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Down in the big easy it ain’t so easy
By Charles Martin | July 3, 2008
In new orleans for a coupla days and thinking about how capitalism, even with the best of intentions, can often fail a big place like this.
Katrina wiped her out but it was on the brink prior and no one was looking. I was here in February of ’05, about 6 months before the big storm. There was a pall and layer of grime then. It was what my southern friends found cool about New Orleans. It reminded me of how Dublin is a really cool town if you dig but also with a top layer of malaise.
We walked the streets here yesterday (sorry kids – dad got lost) and I couldn’t keep thinking how Marriot and Omni and Sheraton and The W were all probably thinking about moving on after the lease runs out. There’s a heartbeat in the center of town but it’s fragile. For sale signs are on just about EVERY “condo” in The Quarter. Not kidding — a block can have 100% for sale signs on it.
I think the people that returned are those that had nowhere to go or maybe are counting on a rebirth. This is a city that needed to be in Europe or Canada. The government would have funded the reincarnation and made bank. Our government is too Bush-Myopic to see that. After all, fend for yourself and you’ll feel oh so better after it’s all fixed up by your own hard work. While it’s not the best thing for our society based on open markets and competition, once in a 100 years, we just need to step up and rebuild. After all, Iraq is getting rebuilt and 99.9999% of American’s will never see it.
Here’s a hurricane to you. Go Eauxbama!
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