New Orleans, LA

The Houston Chronicle had a article last week, Church archivists fill gaps in New Orleans’ history. The article is a little slice of life in how Katrina is still impacting people’s lives.

Basically, the story is about how the archivists are the custodians of the church’s memory. They are trying to restore church documents that were soaked during the flood. Marriage certificates, baptisms, etc. All the stuff that make up the minutia of people’s lives.

These are the historical records of New Orleans. The church was the official source of records for many years. These records ARE the history of New Orleans. And there are millions of that need to be restored.

(more…)

On August 29, from 10am to 4pm, the convention center will be the site of an event involving prominent business, civic and entertainment organizations. The intent is to mobilize Americans in the hope that it will force the government to begin a true reconstruction along the lines of the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was the US government dedicated rebuilding of Europe after WWII.

I hope it works but I don’t have much faith in the US Government doing anything for New Orleans. They are wiling to spend $1 trillion dollars (the current estimate of what the Irag war will cost us), but getting a few billion to rebuild New Orleans just seems to be out of reach.

“Enough is enough!” said Taylor, during the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. “It’s the shame of the nation,” she said before tens of thousands gathered in the Superdome, “that the people of New Orleans and

the Gulf Coast have been abandoned and are suffering without the most basic necessary supports while our tax dollars are directed toward war.”

(more…)

Justice has been served in a racism case that was watched across the US. In 2003, incoming District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who is black, fired over 50 white employees and replaced them with black employees. In 2005, a court found the DA guilty of violating the employees’ civil rights.

Jordan appealed, and just this week, the appeals court rejected all points of the appeal and said that Jordan must pay almost US$ 4 million to the defendants and pay court costs for the appeals. The original case found that Jordan’s office must pay back pay and damages (minimal from the looks of it). With the appeal, interest has accrued and that’s bumped the dollar amount up.

Since Jordan was sued as the N.O. DA, the tax payers will have to pay the money. That part of it sucks but I am glad this instance of racism was brought to light and that the fired employees get back pay. I think they should also get their jobs back, Eddie Jordan’s replacements should be fired and Eddie impeached for racism. La doesn’t have a stellar record of keeping crooks out of office though.

Racism from the block New Orleans politicos shouldn’t surprise anyone. Nagin and his “Chocolate City” comments were the shot heard round the world. Where is Rev Jackson? Where is Sharpton? Where is the NAACP? Shouldn’t all of these “fighters for equality and justice for all” be cheering this verdict? Or are they bigots and racists?

(more…)

The Kaiser Family Foundation has released The Future of New Orleans: Young Adults in the Greater New Orleans Area. According to the paper, this was a series of face to face interviews conducted in the Fall of 2006 with about 1500 current residents of New Orleans.

The survey was to find out how people were feeling about living in New Orleans and what their plans were. By and large, it looks like a traumatized population.

The future of New Orleans depends in part on the strength of its residents and their commitment to the area. One of the most encouraging findings from the survey, as previously reported, is that the vast majority of younger and older residents say they plan to stay in the area. However, a finding of potential concern is that young adults (18 percent) are more likely than their older counterparts (8 percent) to say they’re planning or seriously considering moving away from the area.

Those numbers don’t really surprise me. Almost everyone in my family was negatively affected by Katrina, some more than others, but I am the only immediate family member not living there. People from New Orleans want to live in New Orleans. The numbers do say that people who moved to New Orleans after Katrina are more likely to want to leave. Again, not very surprising.

(more…)

Dooky Chase’s to reopen after $500,000 in repair. According to the New Orleans City Business news, Leah Chase has been able to get the requires repairs funded and implemented. We’re coming up on the two year anniversary and while the article says no date is yet set, I hope it’s on the anniversary. That’s the kind of message the world needs about New Orleanians. The job will get done.

I watch Leah on PBS when I see that she’s on. Her show is “Creole Cooking with Leah Chase” and it’s a hoot to watch. She is one spunky lady. The article above says she is 84 and wikipedia says she was born on January 6, 1923.

She’s a local. She was born in my mom’s home town of Madisonville on the north shore. Even now, Madisonville is fairly rural (growing lot’s of very large homes right now, though) so I can imagine what it was ike in the 1920s. When I was kid, many of the roads were made up of little river rocks (and I’m not that old).

She moved to New Orleans when she was 18 and got a job at Colonial Restaurant . In 1945 she married Dooky and, after starting a family, she began working at his family’s restaurant, part-time. She soon took a more direct involvement and eventually changed the menu and became chef. The rest is history.

(more…)

The New York Times recently had a good article about the impact that Katrina has had on local musicians: The Katrina Effect, Measured in Gigs. It’s a good article but pretty sad. For a city known as much for it’s music as it is for its food and good times, the fact that very talented musicians can’t get work pretty much sucks.

Of course, since Katrina, it’s been hard for every one. There’s no reason it wouldn’t be hard for musicians. It’s just a shame that one of New Orleans’ main tourist attractions, and one of the things that improves everyone’s morale, is having such difficulties. The fear is that if the musicians can’t get gigs in New Orleans, will they go where they can?

The Times article has some important figures. They are disturbing, but not unexpected, for anyone living in the area:

Conventions, typically a strong source of music gigs, are running at 70 percent of 2004 levels, but leisure travel remains far below pre-Katrina levels, according to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. Over all, visitors generated $2.9 billion in spending in 2006, down from $4.9 billion in 2004, according to the bureau. About 3.7 million people visited the city in 2006, compared with more than 10 million in 2004.

(more…)

It’s bad enough that Katrina took away people’s homes and livelihoods but to have greedy businessmen ruin what’s left, and worse, have the local politicians ignore it, is reprehensible.

I read an entry on craigslist about a Chalmette businessman named Sidney Torres. This businessman has opened an industrial waste removal facility in a suburban neighborhood. The property is zoned as commercial but not as industrial.

According to the web site, StopSDT.org, port-a-potties and human waste removal trucks are stored right outside of people’s homes. There are photos on the site and even videos showing the waste facility in action.

Apparently, the residents of this neighborhood have even gotten a cease and desist order but local government officials refuse to enforce it.

These people do not want to live across the street from a waste center, especially human waste. Would you? Better yet, would Mr. Torres?

On a positive note, the site was updated yesterday with this information:

8/8/08 Update - Today we met with Television reporters and news cameras at our home on Virtue Street. Sidney caught wind of this and personally showed up at his waste facility. He quickly shut down the entire facility so the news cameras couldn’t catch his dump in action. Can you say “I’m GUILTY!!!”???

Go to the web site, StopSDT.org, browse around and let other people know about this.

LewisC

chalmette, new orleans, katrina, st. bernard, stopsdt.org

NOLA.com reports today that 11 teams of scientists in Louisiana are recommended to share more than $27 million in federal grants. This money is slotted for things like research into Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and development of an institute to study and fight infectious illnesses.

This money has been recommended to be used for various purposes, all of which are meant to benefit Louisiana in some form or fashion; mostly to help rebuild New Orleans in a commercial sense.

For more information, the full story, and a list of what the grants will pay for, click here.

New Orleans, rebuilding New Orleans, news, New Orleans news

1. New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
2. Canal Street, once the widest street in the world, was named for a canal that was planed for, but never built, in the median.
3. The great chess master Paul Morphy was born in the house at 1113 Chartres St. in the French Quarter.
4. Because New Orleans is located above sea level, they bury their dead above ground.
5. The first Mardi Gras took place in New Orleans in 1827.
6. The infamous Superdome of New Orleans was completed in 1975.
7. Before Hurricane Katrina, Mardi Gras drew in approximately 1 million visitors.
8. The tourism industry is the number one employer in the metropolitan New Orleans area.
9. Following the devestation of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has suffered a loss of $1 billion.
10. There are presently over 140 metro area hotels and motels in operation.
11. The New Orleans Saints have announced sell-out season ticket sales for 2007-2008.
12. 62,300 out of 81,000 local businesses have reopened since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
13. New Orleans reported a population of 255,000 in March 2007, about 56% of its pre-Katrina population.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. YOUR LINK HERE (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

New Orleans, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina, Canal Street, French Quarter, Mardi Gras, thursday thirteen

When a neighbor stirred up trouble after Hurricane Katrina, Jane Dumestre decided to take matters into her own hands. She built a privacy fence, affectionately coined as her “Frustration Fence” to provide a barrier between her home and the pesky neighbor.

Jane’s frustration of dealing with the nosy neighbor forced her to action in building the homemade barrier. The Frustration Fence started out with colored masking tape to protect her side of the fence from prying eyes. But Jane, a self-proclaimed eclectic, says the tape was too boring. That’s when a Mardi Gras parade gave her a brilliant idea.

Jane started placing Mardi Gras beads, barettes, medallions, amulets, pinwheels, milar paper–anything shiny and sparkly–over her fence. “I’ve always had a fondness for anything shiny and glittery,” said Jane, her Frustration Fence evidence of that.

“I’ve always relieved stress by creating things,” Jane told me. “I built the fence to create privacy for myself. But as I continued adding to it, I found that it also relieves some of my stress from this situation.

“It reminds me of when I was a little girl,” adds Jane. “When we used to drive through old Metarie, people would hang colored bottles or glass, naked baby dolls, Mardi Gras beads, and other odd things from the trees.”

Now Jane continues to add to the fence every week. It has even become a neighborhood attraction. “People stop by all the time and take pictures,” Jane says. She even started making goody bags for the passers-by, filled with Mardi Gras beads and other such things. “I’ll ask them if they’re from New Orleans. If they tell me ‘No.’ I tell them to wait while I go inside and get them a bag to take with them.”

With great strength and resolution in her voice, Jane told me the fence is her way of saying, “I’m here.”

Despite having gone through the tragedy of Katrina, Jane has emerged–not a survivor, but a thriver. Jane, also known as “Our Lady of Magazine Street,” said she’s determined to make it, despite the opposition facing her. And I have just enough faith to believe that she’ll do just that.

All photos courtesy of Jane Dumestre.

Jane Dumestre, fence of frustration, New Orleans, faces of New Orleans, New Orleans interview