In the raucous French Quarter, about a half-mile from
where Nagin made his announcement, businesses were getting up and
running, and bars were serving cold beers to National Guardsmen and
passers-by.
A sign against US President George W. Bush and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) is hung in front of a house in the Algiers
neighborhood of New Orleans, three weeks after hurricane Katrina hit
the city. Hurricane Katrina's relief supremo urged New Orleans to hold
back on plans to let tens of thousands of evacuees return home from
Monday, warning the storm-wrecked city remained unsafe.(AFP/Omar Torres)\ Poll: 43 Pct. of Evacuees Want to Go Home
Forty-three percent said they want to move back home when they
can. About the same number of evacuees — 44 percent — said they want to
permanently relocate, and most of them wanted to stay in Houston, said
the poll published Friday.
The slow response to the storm strained faith in government. Six
in 10 said the experience has made them feel that the government
doesn't care about people like them.
But their religious faith has been strengthened, eight in 10 said. And 90 percent were hopeful about the future.
More than half of their homes were destroyed. Two-thirds were renting their homes and a third were owners.
Almost three-fourths don't have insurance to cover their losses.
More than half didn't have health insurance, a usable credit
card with them, or a bank or checking account from which they could
withdraw money.
Nearly three-fourths heard before the hurricane hit that an evacuation order had been given; a fourth did not.
More than two-thirds said they didn't evacuate because they
didn't realize how bad the storm and its aftermath would be. More than
half — 55 percent — said one factor was that they didn't have a car or
a way to leave. Source: San Francisco Chronicle
I just got off the phone with Mayor Ronnie Harris of
Gretna. I'm still reeling from the conversation, so all I can do is
report approximately how it went.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the US and to the Republic for which
it stands. What this sounds like is that both the Gretnans, and every
other American around the country who defends them, have already given
up on the idea that we are 'one people' who are in the same boat
together. Others would say that the relief efforts is counter-prevailing evidence, which is also true.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Superdome
became a symbol of relief efforts gone wrong, a scene of heartbreaking
misery
for thousands.
There is intense irony in the Superdome becoming the symbol of the
horrors of Hurricane Katrina. In New Orleans lore, it's a haunted
building - a cursed structure in this city that lives shoulder to
shoulder with its Cities of the Dead. Similar
to the Boston Red Sox
Bambino curse and the Chicago Cubs billy goat curse, the Saints teams,
that play in the Superdome, have always been very unlucky. The
Saints
football team has had to live through 'Black Sunday', 'Big Ben', the
Botched
Extra-point, Bungled drafts, the Ditka disaster, a total of three
decades of
futility and heartbreak.
And local lore is that the Superdome was cursed . . . a punishment for
desecrating this City of the Dead. Exorcists and voodoo priestesses
have been used to dispel the curse. That lore will no doubt expand into
an even more gruesome story for buggy drivers in the Quarter to enchant
their passengers.
Today's New Orleans visitors can't visit the old Girod Cemetery. Abandoned for years, its
iron caskets and bones were tossed up by excavation gear in the early
1970s as the crews moved in to build . . . the Superdome. Beneath the
now-shredded roof and the fetid stinking mess of excrement and blood
where tens of thousands huddled in storm and flood . .. and some died .
. . likely lie even more unexcavated bones.
What to do now with this building? No decision has been made about the future of the iconic city structure,
and the manager of the domed stadium expects it will take more than two months
to get a damage assessment and determine whether the Superdome should be
repaired or razed.
The last storm victims stuck at the Superdome climbed aboard evacuation
buses Saturday, leaving millions of dollars of damage behind -- a flooded field,
overflowing bathrooms, a sea of garbage up to 5 feet deep and a wretched
stench.
Three large holes marred the roof. In all, about 70 percent of the roof
failed. Water poured into the building during the storm, along with debris.
Elevators, escalators and ceiling tiles were damaged. Two inches of water
were on the field in some places, and the entire surface on which the New
Orleans Saints play their football games must be removed. There's damage to seats, bathrooms and other interior areas from the
thousands of evacuees who were stranded in the building. The Superdome
was used as a shelter of last resort for those who couldn't
scramble out of town ahead of Hurricane Katrina, but it wasn't equipped
with
supplies for those stuck there. Buses took days to arrive and finally
move
the people out.
The manager estimated repairs to the building would be a minimum $100 million,
but demolition and construction of a new stadium could cost between $500
million and $600 million. Finances aren't the only considerations though. There are psychological
ones, too, Thornton said.
Many likely will remember the Superdome as a haven for misery and despair,
but the building is also a 30-year-old icon to many New Orleanians that could be the
symbol of recovery from Katrina, he said.
"There are a lot of good memories in the Dome: Final Fours, papal visits.
There was a president nominated there,'' he said."Certainly, there are a lot
of good memories, as well as the bad memories.''
The Saints team during it's history has tried to ward off the curse by changing stadiums,
playing surfaces, coaches, players, uniforms, training camp sites, all without much success."
Something else the Saints have yet to change: Their name. And retired
kicker Tom Dempsey is among the legions familiar with the idea that
using Saints as the team's nickname, "pissed off the Almighty. But I'm
sure he would do worse than cause us to lose football games if he was
mad." Enough said.
There is intense irony in the Superdome becoming the symbol of the
horrors of Hurricane Katrina. In New Orleans lore, it's a haunted
building - a cursed structure in this city that lives shoulder to
shoulder with its Cities of the Dead. 
