Priorities

Who would have thought we'd feel the effects of a earthquake and a hurricane in one week...in New York City.  I'm beginning to think it's us.  It was the Katrina anniversary after all, and what a better way to celebrate than to ride out a hurricane  We got to watch and listen to NYC, and the entire east coast, fall into a tizzy with Irene on her way.

Now I don't mean to sound callous, but I must admit I think it's only fair that someone other than the Gulf South gets to experience the fun of hurricane season.  I'm not wishing death or destruction upon anyone, but I'd love someone else to feel the sting of 100% increases in home owners' insurance policies and have to endure outsiders questioning whether a region, their region, their home, was worth rebuilding.  And I thought better to hit here than at home;  always have to protect home.

Hearing the chatter of "this might be like Katrina" raised those protective instincts as well.  Please don't even think about talking about my city.  She's not perfect, but she's mine.  I think the east coast was determined to do it better than New Orleans had, and why shouldn't they I suppose.  There is a lot to be learned from our experience.

Charlie and I have a few things to teach folks about riding out a storm though, beginning with getting priorities straight.  Charlie was able to slip into the market minutes before they closed on Saturday.  He found the water shelves empty...

But he was there for beer.  We didn't want to be stuck in this apartment with two children and no power without beer.  Seriously.

Luckily we never lost power, and our beer stayed cold.  Lucky for the city, the hurricane didn't make much of a showing here.  Some street and basement flooding and downed trees, but all minor stuff. Our little island in the East River, east of Manhattan, had a handful of large trees down and with high tide water lapped over the edges of the bank.  Today public transportation is back up and running and most of the city is back to business as usual.

Picture taken this morning

Charlie was thankful we didn't have a yard and house to worry over with this hurricane. The car was already parked high in a garage, so that wasn't a concern.  There were no insurance papers to collect or photos to pack or discussions about when and where to evacuate.  No time was spent dusting off the generator of filling up gas cans.  All good stuff.  But I sure wish the beer in the fridge was Abita.

The Road Home Update

We got our gold letter today offering a compensation grant of $26,000.

Wow.

What to do? What to do?

The Road Home offers several "options", but as we see it we really have only two...

We can accept the grant and agree to live in the home for a certain period of time. I think it's five years but future buyers could agree to carry out the remaining years on your contract. Point is, it can't become a rental.

-OR-

We can sell the house and assign the grant to the buyer.

So really it's only one option because we can't stay in the house for five years, and would potentially have difficulty finding a buyer to carry out the remaining years on the contract. And I don't think we could sell our current home quick enough, regardless.

In hindsight, it would have benefited us financially to sit tight and remain in Broadmoor. But we acted under the duress of post storm chaos and really just wanted to feel we were moving on and doing something to "fix and control" our situation.

So here we are, with three homes, that we're going to have a hell of a time unloading. Here's to life lessons, right?

730 Days

On Napoleon:

Still sad
At our loss
Still mad
At the Corps
But so glad
For the Volunteers
Thank you all

The Times Picayune did several stories on the lack of progress and the destruction that remains, but the front page on the anniversary featured stories of thanks and hope. Thanks and hope. Yes, I see it, but I also think we need so much more, and those we need from are not providing.

You can look back at my post 365 days ago to compare to last year and the year before.


Our house looks great. The tenants keep it looking good. Well, as good as three twentysomething boys can do.

And the rest of the neighborhood is coming along as well.


Last year at this time, 4 houses of 11 had full time occupants. Now, we're up to 6 of 11. Last year we only had about half of the houses in repair mode and the houses directly next to ours on both sides had not yet been gutted. Today, one is rented and the other is almost ready to rent.


Each house except for Sam's former house next door, has improved their look in some way. Unfortunately some improvements are in bad taste such as the massive house across the street being painted black. Charlie thinks it must have been a deal on the paint, but a black house?


Despite eight feet of water on our block, only one house has been raised, as you can see below.

This house still needs more work. There have been two real estate transfers on our block, and the new owners of both locations are doing a great job.

730 days later we have had our first appointment with the Road Home and are now thinking about selling our home. Hopefully we'll find someone who buys it to live in it, because that's really what the neighborhood needs.

While there is progress in our pocket of the city, it is so surprising to see so little progress elsewhere. And I'm not just talking about the Ninth Ward where many home owners had little cash flow. Lakeview is still desolate in many areas. There are blocks and blocks of darkness when driving through. I haven't been through the East in some time, so I don't know what progress there looks like. Perhaps a visit to the Vietnamese market is needed this weekend.

I still get teary when driving through some parts of the city and even thinking about it now makes me feel a bit numb. Sometimes I think we've painted a rosy picture for ourselves that doesn't really exist. I hope we're all working to shape that picture, being active as much as we're able, and not backing down. It's tiresome. I wonder if other cities feel the same way.

But, New Orleans will go on. I don't doubt that.