Nearly three years ago Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans and devastated so many lives and communities around the area. If you visit today you can still see some of that devastation, but there is something much more to be felt when you enter into the city on a nearly 10 mile bridge from Slidell, the pride of a city reborn.
Every French Quarter shop that you walked into had plenty of little reminders that New Orleans was a city to reckoned with, and it was a city that earned my respect. On every street in the Quarter there was so much art, music, and food that it didn't seem like any thing tragic had ever happen to the city. The beignets, French donuts, were still delicious and the Cajun cooking was just as good as my dad described it. The andouille sausage was just as tasty as it looked on the Food Network and Bourbon Street was just as wild as I read about. I actually saw a couple of boobs on just a regular Saturday night.
The night club scene was crazy. The architecture was beautiful. It was truly a city reborn, but in reality, it was just a neighborhood reborn.
New Orleans ranks 2nd of the most dangerous cities in America, and much of the city is still in shambles. It was amazing to see completely renovated homes across the street from hurricane damaged and abandoned shotgun style homes of New Orleans. Some neighborhoods, have in fact, never recovered. A closer look outside of the highly tourist populated French Quarter will give you a look into what the locals see. Crime and poverty are high in the city, and as the New York Times reports, there simply aren't enough cops to patrol. The National Guard still remains in some of the more crime ridden parts of the city. At least 300 troops are stationed in New Orleans to help alleviate the work load for local police. While we were there, at least 4 murders were reported in a single newscast, some of them unexplained. There was no ex-lover or gang related excuse, just murder. A grade school teacher was murdered just a week before we arrived, the reason was unknown and the killer was still at large. I only made it through one newscast before I pledged to stop watching New Orleans tv.
As much as I loved the city and how its heartbeat somehow made its way into the rhythm of my footsteps while I was there, it is a city that has a long way to go.
Reborn it is, but rebuilt? -- not yet.