The State of the N.O.

It’s been a minute since I wrote strictly about New Orleans and the recovery (or lack of). Since the mayor’s race is coming up, this is a good time to get some things off of my chest.

• If Ray Nagin loses this election it will be because lots of black people voted for Landrieu. If that happens, he only has himself to blame and all he has to do is look under the bridge at those flooded cars as a symbol of nothing being done. Like I always say, the average man does not know what’s going on behind close doors. They can only judge things by what they see. The more people that come back to the city, the more frustration grows because everything is limited and no one can give you any information about what’s going on.
• I am glad the city closed the landfill near the Asian community. I have nothing but respect for the Asian community in this city. If it wasn’t for them and the Arab storeowners, there would be nowhere to shop downtown after 7PM. Plus, they are spending their own money to open these stores.
• I am foolish, desperate, or optimistic about bringing my family back to New Orleans East right now. The apartment complexes that are opening are acting like they are running an ocean side resort with all these qualifications. I know you can’t let anybody in but damn.
• I am confused. Every night there are stories on the news about all this crime and turf battles that are starting again. Where are these people staying? I know folks with two jobs waiting for them and can’t find a place to live. How did the thugs get back here so easily? Who are they selling to? Shouldn’t they be easier to catch now since everybody else is working or stuck in their trailers all day? What are the police doing?
• It’s stressful living here right now. The least the city could do is open up the lake at night so a man can go sit and drink a beer near the water and reminisce about his old life. Is it too much to ask to turn the lights on Lakeshore drive and have the grass cut? If anybody is wondering if there is manpower to take care of the lake, there are people cutting grass every day on St. Charles Ave. They even water the flowers near the streetcar line that is not even running right now.
• It is becoming clear eight months after the storm that the working/middle class people of New Orleans are the ones with the biggest headaches in the aftermath. Lots of them have moved to new cities but still have houses they were paying for here. They can’t live in them and they can’t get the money back that they put into them. We don’t have enough money to live uptown in the really good neighborhoods so we are forced to find housing in neighborhoods we worked to move away from and now we will be walking hand and hand with the criminal element. There are allot of programs that are trying to help the homeless, and the impoverished find and maintain housing here. That’s needed and I am glad that they do. However, the future of this city will be determined by how many middle class people stick it out through the bullshit. It’s too bad a large amount of those folks and their families lived in New Orleans East where practically nothing is being done in my opinion.

We must never forget all the people who never made it out of the water.

Long lives the Lower Ninth Ward

Clifton