In August of last year I contributed a photo essay to the Katrina Blog Project, in commemoration of the one year anniversary of the hurricane. The photos in that diary came from my wife and daughter's trip that summer to visit family in the New Orleans area. What I failed to grasp, having not been there myself, was the near-total devastation of the Lower Ninth Ward, and the wholesale abandonment of Lakeview. The photos I showed then were of the few buildings still standing in the Lower Ninth.
Today I visited there myself, in the vicinity of North Claiborne and Tennessee. Nine out of ten home sites have virtually nothing but a foundation left on the lot.
Yes, eighteen months later it still looks like this down there. Common Ground is still hard at work. They need your contributions.
This house was in my August diary. Someone appears to have defoliated the yard, but otherwise, nothing has changed.
The money's not getting to the residents. Maybe the people who want to come back can't be found, or have no insurance. Or maybe the federal requirement that work has to begin and the money can then be used to reimburse the homeowners who want to rebuild is too daunting for most folks who once called the Ninth Ward home.
In Lakeview, near Fleur de Lis and 37th, block after block features mostly abandoned shells of homes.
This nice brick home appears to have had its foundation undermined, or perhaps it has simply shifted on the ground in one piece.
It is still shocking to see this, six months after my last report.
It is not accurate to say the pace of progress is glacial. There is no progress! In Lakeview some homes have been rebuilt, by the lucky few who have received federal help, who were well-insured or wealthy enough to afford it on their own. But the streets are in disrepair, with debris and potholes everywhere. Thousands upon thousands have not returned. The levee breaks have been repaired, for now, but New Orleans continues to be a broken city.
Do not forget this. Remember them, remember what happened. We came to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans on Friday last week. We will leave on Wednesday with heavy hearts.