Just One Day's Gloomy Newspaper

As I have written a few times before, since Hurricane Katrina it has been a struggle for quite a few people living here. Though I am more fortunate and do not "suffer", life is not as interesting or comfortable in New Orleans. There is so little to do now. Many businesses are closed for good, people have left the area in droves to live in more normal places, there is a labor shortage, housing that was once scare and expensive is now selling at lower and lower prices as the glut of homes for sale increases, rents that were low are so astronomically high now that apartments sit vacant, the city has huge areas of property still in a heap of rubble, housing insurance costs are now the highest in the nation and unaffordable for many home owners, many thousands of trailers are still the living quarters of residents whose homes are un repaired, the city is being over run by gangs and criminals who prey on citizens that are protected by a tiny and inefficient police force, illegal Hispanic immigrants have flooded in and are participating in both helpful and criminal activity, Bush and Congress are indifferent to us, business and industry have fled or are leaving, tourism is nearly dead, and crime has soared.
To give you an idea of why New Orleans is a dysfunctional Wild West place here are some stories from TODAY's local newspaper. Remember, this is but one day's sampling of news.
- One article addressed the failed New Orleans public school system which has too few teachers, dilapidated buildings, assaults on teachers and even security guards by kids whose parents sent them back alone to New Orleans from other cities while they themselves stayed in their evacuated homes, a shortage of supplies, incompetent administration....
- Another article said that in the past 4 days five more people have been shot on the streets of a once quiet and crime free suburban area of my parish and this past weekend 7 people were murdered in New Orleans itself. All were drug dealers killed in a dispute about territory as drug pushers flood into New Orleans from all over the country and from abroad.
- One story was about the federal government's Corp of Engineers announcement that they will no longer collect debris from the hurricane and from damaged homes. Given that less than 1/3 of the ruined homes have been gutted or repaired there will soon be mounds of debris for the rats and other varmints to feast on.
- According to another news item in the paper the trailers sent here for displaced workers since August, 2205 (the date of the storm) are inadequate, catch fire and are being blown over in high winds. It seems odd that "temporary trailers" are still in use more than a year after the storm date. But then, Bush is President.
- The headline of an article 'He Died Of A Broken Heart' tells it all. It's a story of an elderly man whose home of 60 was destroyed by 10 feet of flood water that sat in the house for a month. According to the daughter and other family member the man "gave up" and died after losing the stamina to rebuild his home and recover from the storm. The indifference of his insurance company in not fairly paying his insurance claim and then raising future rates so high he could not afford to rebuild was the final nail in the man's coffin. He died of a broken heart, as so many others here have.
- A feature article informed readers about fraudulent contractors, unlicensed contractors and others in their cheating of homeowners who use their services. The number of complaints filed with police has reached record numbers, with many more expected in the future. Most of this abuse is from Hispanic and other outside contractors, not local ones. The outside repair companies have come into New Orleans knowing the shortage of labor makes homeowners desperate for ANYONE who says he or she can repair damage. Thus, the crooks are flooding in faster than did Katrina's flood water. They take money from homeowners and disappear or do substandard work that requires another tear down and rebuild. Prices charged for work have gone up as much as 10 times what were charged before the storm hit.
There you have it, one day's news in paradise. And the consensus here is that things are certain to worsen this year. Well, at least my morning paper is interesting to read........