So, the local council has finally arranged for the huge water oak that came down in our garden during Hurricane Gustav to be removed. So, today was mostly characterised by the unmistakable whine of chainsaws and cracking of tree limbs. It was a monster tree, and had it fallen the other way, it would have taken out half our house. We evacuated to North Louisiana (Monroe, and then a little place by the Arkansas border called Farmerville) for Gustav, so we weren't here to see it come down, but I'm sure it would have been pretty hairy!
It's obviously a significant aspect of life along the gulf coast, that hurricane season can be very disruptive. In fact, we only missed a week of work for Gustav, and the University tries to minimise closures, but most students were absent for two weeks, as some had driven as far as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. The tragedy is that there are still thousands of families who are refugees from Katrina, but it doesn't really make the news anymore, and the political will to rebuild New Orleans seems to come from celebrities and non-profits rather than elected officials.
The opportunity to rebuild genuinely sustainable and affordable housing in NO is unmissable - if we let it pass, we will have sqaundered the future of a truly extraordinary city. The picture above is of a 'Katrina Cottage' - the prefab houses that are supposed to be the solution to the problem.
I was talking to a native of NO the other weekend (sitting in a cafe opposite St Louis Cathedral) and she said that those who live there describe it as 'a high functioning third world island off the coast of America'. I like that description because it seems to capture something of the crazy mix of high and low culture that makes it so intoxicating a place.
No comments:
Post a Comment