“General Lee, I have no division.” –General George Pickett
Joe McKeever is Director of Missions for the (SBC) Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. I found his blog via Kathryn at Suitable for Mixed Company. He writes plain facts about the difficulties inherent in rebuilding New Orleans, and he also writes about his hopes for a better New Orleans.
Three times in the last two days, I have had this conversation (or variations of it) with church leaders from other states interested in bringing teams of volunteers in to help us rebuild New Orleans.
The caller says, “Joe, what our church wants to do is for you to match us up with a good church in your area, one that has been damaged and we can come in and fix up. A church that wants to grow and reach its area for Christ, and we can send in our people for backyard Bible clubs and block parties and evangelistic events.”
I answer, “Sounds good. But I can’t help you.” “What? What do you mean you can’t help me. Don’t you have some churches in need?”
“We sure do. We have forty or fifty of them.” “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that the churches that need your repair crews to go in and fix them up have no one living in their neighborhoods. Nobody. They are smack in the middle of the flood zone and the homes are unlivable. For some of these churches, it will be years before enough people live there for them to have worship services.”
This is always followed by a long pause. Then, “Well, what do you suggest?” That’s when I’m able to tell them the choices that are available.
Before I read Mr. McKeever’s blog, I heard a piece on NPR, an interview with a 40-something woman from New Orleans, Sharon White, who was hoping to return to New Orleans and rebuild her home in a part of the city that is now slated to become parkland, not to be rebuilt. Ms. White was completely broken by the report of the Bring New Orleans Back Commission and its plans to turn some low-lying neighborhood, including hers, into parks and greenspaces. The report on NPR made me feel very sorry for Ms. White, but I later realized that the reporter failed to ask some key questions.
Ms. White says she can’t move back to her home because the electricity has been cut off for her entire neighborhood. Is her house otherwise habitable? What would it take to get the electricity turned back on? Is Sharon White planning to use her own money to fix whatever may be damaged in her home? Does she have any savings or insurance money to fix her home, or is she expecting the government to rebuild for her?
She also says that none of her neighbors have returned to New Orleans. Are the other houses in her neighborhood even salvageable?
Then she says that she wants to return to her home even though the area may be vulnerable to future flooding and hurricane damage. If she is planning to restore her home herself, then, yes, she should be able to do so without having the government come in and exercise its power of eminent domain. But if she’s expecting the government to restore her home every time it floods, . . .
Anyway, it seems that right now New Orleans “has no division” and may not for a while.
I think it is like people who are flooded out in flood plains. They can’t really return for their own safety and because the gov’t is responsible for designating the area. Whole towns have been relocated in other areas.
I’m from New Orleans and I still live here (in a suburb called Metairie.) We came back 2 weeks after Katrina on an advanced return permit and have been involved with rebuilding the city ever since. So I’m not relying on the media for info as most people have to, I’m saying this as a native. One of the things few people realize about New Orleans is that most – about 75% – of the flooding occurred in areas that are NOT normally subject to flooding. The flooding was due to levee breaks which were completely avoidable if our corrupt politicians had seen fit to build and maintain the levees. Well, we voted them in, so I guess you could say we’re getting what we deserve. But that’s another story… Right now, the Urban Land Institute, together with the Bring New Orleans Back Commission (the BNBC is basically now a local subsidiary of ULI, made of locals to implement the ULI plan) are about to engage in one of the biggest land grabs this country has ever seen. Joe Canizaro and some other real estate developers are about to make BILLIONS of dollars on the land they will take by eminent domain – much of it previously owned by poor to middle class black New Orleanians who are least equipped to fight back. (See http://www.no3r.com for details on the various rebuilding plans – although the push is strongest for the ULI plan, there are other, better plans.) I don’t understand why the media won’t cover this – it’s a huge story. Maybe they will when the various lawsuits finally get to court but by then it will be too late.
Bottom line: it’s all about the levees. If they had been built and maintained properly we would have had a lot of downed trees, plenty of roof damage, wind damage, etc. but not the catastrophic flooding. Taking these neighborhoods is outright theft.
Thanks for the information, Laura. I wondered about this very question. As I said in the original post, for the government to take anyone’s house just because they don’t like where it’s built, or because they’re participating in a “land grab,” is wrong. On the other hand, to expect the government to rebuild your house after you built it or bought it in a area prone to flooding is also wrong.