Happy Anniversary?

Well, today's the day. Katrina. Today was the day, two years ago, Hurricane Katrina, dubbed the worst national disaster in U.S. history, passed over our city...or I think it was really south of our city. I need to get my facts straight. It bothers me that I don't know the exact play by play of the hours surrounding Katrina's arrival...what time did the eye pass over the city, if at all, how high did the water get behind the flood wall, what time did the flood walls give way?

From my reading I do know that the disaster part of this natural disaster could have been prevented. We know of international examples of state of the art flood protection, and even though each time a hurricane enters the gulf, every New Orleanian discusses the "what ifs" no one ever bothered to bring that protection to our city, resting in a bowl. Seems as though we should have been demanding this some time ago, as we all knew it was bound to happen, right?

So today all of us at home and around the nation are remembering "Katrina," and the disaster she created in her path. I wish people were loudly questioning why this was allowed to happen in the first place, why the Federal Flood wasn't prevented, and why we still don't seem to be getting the protection we need.

I suppose we are tired here. Tired of fighting. That just goes against the "laissez les bons temps rouler" attitude of our city. We have too many lovely distractions to be bogged down in civic duty, right?

Today I'll make a drive through our old neighborhood and try to bring some sort of organization to how it feels to be a New Orleanian today.

The Road Home

Today at 9 a.m., almost 24 months after the Federal Flood, we have a Road Home appointment. The Road Home is the program by which the state is doling out federal funds to help Louisianians rebuild.

We initiated the process nearly 18 months ago, and received out first phone call to schedule an interview in September 2006, 11 months ago. Today, Charlie will sit down with someone, face to face, and hopefully get some questions answered.

I hope to have regular, timely updates as to our progress, but the timeline by which things have happened in the past doesn't give me much hope. Oh, and did I mention that there's a shortage of funding...somewhere in the millions, or maybe even billions?