The city of New Orleans is attempting to analyze the current population by sending volunteers out to every
part of the city where citizens are permitted to enter and determine how much time they are spending there in
order to allocate the city’s limited resources where they are needed most. My friend and I were assigned the
area from the London Ave canal to the I-10 which is Gentilly. In this area, most homes were destroyed.
Some are salvageable while most wood structures are devastated. We found only a few people out there and they were gutting their homes, piling debris in the front yard. It was encouraging to see workers out there with heavy machinery and utility trucks. There were pockets where we saw no one. It smells of flood. It’s very creepy and quiet and very sad.

The survey is very routine and mundane if you are in Uptown or in the Marigny where you don’t feel like you might be forgotten but to ask these people some questions pertaining to how many people are staying overnight or searching for employment just seemed irrelevant in the middle of an empty, smelly neighborhood with dead foliage and no electricity. Once you get the ‘not staying overnight’ question out of the way, you might as well stop. But we are required to cover all points so the entire survey is consistent citywide and we do. We had to visit each address three times. Some people were sort of disgusted because they need immediate help. However, they understood that we had to ask all the questions. We did get a report of one guy with a trailer and gun who was ‘living’ there. Personally, we asked people if they were planning on coming back some said yes and some said that they just couldn’t make the decision until they knew from their insurance and more about the neighborhood in general. Would they be bulldozing? What is the sense in cleaning up if the city decides they have to raze much of the neighborhood?

If you are interested in helping with this survey, they are doing it every few weeks and can use more volunteers.
I drove my own car and thus, donated gas, just so you know. They sent along a National Guardsman with us which was really cool. He was from Harvey and very sweet.

To Volunteer:
Most directly you can contact Nathaniel via e-mail at : oem185@cityofno.com

For more broader inquiries about helping out you have a couple options.
Check out this website:
http://www.bringneworleansback.org./

You can even call the Emergency Operations Center to see if there are any other projects you can help with :
504-658-2210

You will see interesting things, I guarantee you. For example, there was one empty house along a major street where the only thing in the house was the Christmas tree in the picture window. We also saw a bright shiney Santa in someone else’s gray, dead yard on top of their pile of debris. The most important thing I learned was that people were encouraged by us being there. The more people they see paying attention to them, the better they feel. It’s a neighborhood after all, just like yours.

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