My previous blog post is basically a description of the different parts of New Orleans in relation to how they survived Katrina and how far they’ve progressed. Going through the neighborhoods on the “Death and Destruction” tour, however, has left me wondering why some of the neighborhoods have recovered and why some of them have not. There are many things that could have affected their responses to the crisis, such as geography, population level, isolation level, etc. I can’t help but think, however, that socio-economic class is the only thing keeping people from rebuilding and starting their lives over.
The thing with the restructuring of New Orleans is that the government has not really given any money to individuals to help rebuild their homes. Rebuilding is also expensive and time consuming. The water in New Orleans sat for over a month, seeping into the walls, through the drywall or sheetrock, and into the studs and wooden framing. Mold started to grow because of the persistent dampness (and intense humidity, as Katrina happened in the height of the hot season) and quickly spread to the other not-flooded parts of the house. Even in houses that only had a foot of water on their ground floor, the whole floor had to be gutted, de-molded, and rebuilt. As a result, those who can, and want to, have rebuilt. Those who can’t, or don’t want to, haven’t rebuilt. People whose neighbors rebuild are also more likely to rebuild themselves. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true, which results in pockets of rebuilt houses and abandoned houses in neighborhoods.
The two neighborhoods that we visited first, Metairie and Lakeview, are relatively affluent. Metairie especially is wealthy and is littered with monstrous houses. As a result, these two neighborhoods are relatively well built. There were very few abandoned, or even boarded up, houses in these neighborhoods. There were, however, many empty lots, but since houses in New Orleans don’t have basements, these lots looked like big yards. The difference was that those houses were razed. After Katrina hit, the city government passed an ordinance that mandated that houses be boarded up if they were to be abandoned. Recently, they have even gone so far as to suggest that houses that are in a persistent abandoned state should be demolished. This makes a lot of sense, as living next to a house that is filled with mold and abandoned is not only unhealthy, but also aesthetically displeasing. In neighborhoods where the people are affluent, or at least socially able, the problem houses have been taken care of.
Gentilly, New Orleans East, and the 9th Ward have different social and economic situations. The problems here start even before the flooding. Many of these houses, though they are under sea level, are close to (or on) the ground, are single story, and are built out of wood. In fact, in these neighborhoods, the houses that survived more frequently are the ones made out of brick. Because they were built so close to the ground, these houses suffered more damage than others. They were not built to sustain flooding at all, which is one of the reasons why they suffered so much damage in the first place. Once the damage was done, however, other things factored into their continual disrepair. People who left after Katrina often found better lives in the cities that they moved to. In addition, these neighborhoods were (and are) primarily working class neighborhoods, and many people didn’t have the money to rebuild or repair their houses so they just left.
According to this article (http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/post-katrina-demographic-shifts-could-boost-rebuilding-efforts-i/19609776/), New Orleans, demographically at least, is smaller, less diverse, richer, and older. The article also argues that having money made it easier to rebuild afterwards. Of course it follows that economic agency made rebuilding easier. The people who lived in these three neighborhoods did not have enough money to rebuild and, according to the article, often did not receive insurance settlements fast enough to rebuild. The tragedy is that these people were forced to stay where they had fled too. Almost everybody who moved from New Orleans after Katrina accepts it, but only as a necessity.
While there are so many charities working in New Orleans to help rebuild, it still isn’t enough. Charities can only do so much, and frankly, help like this should not be put onto the shoulders of charities. The government, while is has poured money into New Orleans, has really done very little to help individual people. I’m not an economics expert, but it’s clear to me that the areas with the least amount of social agency were the once least recovered. The problems that existed before are part of problem now. These neighborhoods, particularly the 9th ward, have lived in marginalized conditions for years, and those conditions have prohibited reconstruction. There should have been more government involvement in the process, and there should be benefits of some sort to returning homeowners. Nobody stays away willingly, and since the federal government was part of the cause of the flooding, I think it's only logical to have them take part in the reconstruction of individuals' homes.
Something else that struck me in these neighborhoods was the vacant business buildings. Having no businesses is a major hindrance to rebuilding. Some of these neighborhoods are isolated to the extent that basic goods like toilet paper and food must be bought from across the city. I’m not entirely sure what could bring more businesses back to the city. It almost doesn’t make any sense that there aren’t any businesses, because they would clearly have a lot of business. My sense is that the outside world still perceives New Orleans as a disaster zone. The article points out, however, that more young people are moving to New Orleans, which is a major business attraction. Lets hope that’s the case, because I really think that if there were more businesses, the badly-recovered neighborhoods would seem more appealing.
No comments:
Post a Comment