say the city and surrounding region are safer from hurricanes, the improved levee protection is incomplete and holes remain.

Floodgates have been installed on drainage canals in New Orleans to cut off storm surge from entering the city, and levees have been raised and in many places strengthened with concrete.

Robert Turner Jr., the regional levee director, said the levee system can handle a storm with the likelihood of occurring every 30 years, what the corps calls a 30-year storm. By comparison, Katrina was a 396-year storm.

"There's always the possibility if it comes from the right direction, and if it is large enough to create storm surge in the realm of Katrina, that there could be overtopping" of levees, Turner said.

A "30-year" storm? A "396-year" storm? These are engineering measurements, the probabilities and statistics that spell potential disasters. There is no comfort here. "30-year" storms can occur more frequently than every 3 decades. There is no real prediction of what category hurricane Gustav can become. There is nothing but uncertainty.

This leaves me feeling a deep and pervasive sadness. Yes, it looks like Gustav will avoid my home near Tulum, in Quintana Roo, Mexico, and I'm very thankful for that. But that's not really my point. I just can't bear the thought of yet another flood in New Orleans. NOLA and her citizens deserve something better:

A New Orleans Story

A now deceased, dear friend of mine lived for a long time on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. One night in 1974 when her consciousness was altered in an unusually profound and fuzzy way, she parked her car somewhere, locked it, walked home and fell asleep. The next day she couldn't find the car. She wandered the streets near her house, still couldn't find it, wandered the streets some more and eventually, reported it stolen. She was really sad about the loss of her car. Afterwards, she walked everywhere she couldn't take public trans and always kept an eye out for the stolen car.

About four months later, she and I and another friend went out to dinner. Afterwards, we went for a walk in the neighborhood. Up toward Rampart Street, parked in a legal spot at the curb was a dirty but otherwise ordinary car that looked a lot to all of us like the stolen one. It appeared not to have been driven in some time. Was it her car? To our delight, her key opened the door and it fit in the ignition. But the battery, alas, was dead. The three of us paid strict attention to where the car was. I think my friend even wrote it down. And the next day, we came back. The car hadn't been moved. We jump started it, and she drove it home.

To this day, 34 years later, I have no idea whether the car was stolen and we recovered it, or whether she just forgot where she parked it and we found it.

New Orleans to me is like that. Maybe that's why I love it so much.