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Posted by Olwyn Mary on January 27, 2006, 12:15 pm
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I posted this on rcty in answer to a question, and so many were
interested that I thought I would share it with you, too.
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name="O.T. to Rusty (very long)"
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Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2006 16:41:51 -0600
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Subject: O.T. to Rusty (very long)
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Just over a week ago Rusty was kind enough to ask after me. Right after
that my server went into a huff and refused to give me any messages for
several days, and it has taken me until now to catch up.
Anyhow, I am slowly recovering from the pneumonia, but it is taking a
long time. The docs told me it would be eight to twelve months, but you
have to add to that the fact that life is still stressful here in the
(not so) Big (not so) Easy.
I am one of the ones fortunate enough to live on that narrow strip of
land near the Mississippi - the "sliver by the river" - which did not
flood, but it is jam-packed full with returned residents plus recovery
workers - insurance adjusters, construction workers, cleanup
contractors, you name it. There are still only one-third of the
pre-storm restaurants open, and then only for limited hours and with
limited menus; likewise very few grocery and drug stores. All of these
are full all of the time, with lines for everything. Restaurant owners
complain that they are working non-stop but not making any money because
the shortage of labor has sent costs way up. Even fast food places
which paid minimum wage are now paying $8 or $9 per hour. Grocery
stores are generally open 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
You may have seen President Bush on tv last week telling everyone that
New Orleans has recovered and is a good place to bring a family. Snort!
How would he know???? His handlers brought his motorcade from the
airport to St. Charles Avenue in TEN Minutes!!!!! Of course, all the
roads are cleared when he goes anywhere, and I am told sharpshooters are
stationed on every overpass he goes under but still. Even at dawn that
trip takes me half an hour!! Yes, St. Charles has been cleaned up. It
is the city's showpiece boulevard!! Almost all the downed trees have
been removed, as have most of the head-high piles of debris. The side
streets are a different story. It would be an educational trip for
older teens, but the Zoo is only open weekends, the Children's Museum
and the Aquarium are closed indefinitely, as are Charity and University
hospitals.
Then our illustrious mayor and his "Chocolate City" comment. Of course,
he was talking to a Martin Luther King Day audience of about 75 African
Americans, but he knew the cameras were there and should have had more
sense. On the other hand, he has often been criticised in the past for
being "too white". He also mentioned that he didn't care what "Uptown"
thought. Sigh. There are a LOT of black residents Uptown.
The day the Prez was here, DH had an eye doctor appointment in the
'burbs. At first I thought we would have to cancel, as our street was
blocked off by a cop car. All the side streets leading to where he was
were blocked, and I was sorry for an elderly lady who had to park in
front of my house and then walk three blocks to her apartment which has
covered, secure parking underneath it!!
However, I managed to back out of the street, and take side streets and
surface roads instead of the freeway. My way led me through the parts
of Uptown which were also flooded. Shocking. There were all these
$250K, $500K, $750K homes, in a lovely neighborhood, all ruined. You
can see the highwater marks on the outsides. Some "only" had four feet
of water inside, others had ten feet. Some of the two-story ones which
took less than eight feet of water had the ground floor gutted but where
the power had been restored there were a few in which the families were
living on the second floor, cooking on charcoal or bottled gas barbecues
in the back yard or a microwave in the bedroom and washing cooking pots
in the bathroom sink. All of the ground floors and the one-story homes
have been completely gutted. There are still head-high piles of debris
all over the neighborhood, and in one place I had to take yet another
detour because one of them was being loaded onto a big truck. On that
detour into a less well-off neighborhood we came across a house which
had been blown or washed off its foundation piers and was drunkenly
leaning partly on a parked car in its front yard and partly on the house
next door.
After the apointment, it was time to eat. Many of the eateries in the
'burbs which did not flood were destroyed by wind damage. However, I
did find a Shoney's which was open (until 3 p.m.) and with a notice on
the door which gave their new, limited hours and said that they could
only serve from the buffet, no regular menu. We were thankful just to
find food, but when we saw the President of the United States on tv
later that night, telling the world that New Orleans had recovered, you
could have seen the steam coming out of my ears.
It is going to take decades, not years, for the entire Gulf Coast from
Florida to Texas to recover from Katrina and Rita. We cannot do it
alone. If the rest of this great nation wants to keep on having seafood
from our wetlands, petroleum products from our offshore wells and
onshore refineries and the use of our ports to get their goods to market
we need major help.
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
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Posted by Jangchub on January 27, 2006, 1:11 pm
wrote:
>I posted this on rcty in answer to a question, and so many were
>interested that I thought I would share it with you, too.
Sorry to hear this. Most likely Mark and I will never go to New
Orleans again. We normally went once a year. I want to remember it
the way it was. From the people I know who are professional
environmentalists, it is said to be one of the most toxic places to
live in America right now. If I had the money, and I were you, I'd
move out of there till the city was back to whatever the new form of
"normal" will be. The mold and fungal spores are going to continue to
upset your respirtory system.
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Posted by zski on January 27, 2006, 7:52 pm
Jangchub wrote:
From the people I know who are professional
> environmentalists, it is said to be one of the most toxic places to
> live in America right now.
*nods*
I just started working with the National Brownfield Association, and
most of the damaged areas are now classified in the same category as
industrial landfills - and that doesn't include the mold issues.
My heart goes out to you, Mary. I have severe mold allergies and
asthma, and if I went down there I'd be dead within days.
--
------------------------------------------------------
Wendy Z Chicago, IL (Moo)
Wench Wear Costumes http://pages.ripco.net/~zski
Minstrosity www.minstrosity.com
Wench #525 AIM=wendylady525
http://www.livejournal.com/users/wendyzski/
"Though she be but little, she is fierce"
"It's the little ones you have to watch out for..."
"I'm not short - I'm concentrated"
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Posted by Olwyn Mary on January 28, 2006, 12:24 am
Jangchub wrote:
> wrote:
>
>
>>I posted this on rcty in answer to a question, and so many were
>>interested that I thought I would share it with you, too.
>
>
> Sorry to hear this. Most likely Mark and I will never go to New
> Orleans again. We normally went once a year. I want to remember it
> the way it was. From the people I know who are professional
> environmentalists, it is said to be one of the most toxic places to
> live in America right now. If I had the money, and I were you, I'd
> move out of there till the city was back to whatever the new form of
> "normal" will be. The mold and fungal spores are going to continue to
> upset your respirtory system.
My environmental friends tell me that where I live the air is OK. I
figured it must be as the pneumonia seems to be cured, it just left me
totally weak, like a wrung-out rag. On the rare occasions when I have
to go through the devastated areas, or even high up over them on the
freeway, I make very sure the car windows and air vents are tight shut.
Water, however, is a different question. I didn't move back into town
until the water was officially pronounced "potable", but I do NOT drink
or cook with it. When I go into the bathroom in the morning and turn on
the shower, the place smells like a swimming pool the water is so
heavily chlorinated. So, for the first time in my life, I am hauling
gallon jugs of water home from the supermarket instead of drnking that
which comes ot of the tap, and for which I am already paying. Oh well.
I just hope I don't get out of the shower one morning and discover my
hair has turned green!!
Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
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Posted by Joyce on January 28, 2006, 9:45 am
I know what it's like to have that water, although our problem is drought,
and not floods! I, too, bought water for the first time, but then managed
to get a water filter which doesn't need the filter replacing every 20
litres, and are very happy to have clean, chemical-free water to drink.
I do hope your city gets all the help it needs, and it won't be too long
before things get reasonably normal.
Joyce in RSA.
>
> My environmental friends tell me that where I live the air is OK. I
> figured it must be as the pneumonia seems to be cured, it just left me
> totally weak, like a wrung-out rag. On the rare occasions when I have
> to go through the devastated areas, or even high up over them on the
> freeway, I make very sure the car windows and air vents are tight shut.
> Water, however, is a different question. I didn't move back into town
> until the water was officially pronounced "potable", but I do NOT drink
> or cook with it. When I go into the bathroom in the morning and turn on
> the shower, the place smells like a swimming pool the water is so
> heavily chlorinated. So, for the first time in my life, I am hauling
> gallon jugs of water home from the supermarket instead of drnking that
> which comes ot of the tap, and for which I am already paying. Oh well.
> I just hope I don't get out of the shower one morning and discover my
> hair has turned green!!
>
>
> Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.
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