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I’m genuinely curious if we’re witnessing the start of a decline, under-rebuilding and exodus that leads to the eventual abandonment of New Orleans. For anyone

I’m genuinely curious if we’re witnessing the start of a decline, under-rebuilding and exodus that leads to the eventual abandonment of New Orleans. For anyone with more local knowledge, how “recovered” was New Orleans from the last major battering? Compared to pre-Katrina? It’s hard to search for decent info between the current news, the Katrina political fallout being dragged through the news basically since the hurricane ended, and the shotgun of SEO “you won’t believe” type articles mentioning Katrina so I can’t just search for a quick answer of my own.

rainbowzootsuit 5y ago
After Katrina plenty of carpet baggers came on down and got fleur de lis tattoos and joined the open mardi gras krewes and ran out the residents with extraordinary home prices that cost less than a parking spot in NYC and "theme park" / museum city regulations and stronger code enforcement. In certain ways it's much nicer, but the ambiance closer to a hollow shell now. I think that Katrina helped get some people out of the city who would have never had the opportunity to leave and that's really the best result. So in some ways it was a net win other than the massive suffering, but the city is still nearly as corrupt and dysfunctional. It's trying to maintain the illusion of what it used to be and freeze that in amber. Posting from new Orleans on a portable generator and fibre internet. Please send fuel. It's been a long day. :)
- Eeeh-va 5y ago
  Can you get to the Northshore? I'm hearing they have gas up there. Parts of Slidell are already getting power back and you might even be able to score a bag of ice. Posting from SE Pennsylvania because I got run out of New Orleans by the unaffordable carpet bagger home prices.
- duskwuff 5y ago
  > In certain ways it's much nicer, but the ambiance closer to a hollow shell now. So, in short, it's the Venice of the United States?
JoeAltmaier 5y ago
In "Bannerless", Carrie Vaughn describes an America that 'ended, not with a bang but with a whimper'. Decaying infrastructure, storms, epidemics, refugees from the coasts until general lawlessness and population collapse. Seems strangely familiar now.
- Eeeh-va 5y ago
  We aren't refugees. It's not the environment that makes us leave because we've been living with it for centuries. The land in South Louisiana has always been ephemeral and we know it. But a good chunk of your gas comes up by way of Port Fourchon. We can't contribute our worth to this country when it's all bought up for airbnb's. We get bought out by Ny and North Califoria, people who can't live on that land. Everywhere has value. It's not something that can be thrown away with a quippy book quote, and you settle back down in your 800 sqft apartment wherever you live.
  - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
    Well sure folks who didn't leave aren't refugees. But New Orleans after Katrina lost a third of the population. Those were refugees.

rainbowzootsuit 5y ago

After Katrina plenty of carpet baggers came on down and got fleur de lis tattoos and joined the open mardi gras krewes and ran out the residents with extraordinary home prices that cost less than a parking spot in NYC and "theme park" / museum city regulations and stronger code enforcement. In certain ways it's much nicer, but the ambiance closer to a hollow shell now. I think that Katrina helped get some people out of the city who would have never had the opportunity to leave and that's really the best result. So in some ways it was a net win other than the massive suffering, but the city is still nearly as corrupt and dysfunctional. It's trying to maintain the illusion of what it used to be and freeze that in amber. Posting from new Orleans on a portable generator and fibre internet. Please send fuel. It's been a long day. :)

Eeeh-va 5y ago
Can you get to the Northshore? I'm hearing they have gas up there. Parts of Slidell are already getting power back and you might even be able to score a bag of ice. Posting from SE Pennsylvania because I got run out of New Orleans by the unaffordable carpet bagger home prices.
duskwuff 5y ago
> In certain ways it's much nicer, but the ambiance closer to a hollow shell now. So, in short, it's the Venice of the United States?

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

In "Bannerless", Carrie Vaughn describes an America that 'ended, not with a bang but with a whimper'. Decaying infrastructure, storms, epidemics, refugees from the coasts until general lawlessness and population collapse. Seems strangely familiar now.

Eeeh-va 5y ago
We aren't refugees. It's not the environment that makes us leave because we've been living with it for centuries. The land in South Louisiana has always been ephemeral and we know it. But a good chunk of your gas comes up by way of Port Fourchon. We can't contribute our worth to this country when it's all bought up for airbnb's. We get bought out by Ny and North Califoria, people who can't live on that land. Everywhere has value. It's not something that can be thrown away with a quippy book quote, and you settle back down in your 800 sqft apartment wherever you live.
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Well sure folks who didn't leave aren't refugees. But New Orleans after Katrina lost a third of the population. Those were refugees.