NO: They told me to tell you, "We're Dying Here"

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Just got back from 4 days in New Orleans. And that was the very first thing we heard, from our cab driver. When we asked how things were going, she choked up, turned to us and said, "Please, please tell everyone to come back again. We're dying here."

I honestly didn't know what to expect, it being our first trip back since Katrina. I knew the very poor were in bad shape and I knew the French Quarter, CBD, and the Garden District were physically untouched by the storm.

What I didn't know was how utterly and profoundly this has touched the lives of all who lived there. We talked to countless people, young and old, they all wanted to tell their story. We hugged them when they cried, it was all you could do.

But the common themes were:

1. No one has helped them more than they have helped themselves. Neighbor for neighbor, homeless for homeless. Literally sharing their water, food, and beds.

2. They feel that their only chance is to bring tourism back and the rebirth is going too slow to keep people there. Local shops are closing. People are leaving. The displaced aren't coming back. They are starting a grass roots movement to get the new show K-ville off the air since it has scenes of people with machine guns in the Quarter - where in reality there is little problem with crime.

3. They don't know where all the donations have gone.

4. Rents have doubled - taxes have been raised to make up for the loss of so many taxpayers.

5. The middle class is hurting. Their homes damaged, no insurance or under-insured, and the government not making good on their promises to subsidize their losses. Many we talked to had to rent because their homes are inhabitable. Meanwhile their payments have risen with ARM loans - and insurance is now astronomical.

6. Depression is rampant. People have lost many friends who were shipped elsewhere and can't afford to live there if they come back.

7. They truly believe that Nagan, and the government are purposely trying to get them out. That there is a master plan to
cleanse NO. They don't know what the end result is, but they are sure they want them gone.

8. Even the ones who are fortunate enough to have the money to rebuild, may live on a street where no one else is. It is like looking out your window at a war zone - wrecked houses, grass high, drug dealers have taken them over. Many people can't or won't rebuild. The banks don't want them so they don't foreclose.

9. And, they are hoping and praying that a Democrat who cares will come in next November.

Please go to New Orleans, if you can. It will change your heart forever. The food is still great. The music plays on. But they need us, more than I can attempt to express here.

LPYB