Whining and moaning extravaganza; New Orleans post-Katrina

[Boo Radley]

You don't need to read this, I'm just venting.  And compared to what other forum members deal with I'm being a big baby.  Goo goo ga ga poo poo (name that movie).

It's been over a year since Katrina hit but less than 1/2 the former population of New Orleans has returned.  There are still miles of wasteland where a few have razed their homes and are building new structures at a higher elevation.  Almost everything closes at 10PM and very few businesses, except some bars, are open 24 hours any longer.  As a bona fide recluse shopping at Walmart or SavACenter at 3AM when the neon lights seem brighter and people re-stocking getting in your way in every aisle is better than facing the regular shoppers.  Household garbage is picked up only once a week.  Recycling is a thing of the past.  My neighborhood is populated by a much wider variety of people (and in some ways trashier... you know, idiot drivers with a base-booming vehicle that rattles the house as it passes at 2:30 AM, people who throw trash on the ground when a trash can is 10 feet away, etc.).

There are many more cars than ever in this area.   When I walk my dogs at busy times for vehicular traffic we often have to wait for 10 goddamn cars to pass and I still need to scream at and prod geriatric Buddy, who walks slowly and sees no problem stopping in the middle of the street if something appears edible (by his definition...).  I walk 4 dogs and only one is on a leash because she's too goofy to listen to commands and darts into the street for no discernible (or any) reason (squirrel, dog, piece of paper floating in the wind, whatever).   I act as a sort of sheep-herder with the flock but they like to spread out with Gracie and Teddy way ahead, me and Boo in the middle, and Buddy trailing by any distance -- he often walks through the middle of the park to meet us as we continue the circuit.   But I digress...

To top everything off I got a real-estate tax bill due 1/31 for $1339 and last year's tax was about $400.  I'll have to live on a credit card for over a month, and my pot dealer doesn't take credit cards.  What makes this tax all the more irritating is it's been overdue for years and if I were still employed I'd complain but would pay it willingly.  New Orleans has always had a ridiculously low real-estate tax and depended on oil/gas revenues (in the distant past) and sales tax. 

And finally, even though I'm pretty certain my Trizivir prescription is ready at Walgreens for a paltry $25 copay, if it's not I'll have pay $24 a pill to cover another few days and rush to NO/AIDS to apply for Ryan White assistance.  And it looks like rain and I wanted to ride my bike...

Also, I have bed hair and it's too chilly to shower, so I'll just wet-comb it --  which always makes my hair look as if there's brilliantine in it.   Ick.  A short Ignatius Reilly. 

Thanks.  As measly as they are I had to get some of these trifles off my chest and out of my mind.

Boo

P.S.  My CD4 count was 220 for December, down from 339 in July, but I'm sure it's a blip.  My worst counts are always during the freezing N.O. winter (currently it's a spine-chilling 61 degrees Fahrenheit).  At least I added one HIV related topic to the droning.

[Dachshund]

Whatever...so what's your favorite position?

[Boo Radley]

Whatever...so what's your favorite position?

sometimes supine, sometimes prone... and variations

Boo

[texasguy]

Hey Rob, I can sympathize with your Post-Katrina assessment.  I had four close friends in New Orleans and have visited the city several times a year for the past 15 years.  So I had come to know and love the city well.  My two Gretna friends ended up in Pensacola, and my other two friends that were in Lower Garden District ended up here in Dallas.  They hate it here!  They are so depressed that they can't return.  They are both on disability income and there's no way they could afford the rent there now. 

I went back for both Mardi Gras and Southern Decadence.  Just wanted to spend my vacation dollars where they would do the most good.  I had a rental car for Decadence and toured the city.  It was so heartbreaking to me.  So much is still such a mess.  Hang in there, here's one Texan that's really rooting for you guys down there!!

- Terry

[Boo Radley]

Terry,

Thanks for your kind response!  Hurricane Katrina is old news to most people and I understand that.  Those who knew what New Orleans was before or see what it is this long after Katrina can understand the overwhelming devastation.  The Associated Press/New York Times has this to say still:

"TUESDAY, JAN. 2:

NEW ORLEANS -- As someone who visited this hurricane-ravaged city in late September for the reopening of the Superdome, it's heartening to see signs of progress as it prepared to host the Sugar Bowl.

Homes have been rebuilt, and plenty of others are under construction. There appears to be more tourists on the streets, and more places for them to shop, drink and eat. The New Year's Eve fireworks show over the Mississippi River brought back pleasant memories of life before Katrina.

Still, the enormity of the rebuilding job is staggering. It will take years to get this city back on its feet -- and it may never be what it once was.

Not far from the French Quarter, entire neighborhoods still look like a war zone. Gutted out homes. Piles of garbage. Few signs of life. One can drive the length of a once-bustling neighborhood street without seeing a single person.

The unevenness of the rebuilding effort is also apparent. I saw one home that had been fully rebuilt, right down to the manicured lawn with an elegant fountain out front, but right across the street was an abandoned house with broken windows and spray paint on the front door.

The most troubling image: A ruined home that had a child's yellow bike and a pile of furniture in the backyard, while a mud-covered teddy bear was perched on the ledge of a shattered window, facing the street.

-- AP National Writer Paul Newberry"

from http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BCS-SPT-FBC-BCS-Weblog.html
 

The humane rescue group I volunteer for has 130 cats in-house caught in the last month, almost every one a domestic cat.  Of course a lot of the new ones are kittens since stray animals breed year-round in the mild weather.  There are still almost 600 square miles of devastation where animals that were pets are still trying to survive.  ARNO spends almost $200 a day providing dry cat food to volunteer feeders when we don't have donated dry food in stock.

The re-population of New Orleans is moving very slowly and our stupid civic leaders (from the city/parish/state all the way to the feds) are sitting around with their thumbs up their bums or something.  We seem to be running as fast as we can just to stay where we are now, with some slipping occuring.

I'm too old to move anywhere else and the only other place in the USA I'd consider would be the SF bay area, and that's not going to happen with SSD and LTD.  My sister is planning to retire early in a few years to live with an old friend in France.  If I spoke French I'd think of joining her. That and the exorbitant cost of putting my 16 quaruped housemates through quarantine are enough to keep me here. 

Thanks for letting me vent more! 

Boo