Hurry up and wait
While more and more people are returning to town and more businesses are opening back up, I’m seeing a tremendous slowdown in the activity in some parts of town. It has been particularly noticeable to me in much of Mid-City and in parts of Lakeview, which were piled high with debris 30 days ago. Drive down any street and you’d see folks working to rake out the moldy wallboard and other crapola. But now many of those debris piles have been picked up and the workers have moved on to other work elsewhere in town. Believe me, there’s no shortage of things to do.
This leaves entire neighborhoods with occupantless buildings, often without doors or windows, waiting for the Next Big Event — which will be bulldozing or repair. The owners of too many of these buildings, be they home/business owner or landlord, find themselves waiting for their own Big Event — which is arrival of an insurance check, a city inspector or some other needed something before they can do any more. So, as we head into the final 10 days before Christmas, more of the city appears to be going into a giant holding pattern.
I’m no insurance expert or disaster recovery consultant (like the now-very-experienced Mr. Brown). But it seems to me there should be a much faster way to get money into the hands of those who need to move forward. Recovery IS going to be a long process (one of the very, very few things the president and I agree on), but it seems to me those of us who desperately need dollars to get business moving again should be able to take advantage of some kind of expedited process instead of haggling like vendors in a Casbah market.
But there I go dreaming again.
Related posts:
I was thinking about this very thing. People are in a holding pattern with nothing to do. They’ve gone as far as they can go on their own and now they have to wait for the slow churn of fate to catch up with them. If I might suggest, perhaps, everyone that’s in town on a holding pattern go down to City Hall and harrass those fucktards.
Ya know, come up with a name, make signs, yell profanities….it’s just a thought.
I’m taking more of a vigilante approach myself, saying fuck City Hall, fuck Entergy, fuck the whole lot of ‘em. They can’t get their shit together so the power is coming on at my house this weekend when I turn it on myself. Once that’s done I can start making real progress. Unfortunately that’s the only way to get anything done right now– do it yourself regardless of what the laws are. Nagin probably won’t get re-elected, Entergy is broke and not getting bailed out by the feds, so I really don’t see any point in following the procedures and guidelines they’ve laid out for us.
I’m kinda at the point Chris is. Playing by the rules ain’t working. But I also would like to see a pitchfork-and-torch crowd at City Hall or in Baton Rouge. It’s the anarchist in me.
Hey Jack,
Nice sentiments, remember they are politicians, it’ll only piss’m off!
Laurie
If I may:
There are many dozens of solid, verifiable independant contractors across the country who would come to this area, pretty much self contained and willing to help for fair wages. They are in a big hesitation mode for much the same reasons as you have cited. They look at the level of confusion much the same way as you do.
I’m not talking about multi-level monoliths looking to make millions, but small guys/gals who can do a variety of things. The fixers and shapers and makers. They might have the heart to do so on a volunteer basis but the reality of their own almighty dollar says no. And getting signals that there is an insurance and or government impasse stops ‘em cold.
Short story - I’ve got a carpentry business of my own, a big truck load of tools, a sleeping bag and liability insurance. I’m not 20 years old and the wife is used to these long term projects. Tell me, or several hundred others like me, that we can winter over in New Orleans, make a living wage and have a cold beer or two and we’ll be right there.
And I can’t tell you, in the meantime, how much I admire your guts in the face of all this.
What I want to know is, where’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition?” They could shoot 2 full seasons in the next year in New Orleans alone with just the one crew.
Better yet, “The Rebuilding Channel.” All rebuilding, all the time. 24 reality shows, some focused on businesses, some on families, some on utilities, some on government. That would be way better than the “Ed TV” concept just because you could run 25 to 100 different reality shows a week that people could follow. You’d be able to specialize for all kinds of different demographics.
New Orleans wouldn’t even have to be the focus of every show. There’s plenty of natural disasters every year to cover. Fires in California, catastrophic storms all over the globe, earthquakes, tsunamis, you name it.
So there’s a billion dollar idea right there for the taking. I’ll even publicly renounce my rights to it here and now to remove a production barrier.
Austalian Attacks!
Any One in Melbourne?…
Pass it down.
A Non - Violent Protest Against Racist Attacks will be held - Friday,
16 of Decembre’ 2005 at 5p.m. Bourke St. Mall.
Pass it down!!
Laurie