Normalcy slowly returning

picture from wikimedia dot org


Prytania Waterline tells a great story of a night time car a the Streetcar in NOLA.

Thanks, NBA

Many thanks to all the people who volunteered this past weekend in the day of service related to the NBA Allstar Game.



Looks like the whole weekend was a huge success



People from around the country travelled to NOLA and a lot of them "get it"

After nearly three years, the headlines about New Orleans contain GOOD news. The city showed the rest of the world that it is an awesome host . As one of the articles said "you can't buy this kind of publicity".

TP lacks integrity

here's a link about the newspaper deleting comments from the hard copy of their paper and online site of all Nagin gun antics, including two letters to the editor. Perhaps they should've thought out the whole Nagin gun issue.

Schroeder discusses this issue better than I ever could .

I like Mike

Former NBA great and all-around class act Michael Jordan was in Slidell yesterday to present an extremely generous valentine gift to the Boys & Girls Club of Slidell.

From moneycentral MSN dot com:

Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., announced a donation of $500,000 to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Louisiana's Slidell Unit, to help build a new athletic gymnasium... The donation will go towards the construction of a state-of-the-art gymnasium named after Jordan Brand complete with a professional basketball court, scoreboard and bleachers to be used by the kids of the Boys & Girls Club and other related community events.


The Slidell Boys & Girls Club was damaged in Hurricane Katrina when it
took four feet of water inside the facility and required a total rebuild. On a daily basis the club provides education, athletic, and peer support for over 500 children. The rebuilding of the facility serves as a testament to the dedication of many contributions and countless volunteer hours to restore it in honor of the Boys & Girls Club. The Jordan Brand gymnasium will serve as a brick-and-mortar reminder of the contributions and volunteer hours spent rebuilding the facility that has helped and will continue improve the lives of children and families of Slidell.

"The Boys and Girls Clubs of America has been a visible contributor to the families and children of New Orleans, during and post Hurricane Katrina," said Michael Jordan. "Slidell is a community that has been somewhat overlooked in recovery efforts and we are proud to aid with its rebuilding and leave a lasting legacy for the community."

Michael Jordan and some Team Jordan athletes have a special connection to the Boys and Girls Club of America as some were once members and now continue to be involved with the organization in their respective hometowns and communities. Jordan Brand believes that physical activity plays a vital role in building character in youth, and the donation is dedicated to the children of the greater New Orleans area to inspire them to commit themselves to hard work in life and athletics in order to achieve their dreamed goals.

In 2006, Jordan Brand donated $450,000 to Habitat for Humanity to aid in the rebuilding efforts in Louisiana. By auctioning off 21 pairs of Michael Jordan autographed AIR JORDAN shoes to raise the funds, the money helped rebuild homes in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.

Thank you Mr. Jordan

Scuzzbucket of the Week

Ray Nagin.....great example to kids everywhere on how to handle firearms.

Reactions:

Schroeder's

The Times Picayune, who are making a "big joke" out of it What's wrong with these people?

Adrastos

Varg is "blogless"

Swampwoman

Pistolette asks Why is it that people can drone on for hours about the "serious repercussions" of David Vitter getting some illicit nookie, but turn the other way with a "c'est la vie" smirk while Ray Nagin destroys us?


Suspect Devices offers his usual witty reaction

Maitri mirrors a lot of people's feeling about Mr. Nagin

Humid Haney rants....

More from WDSU, showing a video from where the picture was taken.

Update February 15th The TP apologizes for showing the picture out of context.

It still does not change my opinion on the wackjob in charge of New Orleans. Still a scuzzbucket.

Rex 2008

Great video showing Rex (King of Carnival) being toasted by Nagin at Gallier Hall
(found at At the Parade blogspot)

PTSD lingers....

from the "Reel Relief" website , a resident of St. Bernard parish still suffers from his experiences with Katrina:
The water came up in 12 minutes. The water came up to our attic. I knew my neighbors, who were 90 and 80-something, had stayed. I didn't see them on the roof, and their house is lower than ours, so I knew they were in the attic. I swam over there, yanked out the vent pipe. As soon as I pulled out that pipe, arms stretched through and grabbed my leg. They had been standing there with their heads tilted back, water up to their necks. I couldn't pull them out through the hole, so I looked around for something to use to make it bigger. There was a 2x4 stuck in a nearby tree. I needed it to break out part of the roof to save them. But when I had to leave them to get the 2x4...


This man is among thousands how still suffer physically and emotionally, almost three years after the storm. Thanks to the many people out there who still volunteer their time, hearts and money to help people like the gentleman above cope with the storm's lingering legacy.


Photo from The Faces of Katrina website

The Brock Project, revisited

In October I posted about the Brock Project, initiated by the Mayor of New Hyde Park, NY and the Principal of The Road School in the same town, the fine folks there are hoping to raise one million dollars to assist in the rebuilding of Brock Elementary School in Slidell, Louisiana.

Interested in checking out the progress of the rebuilding, and lured outside by the better than excellent weather we had this weekend, hubby & I ventured down to the middle of Slidell, his camera ready to shoot. We got three pictures:







It appears as if work is continuing in bringing life back to Brock Elementary. while not at a breakneck speed, it's safe to say.

Unfortunately, the website for the Brock Project is "temporarily unavailable." I do hope it's temporary.

Katrina's Trees

A few months ago everyone latched on to the news about the "death toll" of trees in Katrina's wake. Touted as "ecological catastrophe that killed or severely damaged about 320 million trees in Mississippi and Louisiana"


Image above: The devastation of southern Gulf Coast forests by Hurricane Katrina was documented in before-and-after images from the Landsat 5 satellite. The Interstate 10 "twin-span" bridges that cross Lake Pontchartrain east of New Orleans is seen here pre- and post-Katrina. Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge is the large patch of forest (green) the lower left portion of the LEFT image, which suffered heavy tree mortality (seen in red in the RIGHT image after the storm)". Credit: USGS

My daily commute takes me through the heart of Bayou Sauvage and it's there that I have watched the trees slowly dying off. It's especially obvious during these winter months, when there's no other vegetation hiding this slow death. Here are some pictures taken at the end of January along Highway 11 in Bayou Sauvage.

(click on pictures for full-sized version)

The wind isn't blowing in this picture; this tree looks like this when there are no winds.


This tree was bent and broken by the storm's winds. One of thousands and thousands of trees like this in the area from Southeast Louisiana to the middle of Mississippi.


Despite the destruction done by the storm, I find the colors and textures in this picture to be beautiful


Bayou Sauvage is still home to a wide array of wildlife, as evidenced by this guy










There were hundreds of ducks and other waterfowl out on this day, just going about their daily business while we spied on them

Twin Spans

According to the Times Pic today the Lake Pontchartrain Twin Spans construction is ahead of schedule

Essentially hurricane-proof, the 5 1/2-mile bridge touted as the largest public works project in the state's history will rise 30 feet above the lake with 80-foot high-rises, keeping it out of reach of storm surges. The structures will also be nearly twice as wide as the existing bridge, which will ease traffic, officials say.


The existing bridge was pretty well beat up by Katrina in August of 2005, rendering it useless for several months. Pieced together with what was left after the storm, the east bound lanes opened in October of '05. The westbound lanes reopened in January 2006, using prefabricated bridge sections of hot-dipped galvanized steel.



Here are recent pictures of the progress being made, taken on January 26, 2008.
(click on pictures for full-size versions)

You can see the progress being made from the southshore. The present spans are on the left


Taken from the North Shore (Slidell), you can see how far the construction has come


This shot shows the height of the new bridge at its lowest point compared to the present bridge.


Pilings to support the new bridge


Another shot from the North Shore. I've found Ed Blakely's cranes in the sky!

Waveland - 30 Months Post K

We took a little trip down Highway 90 on Saturday, to get lunch at Rickeys Restaurant in Bay St. Louis. On the way home, we decided to check out the rebuilding in Waveland along the coast. Although it still looks pretty damn bad to an outsider, we noticed a lot of improvements on the gulf front since our last trip three or so months ago. While the roads that come off the beachfront are still almost impassable for a passenger car, there are several main arteries connecting it with Highway 90.

Click on photos for full-size version



People are rebuilding while still living in those nasty FEMA trailers
.


Some places are just about done





There are a lot of Katrina Cottages along the beach. Seems like the Katrina Cottages are being used as both temporary quarters while people rebuild as well as what appears to be semi permanent homes to others.













Despite the obvious rebuilding efforts by the people of Waveland, there are still a lot of signs of Katrina's wrath along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.








There's still the presence of people who've dedicated their time and money helping the people of Waveland recover.


St. Clare Church is still operating out of this structure.