Final Thoughts

After the storm much of the discussion centered on the poor response of government to the crisis and whether or not it was a good idea to rebuild a city that sits below sea level. New Orleans will never be the same as it was but it's on its way back and having spent some time there I'm glad. It's a wonderful city and there's no other place like it. It can be crooked and lawless at times but it has a love of life like no other. The music, the food, the art. New Orleans knows how to have a good time.

Post-Katrina New Orleans is both blessed and cursed by its unruliness. City servants have been loath to explain where millions in Clinton era levee improvement funds disappeared to. Many disappeared themselves when the city needed them most. The Feds have balked at shelling out money to people with the kind of financial irregularities needed to survive in an environment like this. Those who have returned and rebuilt are still struggling. The whole interlocking web of businesses and services that make a city function aren't all the way back yet.

But New Orleans is in the bones of the people who live here and anywhere else is exile. One can feel the spirit of the city in those who have returned and those who have come to help. The people of New Orleans were wonderful while I was down there. Even though the hundred or so houses Habitat builds is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundred thousand or so that are needed, it means a lot to them that people from around the country are willing to come and help. One only hopes that the lure of cheap properties doesn't turn the city into an investment bonanza at the price of its soul. Only time will tell.

The most disturbing question is that there has been no discussion of how to deal with emergencies of this scale in the future. We have no better idea now of how to marshal our resources or who should be in charge than we did before Katrina. What role should churches and other charities play? Should Federal State or Local government take the lead? The people of New Orleans and the gulf remain unheard and their experiences forgotten. This is the continuing tragedy of Katrina. At some point, another disaster will hit and as far as our preparedness is concerned, we haven't learned anything. It's as if it never happened.