FONSFAQ New Orleans: Katrina

[sofiaviolet]

erika asked: did Katrina change NOLA totally, or is it still basically the same city? What major changes have there been / took place because of Katrina?

New Orleans mostly feels recovered to me, but A) I only visit and B) I think a lot of the remaining damage has become the new normal. I mean, my parents still don't have kitchen cabinets or counters and it's just, like, whatever.

Despite flooding high enough to kill the engine in my dad's truck, my own neighborhood (Fountainbleau) looks pretty good. The only vacant building on my block is under renovation. There's people outside and at the mall and stuff. Mardi Gras didn't seem super-crowded this year, but maybe I'm just used to concerts now?

One thing I have noticed since Katrina is an enormous proliferation of tattoo shops. I have no idea why, but I am dying to know. There's also a higher-than-average rate of entrepreneurship. Maybe these are related?

The city has about 80% of its pre-Katrina population, which is even more impressive in light of a long population decline. Unfortunately, housing is less affordable than pre-Katrina (although it does make sense, given the destruction of housing stock and the expense of renovating damaged buildings. Plus there's the economy and housing market and that whole bucket of fail).

One important change has been the reorganization on a massive scale of the public school system. So many of the schools were scoring so poorly before Katrina, so many of their facilities were damaged, and so many students failed to return or didn't return right away - so the state and various other groups took over things; New Orleans now has a lot of charter schools. One of the things that happened was the firing of the entire administration of the public high school I attended for a year and change (including the months I was making suicidal LiveJournal posts, for the, like, two of you who knew me when I was 17). I can't say I'm sad about that: the principal was universally hated by the students.

I have no info on how the surrounding areas are doing; I expect the city itself is one of the most highly-recovered areas.

It doesn't feel the same, but it doesn't feel wrong or broken or irreparably damaged.

Comments

[erika]

Thank you for writing this!

[sofiaviolet]

You're welcome! :)

[pinesandmaples]

We have a lot of Ain't Dere No Mo' discussions on Yelp, remembering the life work of people who just didn't make it back after the storm.

[sofiaviolet]

I'm glad to hear that that kind of remembrance is going on. (Although Yelp strikes me as an odd place for it; then again, I don't know very much about it.)

[pinesandmaples]

Well, Yelp is all about business reviews. Most of the locals have an official policy of not reviewing anything based on pre-K performance unless the business is no longer with us. Sometimes, we chat about what we miss (and what we don't). The business climate of this city changed completely with the hurricane and floods so it sort of fits.

[blnchflr]

The schools thing sound really interesting - I hope it turns out a very good thing for the city's children!

[harpers_child]

the problem with the charter schools is that they only accept students who are already making good grades. students who are average or below average or who have learning disabilities are being left behind. it's a stopgap measure to raise our test scores and look better to people starting families in order to keep our young professionals, but in the long run the charter system is doing more harm than good by attracting the better teachers out of the general public system and not providing for any students but the best and brightest.

i have feelings/ opinions on the subject. didn't mean to babble like that.

[blnchflr]

Well, that's depressing, then - not knowing what charter schools are, I assumed they were about helping those needing better schooling.

[harpers_child]

that's a very common assumption considering that most of the other places with a charter system do function like that. we're just ass backwards here.