Just finished our second full day in New Orleans and have observed that which the city wants to show off, all the tourist spots, and that which is not so pretty.
7 years after Katrina there is still much work to be done. We were surprised by the number of vacancies in the office area. There's a 14 story building--the entire building--on the waterfront for sale for $200,000. Unfortunately, it has mold and asbestos and has been vacant for 7 years. Anyone want to buy a building?
The warehouse area has been usurped by the new containerized port so many of the former warehouses are in disrepair, vacant, graffiti plagued, and an eye sore on the water front. There's an entire housing project in the city ready for demolition, but the work is going very slowly. Can't implode the buildings for fear of upsetting the cemetery next door. Most streets have no lighting. Given that the sidewalks are broken, concrete needs major repair, roots have wrecked havoc, and there's almost no street lighting, getting around is not easy.
There seems to be a city that the tourists see, which is lovely, and vibrant. But if you look closely, the infra structure leaves much to be desired. One of our many tour guides said that the city is coming back, and perhaps it is, but much needs to be done to create a vibrant, job growing city. Each tour guide commented on the corruption, the ease with which city officials are 'bought'. We were at first surprised that the tour guides would say this to us, but it was pretty universal and a microcosm of what is happening with leaders around the country and world.
Everyone we've met has been very friendly. There is real integration here with no distinctions, on the surface. There's lots of laughter. This weekend the New Orleans Saints are playing the Dallas Cowboys and it seems everyone is in Saints' garb. We saw tail gate parties set up, cooking begun, at 10 AM this morning even though the game didn't begin until 7:30. New Orleans loves its football team.
We are enjoying getting around using the local Trolley system. It's only $.40 for seniors--we'll take it. Plenty of public transportation which is a good thing as traffic is difficult, parking is very expensive. I'm enjoying leaving the car in the hotel parking lot and using the bus.
We had a super day today beginning with a brief tour, then attending a Louis Prima tribute concert in the WWII National Museum (excellent performances), a movie retrospective on WW2 narrated by Tom Hanks in 4-dimension (chairs move, lights, sound, etc). Early evening we tried Bourbon street looking for a place to hang out, listen to some music. We have decided that we are too old for this neighborhood and will try a more legitimate Jazz scene later in the week. Very noisy, lots of drinking (New Orleans is an open drink city, you can take your drink to go everywhere), not much Jazz early in the evening, too much rock music--loud and not very good. Most of the more legitimate performances don't begin until 8:30 or 9 PM, way past our going home time. We are definitely early night folks.
We are still enjoying the people watching, learning about the city, looking beyond some of the tourist sites. There's lots of potential here, worth a return trip several years down the road.
Tomorrow we may try to get to the Mississippi Battleship tour.
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