More On "The East"

In an article in todays NYT, "Aching for Lost Friends, but Rebuilding With Hope"
Susan Saulny, a former resident of "The East", tells of the difficult task of bringing it back after Katrina's devastation:

Hurricane Katrina left most of New Orleans East in a shambles....although as a whole, it received less attention than needier black areas or equivalent white neighborhoods. In terms of size — both geographically and in population — it dwarfs the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview. It had close to 100,000 residents. As of May, about 30 percent of them were back.
…..Katrina still managed to shred the fabric of the black upper middle class living there, at a time when New Orleans desperately needs its black professionals to have a voice in the recovery process.