Monday, December 18, 2006

STILL not okay

Just a few days shy of the 16 month "anniversary" of Katrina's landfall and there is still so much that is not okay in the gulf south. It's hard to imagine without seeing it first hand.

We took my daughter down to the train station in New Orleans (right by the Superdome) so she could visit her boyfriend in Lafayette. The trip from Slidell to New Orleans is a depressing one indeed.

Once across Lake Pontchartrain, the landscape is just miles and miles of depressing, dead trees in the area of Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge as a result of saltwater intrustion due to the storm's path. As you near New Orleans East, you will witness hundreds of gutted, unoccupied apartment complexes and subdivisions. The only sign of life in this area is Home Depot and a few auto dealerships. It remains desolate until you near the I-10 High Rise. It is in this area that you can view the Ninth Ward Here it's not just desolate, it'd downright depressing.

There is much to be done in all areas affected by the storm. Even we who live in this area forget how bad things still are until we venture to and or through them.

To all those who still in some way want to help, it is desperately needed in places like New Orleans East and the 9th Ward.




click picture for full-size version


Been a foggy week in SE Louisiana. Took this early Sunday morning while other parts of the country experienced real winter weather.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've tried to make a point of getting out of my neighborhood and checking on the lack of progress around the city. When you live in a neighborhood that has recovered one can forget that many parts of town have not even started the recovery process.

Tom on The Summer of Love

  "The Summer of Love" .  One of the songs I remember was "The Rain, the Park and  and Other Things" by the Cowsills (19...