New Orleans and Katrina Recovery efforts
 

The city is showing signs of rebirth nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, but a lack of health care and other services and a dearth of affordable housing could stymie a full recovery, according to a study released Wednesday.
ABC_NEWS

Recovery efforts very slow
 

i grew up in hurricane country on the Texas coast. It never took long to recover from a hurricane, even the bad ones, usually a matter of weeks. Most things came back even better than they were before. I was shocked to visit NO last month and find things looking as bad as they do. Please check out my photo gallery in the Friends of New Orleans Group if you are interested in seeing some current pictures.

I suppose hurricanes are one thing.. and having a WHOLE city underwater for weeks and months is something else all together :-)

I was down in New Orleans this past April for the Jazz Fest. I found signs of improvements and recovery.. Surrounded by signs of devistation and descrtruction. They do have a way to go, and I hope they make it. New Orleans has been a favorite destination of mine for many years.

Flooding the real problem
 

Yes, it is the water that does the most damage. Hurricanes caused flooding in my area as well, but it didn't sit in a "bowl" that it couldn't escape. The surge might be destructive, but water that doesn't recede keeps on damaging things. So your point is well taken.

yeah, the damage is bad enough...but the city has bigger problems, such as it's racist moron of a mayor, and it's facist gun-grabbing toadie of a police chief.

Politics
 

I was disappointed, but not surprised when Nagin was reelected. I was hoping they might elect Landrieu who is at least intelligent and knows the system. I think it was a close election. The city as well as the state has a history of electing people more on the basis of their flamboyance than on ability. After the general fumbling of the ball after Katrina, I had a little hope that might change.

I used to watch the city council meetings when I was a New Orleans resident. If you've ever watched Jerry Springer...it was a lot like that.

I am not very informed as to the current police situation. But I know there has always been corruption there.

I too was disappointed, but not surprised. I heard that Nagin came from the cable TV industry which might explain a few of his background traits in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of monopolies like cable TV operators with their franchises granted by city governments.

The mindset of a "public utility" (even when it is actually private) is one of entitlement. I can understand when some underpriviledged citizens are "entitled" to free perscriptions or other government entitlement in a moral and caring society, but when huge (and I mean really huge) conglomerates are also entitled (buffered from reality) to "earn" guaranteed revenues, then you know the middle class is going to be screwed. Therefore to slide right into public office is not surprising to me at all. I trust Nagin about as much as I trust "the cable guy" to do a good job, which isn't saying much.

cable analogy
 

That is not a bad analogy. I think things like provision of utilities should be open to competition. Comcast just bought roadrunner, so we are forced here in Shreveport to use Comcast Cable which has a terrible reputation from what I have heard. But we are stuck with them, no matter what.

Very true. Where is the "choice" and "competition" for broadband Internet? The government (fed, state and local) seems to feel that competition is only needed between two competing technologies, not within each technology. For example, DSL vs Cable. But certainly not Cable vs Cable which would require two roosters in the same hen house. Not going to happen. Funny thing is that both Bell and cable know that wireless is the future. For a true lesson in business, just sit back and watch how this "duopoly" takes over that realm as well in upcoming years (with the help of legislators). Its amazing what a few hundred lawyers lobbying in Washington can do for a company.