I scribbled this out on the kindly provided airport vomit bags (I lacked paper). It is mostly reflections about the changes and similarities which I noticed in my work and the city.
The airports are always the same. My organization (EDOLA-ODR*) is getting larger, stronger, and better organized. Every time I go back, things are just a little more impressive and they have helped another hoard of people and yet are continuing to stress about how to perfect the next stage. Rebuilt houses and well-kept lawns are no longer an abnormality. Some entire neighborhoods are coming back, and many more are trying to follow their footsteps.
Of course, you can not ignore the increasing number of empty lots which once held a home. Or the boarded up houses, abundances of for sale signs, lack of governmental involvement or citywide long-term planning, occasional entirely abandoned neighborhoods, and empty houses on every block.
The homeowner’s stories are getting sadder. The once uncomfortable FEMA trailers (meant for 2 people for 1 month) are becoming more torturous for the countless families of 4+ stuck there for the last 18+ months with no other choice. Battles with insurance companies for unaccounted for flood and homeowner’s payments have been replaces by struggles with the government’s promised Road Home money run by an impersonal computer system and uninformed telemarketers.
One of the most dramatic shifts has been from gutting to rebuilding. Gutting gave homeowners emotional closure to their pre-Katrina lives, sometimes more insurance money, easier resale process, and most importantly for many the first step of rebuilding. Last summer and the subsequent breaks, we emptied the flooded homes of the water and mold damaged belongings, tore apart the insides, and cleaned it down to the wooden support studs. Rebuilding is very different and undeniably more positive. But of the 850 homeowners whose houses my program has gutted – our program can only do about 4/month (48/year) which is very fast for construction but very slow considering the great number of people in need. On the brighter side, rebuilding helps a small bunch piece back together their homes and families along with a new life.
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