[Dixielandjazz] Limbo Land

[Cebuisle2 at aol.com]

Tom,
 
I don't think New Orleans IS coming back, at least not in the way we  
remember it before the hurricane. Like the famed Storyville district of the  early 
20th century, N.O will be remembered for what it was. A huge chunk of the  
population has put down roots elsewhere, and the flood endangered areas should  not 
be rebuilt. This includes the Ninth Ward. Those who impatiently wait with  
hands out for federal money and are often quoted in the media  include numerous 
politicians who have lost the residents that kept them in  power. For them 
there is no future,and they are not happy campers.
 
Many of the jobs, both in the bureaucracy and support services have been  
lost forever, and those people are not happy either. My son, a manager with  
K-Mart in S.C. was sent there with a team to assess the damage done to the  stores 
in the area by flooding and looting.
He believes that even if the stores were rebuilt, there is no longer enough  
of a customer base to support them.  K-Mart isn't going to re-open  just to 
please the politicians. All other business  is affected as  well, right down to 
the mom and pop stores. 
 
Hopefully the new New Orleans will be a big improvement over the old one.  
The city had major problems, Those hoping to shake the federal money tree need  
to get on with their lives, as difficult as that may be for them. The  coastal 
areas East of N.O, have already begun to do that, and their devastation  was 
as bad or worse than that in the city.
 
                                                                              
    ted