Third Katrinaversary!

On the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, both of my sisters, like so many other New Orleanians and residents of the LA and MS Gulf Coasts, are packing what precious few belongings they can into their cars and heading out of the area.

GWB already has "top officials" in place from disaster relief agencies. Let's see what they can do better than last time.

Let us see how the 1.8 BILLION DOLLARS spent on the levee systems was used! Many projects are incomplete as of this time. Sandbags and rocks are being moved into place to bolster unimproved and incomplete sections of the levees. Untested ideas are being counted upon to protect the West Bank. The new sections of the levee that replaced the ones that broke in Katrina leave the weak, older sections even more vulnerable.

Just last week I returned from 10 days in New Orleans. We toured my sisters' old neighborhood of Lakeview. Saw the hundreds of now empty lots and dozens of rebuilt homes that are now standing empty as they await new owners. We went on a trip through the Lower 9th Ward. I have been there many times. After months of no growth, the Lower 9th has been completely taken over by the brush. Some streets are completely impassable as the road has been swallowed by the fauna. Houses awaiting demolition are barely visible. We saw approximately a dozen houses that were occupied and another dozen under construction. There are a few dozen that need to be torn down still. And there were THOUSANDS of vacant lots. Whole blocks with nothing at all. We toured this as GWB was saying to an invited crowd "New Orleans is better than ever."

Let us hope that the new house that my sisters just bought fairs well. They have only been in it for 7 weeks. Our mom has not even seen it yet!

Best wishes to Stephanie, Caroline, their friends, and all Gulf Coast residents!