• Welcome
• Good byes and the reasons for the delay
• the interview with my dad
• The future of New Orleans
• The Levees
• Lakeview, Gentilly and the Ninth Ward
• Katrina and Rita's effect on the Ninth Ward
• Politics
• Sports
• A bright future with new engineering projects and lots of jobs
• Thanks

Thanks for listening to the last 35 episodes of this podcast. Its been great telling you my thoughts every week and talking about the city.

Update: there was an error in the filename of the podcast, fixed now.

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[Terra Nola documents the long-distance love affair between a New Yorker and New Orleans.]

Well, if I hadn't read it with my own eyes I would not have believed it (not that we should believe everything we read). Looks like there is to be a second Camellia Grill, this one in Destin, Florida, beloved by teenagers on spring break everywhere.

As I said to Kelly Leahy, co-blogger here at bloggingneworleans, there can be only one. Even if the reopened version in Nola is doing well enough, the new owner is messing with some pretty serious karma to try and duplicate his success outside of the Crescent City. It was a miracle the Camellia Grill reopened at all given the devastation and destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Why tempt fate?

But, that said, if you're going to tempt fate, you might as well do it in the pan handle. If a greasy spoon operation is going to make it anywhere, it can make it in Destin. Not that Destin is lacking in diners--to the contrary, they're everywhere.

In fact, one of my favorites (besides the Camellia Grill, of course) is the Donut Hole. There are two locations of this fine dining establishment, and I can pretty much guarantee you both will be getting a run for their money once the new CG opens.

As much as I eschew the idea of taking something native to Nola out of it and trying to achieve success with it elsewhere, I can't help but hope the venture is a successful one. If the new outpost is a hit then surely there will be enough money to sustain New Orlean's (dare I say it?) favorite diner.

Either that or the new establishment will be a total money pit that will be the financial ruin of the owner which will lead the original Camellia Grill to ruin.

The thing is, either way, you simply can't recreate the Grill. Everybody knows it's not the food that people really go for. You can get eggs and a side of bacon anywhere--especially in Destin, Florida. It's the people at the Camellia Grill that make it the special place that it is. And I can assure you they won't be popping up in Florida any time soon to make you an omelet.

I don't know off the top of my head how many of the original staff returned to the, uhm, original Camellia Grill. From what I heard some had returned, others declined, and some, of course, we just never heard from again. Who knows what happened to them. Perhaps, just perhaps, fate will bring them to Destin.

My concern is that the owner will turn his attention away from the original CG and spend too much time (and money) worrying about the new outpost. It's a thin line everyone in Nola walks these days given the shaky economy, the lack of people to do the work, oh, and why not--the crime. To step over that line--oh, I shudder to even think about it.

What's even more concerning is that the opening of the new CG is really just a metaphor for what's happening all over New Orleans: everyone is turning their attention elsewhere and setting up show somewhere, anywhere else.

After two years all I can offer you is my exasperation. And, sadly, in a way, my compliance in this matter. When and if I'm ever in Florida again, I know I'll visit the new Camellia Grill. And I'll complain that it's not the original and it's not the same--and it won't ever be the same. And maybe that's the point.

I'll eat the food and hark back to days long, long past when I was basically just a kid eating with some friends after a wild night (or two). I'll remember a time when I actually had the time to just hang out, to relax, to have a good time, without having to think about the future of New Orleans and then feeling bad about the whole thing to the point where I didn't even want to eat my meal anymore. It just felt wrong.

And it will feel so very, very wrong at the CG in frickin' Destin, Florida. But, on a positive note, if I can get myself to the CG in Destin, then I can get myself to the real deal in New Orleans. Hopefully others will feel the same way.

Thanks to Ashley Morris for the head's up.

Photo of omelet (not from Camellia Grill) by nickgraywfu.

Last Saturday, the Common Ground Health Clinic in Algiers Point celebrated its second year of providing free health services to thousands of New Orleanians since its formation in the week after Katrina struck. Clinic supporters organized a block party at the corner of Teche and Socrates where the Clinic is located, serving up a barbecue and music and offering tours of the recently refurbished clinic (see photo below).

In a city with an international reputation for low-quality health care post-Katrina, the two Common Ground-sponsorerd free clinics -- the first in Algiers, the second on St. Claude St. in the Lower 9th Ward -- are much-needed community institutions that have served thousands of people since opening. Ancillary programs like the Latino Health Outreach Program, a spinoff project that serves the needs of non-English speaking residents and workers, also spread the tattered net of social services in New Orleans a little wider.

A staff member at the Algiers Clinic informed me that the Algiers Clinic sees between 20 and 50 people per day of operation; due to limited resources and red tape, the clinic is open on a limited schedule four days out of the week (Monday through Wednesday at various hours, and Saturday 12 - 3 pm). Despite ongoing shortages of medical services in the area, and despite the tremendous need for basic health care in the city, the Common Ground Clinics have had to fight for everything they have.

Judging by the state of medical services here two years after the traumatic events of 2005, it looks like their struggle to provide free, basic health care to neglected or impoverished populations will remain an uphill battle. But the anniversary party demonstrated that the community still needs and supports the services they offer.

At last week's "International Tribunal on Katrina and Rita," one of the more striking parts of the event was the presentation of the second witness on the subject of Women's Rights. Ms. Stephanie Mingo, a resident of New Orleans for 40 years, lived in St. Bernard Housing project prior to Katrina. After the storm, she evacuated with four children and one grandchild in tow. Her mother died on the Gentilly bridge, unable to survive the physical and mental anguish of the storm's aftermath. Ms. Mingo's testimony was powerful and informative.

Ms. Mingo and her family evacuated, returned, and are now staying in the Iberville project. She doesn't like it there and wants to move back into her St. Bernard home. She has worked for the Orleans School Board for ten years -- "not that long" Ms. Mingo says -- and is determined to stay in her home town.

Her stubbornness in staying in a project known as much for trouble as for housing might seem odd to those of us who have never stayed in government housing, but it's the home that she wants to come back to. She loves her job as a food services technician at a local school, and isn't afraid of hard work. As Ms. Mingo said from the witness seat while testifying to the court, "When I tie these shoes, I'm not too proud to do anything." Her home and community were humble, but she managed to raise and put through college three of her kids, and the fourth is college-bound.

Public housing may be the upscale-white developer's nightmare, but a lot of hard-working, disciplined people lived there before Katrina, and want to return to their homes and communities which they are trying against all odds to preserve.

I managed to get by the International Tribunal for Katrina and Rita a couple of times last week, and sat in on the proceedings. The five-day event was meant to draw accountability for federal and local failures and abuses of power in the immediate aftermath of the storms, and was hardly an impartial hearing. Tears shed on the witness stand were many, as those testifying before the panel of judges found that, even two years after the tragedy, the emotions from those days of grief, confusion, and all too often death, are still very fresh.

The witness's testimonies related to a range of issues that affected people during and after the storms of 2005. Organized by the People's Hurricane Relief Fund and sponsored by dozens of local and international activist organizations, the Tribunal was kind of a political dog-and-pony show insofar as it had no pretense of being an impartial assessment of the facts. On the panel were respected leftist activists, including the notorious Ward Churchill (whose remarks about 9/11 led to his July dismissal from a professorship at the University of Colorado) and others from Europe, Africa, and South America.

The tribunal was predicated on the assumption that the government was culpable for much of the chaos and loss that happened after the storms, and the testimonials from each witness -- with no oppositional questioning -- were very personal and direct. Each was angry about something that has affected her or his life since Katrina, whether it's a lack of public housing, a crushed teachers' union, armed vigilantism in Algiers, police brutality, or de facto voting disfranchismement of New Orleanians. To hear the witnesses was to be reminded anew of the anguish that people endured after the storm, and the hardships that many citizens bear every day in the effort to rebuild.

In truth, the government at all levels is responsible for many of the tragedies of fall 2005. Poorly built levees, relief supplies tied down with red tape, lethargic federal financial assistance, opportunistic seizures of schools and rebuilding contracts; for these and many more, the federal, state, and city governments need to be held accountable and procedures put in place to avoid the recurrence of any such tragedy.

The Tribunal didn't claim to have answers for the questions the testimonies raised. Many of the "justices" on the judges' panel sympathized -- lengthily -- with many of the witnesses whose testimony had been particularly harrowing. Some related, through translation, their own experiences in addressing the problems revealed in the testimonies.

I don't mean to sound as if I thought the Tribunal a waste of time, or too politically skewed to have any value. It was very slanted, but it gave people a chance to relate their experiences to an international audience (make that an international left audience) and it offered something more than simply commemorating the anniversary of Katrina and getting back to work. I learned a good bit about how voting rights have become something of a joke in the area, as the displaced tens of thousands of evacuees still can't cast their ballot, for a number of reasons from the practical to the ridiculous.

In other places, such tribunals often look into delicate times in the past, such as the South African commissions regarding apartheid. In Greensboro, North Carolina, a recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission was empaneled to collect witness testimony regarding the 1979 killing of five labor organizers by the Ku Klux Klan (caught on tape, and for which no Klansman ever went to prison). The effect these commissions have on larger patterns of justice may remain an open question, but I personally support each of them. It's quite easy for those in positions of power to want to forget the past, but for the victims of yesterday, there can be no forgetting.

The men and women trapped for days on the I-10 overpass, denied entry to Gretna across the bridge and kept under conditions of martial law, won't be able to forget their ordeals anytime soon. It behooves us all to remember their stories, though, and to learn from their experiences.

Whether or not the International Tribunal will contribute to a restored sense of justice in New Orleans has yet to be seen. We can always hope, right?

Last weekend I drove across town to the Latter Library on St. Charles for it's twice-weekly booksale. As an on-going fundraiser, that branch hosts a sale on Wednesday and Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm. I got a bag full of great books for $7, and afterwards I went back to use one of the library computers.

My computer has been down, so I've been relying on public-access computers -- a somewhat frustrating experience, to say the least. Most public access computers are of limited use, as their advanced functions (like allowing photos to upload, or programs to download) are limited to adminstrative access, not "guest" access.

I'm not complaining about public access computers, mind you. Hundreds of people use public computers here every day, myself included. It's just that my personal use of the machine demands more than basic access (so I haven't been posting too many photos lately...).

So, in the upstairs computer cluster of the Latter Library, the computers are located beneath a part of the ceiling where the plaster is flaking off. The dust coats the processors and terminals, and looks to be fresh. I worked for a while without having any more of the ceiling chip off, and I was going to say something to the staff there, but I figured they already know what the problems are. All the same, they could vaccuum their computers once in a while.

At the main branch of the NOPL, staff there seem pinched all the time. Workers in the archives are understaffed, and even when they have enough people, there are plenty of impediments to researchers and the librarians who support them. Some items are misplaced, some confusingly labeled, and the limits on staff keep them from being able to sort out these difficulties.

I'm a big supporter of the public library system, so I encourage readers who haven't checked out the libraries lately to do so. Use the free wireless available in every NOPL branch (except Alvar Street and the Algiers location, for some reason). And drop by the Latter Branch this weekend and check out the books for sale. The books are mighty inexpensive, and you'll be supporting the library in a continued time of need.

Houses in the Lower 9th Ward aren't considered the priciest or most luxurious homes in the area, but they still have a lot of character. Older houses built by skilled craftsmen of an earlier time benefited from numerous decorative touches that made a house unique. The cornice work, the under-eave brackets, everything was done to make the house stand out.

In the hidden corners of the Holy Cross neighborhood, it's still easy to find these distinctive touches, but after Katrina architectural thieves struck the city in force, ripping out valuable features and rare wood details that gave many homes their charm. Most of these houses survived at least two floods -- Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and, of course, Katrina forty years later -- but it was greed that caused the owners of these homes such headaches.

Here in the photo is the front eave over a house near Jackson Barracks. You can see the discolored spot where the finely detailed brackets used to be, and the hole where there used to be a metal vent cover. The owner of this home replaced the missing parts with cut plywood, but it might be a while before he or she finds a craftsman up to the task of replicating the stolen goods.

Thanks for reading my posts all day. This blogathon helped me write out some of the emotions I've been dealing with over the past year. If you have the means, I'd really recommend it. In the mean time, how about a round up of all my posts from the last day:

12:02 AM - Another 24 hour Katrina anniversary blogathon
1:02 AM - Shelley Midura calls out the president on Katrina
2:02 AM - Louisiana AP Editor's plea for his city
3:02 AM - Six part presentation on the current and future state of our levees
4:02 AM - New Orleans rising through NOLARising public art project
5:02 AM - Dial 2-1-1 for help getting through today
6:02 AM - NOLAvid: Going Back to New Orleans by Deacon John via AOL True Stories
7:02 AM - Times Picayune columnist on Katrina coverage
8:02 AM - "Brownie's Law" by candidate John Edwards
9:02 AM - Watch the pilot for K-Ville online, right here, right now
10:02 AM - NPR's Katrina coverage may make you cry
11:02 AM - How far behind are we, really?
12:02 PM - Sounds of a post Katrina New Orleans
1:02 PM - If you don't drive how do you evacuate?
2:02 PM - Refreshing honesty from Gov. Blanco
3:02 PM - Thank you Weblogs, Inc
4:02 PM - Our recovery is a volunteer backed one
5:02 PM - Memories of Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
6:02 PM - Time for a Katrina baby boom?
7:02 PM - Times Picayune give the Pres what for too
8:02 PM - Remembering Katrina 2 years later around the NOLA blogosphere
9:02 PM - A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge, a Katrina webcomic
10:02 PM - Oprah's people try to hold down Chris Rose, or not
11:02 PM - New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) is available

Earlier this year I wrote up the outstanding webcomic A.D. (New Orleans After the Deluge). I wanted to give them another ping and say how great their story and their format is. You should definitely read the entire thing when you get the chance. The creators of the comic wrote up their Katrina-nniversary remembrance today and offered thanks to all who agreed to have their story told in this format. Just so you know, the story is not over yet and you can definitely get back into it via RSS and more. The comic also features some semi regular audio postings with interviews of the main characters and news about the current state of the recovery.

What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.

Following this past weekend's local blogger conference, Rising Tide 2, many in the New Orleans Blogosphere went home with a need to post what they are thinking out the state of the recovery. I gathered a number of the memorial posts here in a linkdump. Please read each and pass around the links to your friends and relatives.

The Chicory has an open letter to the world asking everyone to remember us and continue to help
First Draft has a remembrance of 2 years ago with pictures of the devastation of the city and a plea to never forget.
B.Rox speaks of a lack of government and the current level of violence in the city of a still displaced population.
Metroblogging gives his simple reasons why we are still here.
New Orleans Habitat for Humanity has a run down of all the housing projects in the area and a reminder that we are still recovering.
Shelley Midura posts to the DailyKos an extended version of her open letter to the President.
Your Right Hand Thief has a round up his remembrances.
N'awlins has a photo dump of the state of housing projects in New Orleans.
Humid Haney wants to know where you were two years ago.
About-neworleansla.com has a story of sadness for what looks to be a now former home.
Daily Kingfish wants all the suffering to not be in vain and to force our governor's race to include our rebuilding.
Squandered Heritage has a reminder of the TP's front page and a call to action.
Suspect Device has an image of the state of recovery and a number of songs about Katrina.
The Katrinacrat has a reminder of the failures of the federal government and a day long blogathon of their own.

What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.

You read Shelley Midura's open letter to the President this morning and felt the power of a councilmember ripping the 'leader' of the free world a new one. Now you need to read the Times Picayune's Editorial that basically does the same thing. the paper does an accurate job of comparing the aid giving to Louisiana and the aid given to Mississippi. It doesn't say 'hey they got to much' but 'hey why didn't we get treated equally'. The number one quote in the Editorial is:

The people of Louisiana are no less deserving of disaster aid because their representatives are newer to Congress or because some of the people we trusted to lead us turned out to be scoundrels.

Yes, the TP is saying what we have been thinking since the first jeer about Jefferson came out of the mouth of a congressman from anywhere else who wanted to make us pay for his mistakes. We do deserve to be treated like the good citizens we are and not punished for our politicians choices. If you give money with checks and balances and realize that one guy isn't going to get it all (hopefully) then you help the recovery. If you hold back and make a blanket accusation of an entire region of the country you only alienate us and show exactly the type of person you are. Of course empty promises by members of the executive branch don't help either.

via E&P

image of You Go Girl by skeletonkrewe found on Flickr

What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.

Perhaps New Orleans should be referred to as a city of the undead rather than housing cities of the dead (the cemeteries). I was trying to dredge up old articles from the New York Times responding to the horrors of New Orleans when I came across this article. The writer was commenting on President Bush's speech from three months after the storm.

Bush had said, at the time, the city would not be forgotten. That he--and the government--was paying attention. The author of the piece pleaded with those officials to do something or the city would die. And maybe it has.

It's been a long, slow death for New Orleans. It's been the kind of death staged melodramatically on the silver screen. Even if one counts up all the money and hard work floating around it hasn't amounted to much. Tourism is still down. The people who made up the city, who gave it its life blood, are gone or going, in the process of draining the city of its life. They ooze out of it like blood through an open wound.

New Orleans has been forgotten. New Orleans is dying. And it's going to take far more than another President to patch up her wounds. What strikes me most about the article is that it's basically saying the same thing we're all going on about now, two years later.

One would think in that amount of time--which is a long time, in many ways--something would have been accomplished other than increasing crime and flushing the economy down the toilet.

Over the past year, many of us in the New Orleans area have finally gotten to a relatively settled place. We have decided what we are going to do during the recovery. We have chosen our new home or our remodeled one. We have gotten new jobs and resettled across Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf South. And now... well I think it is officially time for the first safe Katrina baby boom to start. I know of a number of new families and growing ones that will be adding bundles of joy over the next few months. All of them (myself included) realized after the first anniversary of Katrina last year that... we are finally in an ok place. No everything isn't perfect (far from it), but the city is lurching forward now. The country is at least partially behind us. The hospital system is up and running. The street lights are on and most of the infrustructure appears to getting back in order. The levee system repair plan is coming along. Sure nothing is the way we would want to have it in a perfect world, but we have gotten used to a post-k N'awlins.

What do you think? Did the post-k boom start this past month? Are we ready to move forward (even in the current state)?

I feel more comfortable bringing a new addition in now than a year ago (on a community level as well as on a personal one) do you?

Image via Kelly

What's going on here? Why am I posting so much? Today, in honor of Katrina I am attempting another 24 hour 24 post blogathon.