Saturday, October 15, 2005

Meanwhile, Back in New Orleans

Gentle readers with attention spans longer than SWNID's have redirected our attention to the Big Easy's plight and destiny.

First, "jb in ca" points out John Leo's excellent summary of the hysterical hyperbole in reporting during the worst of New Orleans's crisis. The problem as Leo sees it was the willingness of reporters, urged on by the likes of the NY Times, to ignore fundamental journalistic practices like not believing everything you're told in order to report the "emotion" of the crisis. With hindsight, the whole matter feels like the rumor-mongering that led to long lines and price gouging at gas stations on September 11, 2001.

Second, "Raymond," the last reader of the Cincinnati Post, sends us a link to a nostalgic but tough-minded story by a NO native, former policeman and retired Cincinnati Post reporter (is there any other kind?). His take on his hometown is pretty clear. We quote a bit:

Since Katrina, reporters and columnists have described New Orleans as a fantasy land, as if the entire city is the French Quarter and the Garden District. They talked of the wonderful jazz and the bawdiness in the Quarter. There is a little jazz, particularly at the famed Preservation Hall, but much of Bourbon Street is T-shirt shops and second-class restaurants offering poor food at exorbitant prices. The only bawdiness comes from young tourists who leave their social restraints at home and feel free to expose their breasts. New Orleans citizens rarely, if ever, go on Bourbon Street.

So what should they do with the neighborhoods, especially the Ninth Ward, left uninhabitable by Katrina?

A few neighborhoods that are not so sodden with crime and poverty maybe should be rebuilt as they were. What I believe should be done with the Ninth Ward will never happen politically: they should plow under the neighborhood, truck out the debris and drastically redesign the ward and its culture.


Meanwhile, our sources tell us that the real heroes of the recovery will be businesses.

Friend of SWNID Roger G, like many Cincinnatians a dedicated P&G employee, has been deeply involved in the reopening of the Folger's Coffee plant near New Orleans. Without FEMA, P&G has brought in the housing, water, power and workers they need to get the plant in operation.

Similarly, the omnipresent voice of AM radio, Roger Oreck, has interrupted his spots proclaiming the greatness of his vacuum cleaners to proclaim the greatness of his company, which likewise has reopened its plant near the Gulf that was shut down by Katrina. Oreck is donating a vac to a hurricane victim for each one purchased for awhile.

So we still hope that sense will prevail over sentiment. We'll assume that businesses will think carefully about what is worthwhile investment in the Gulf, New Orleans included. Government should help people get on with their lives, but that doesn't mean resettling the un- and under-employed back in their pathological neighborhoods.

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