Day 8 NaBloWriMo Blight

Dead House Walking ~ a lot of the blighted homes in New Orleans are housing rat populations.. enough rats that they (the ones with the long tails, not the politicians, I know - small detail but it makes a difference) "they" might just pick up the house and move it. At this rate, the rats would make more of a movement than the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority.

Five years and counting and still there are vacant homes with tree high weeds and rats and heaven only knows what else lurking behind the empty windows. (I'm just wondering if there are still refrigerators harboring rancid food ewwwww.... in those homes.) Health risk anyone? Like the smell of human waste and damp rot stench coming from the walkway of the door.. you don't even need to go inside, it hangs in the air like heated fog. Neighborhood quality concerns?

There are neighbors who are working hard to bring back the city, moved back home, demo'd and rebuilt... living next door to hazardous households.

New Orleans has so much potential. There's so much to offer. It's as though some areas are squandering our beautiful heritage.

Mayor Ray Nagin was supposed to "complete the task by August" (2008) to demolition the homes. I read somewhere that the demolition was halted because the home owners weren't notified properly. Ehhhhh..... really? The house is flood-wrecked. How hard can it be to get the word out? Didn't a Federal Judge mandate that a list get put on the Web so that people look up their home addresses and find out what the deal is? I hate to say this, but there are evacuees that found new homes and have disappeared and don't care and won't put in the time that red tape demands to get the home renovated. Sort of like someone dropping off a vehicle to the finance company because they don't plan on paying any more for it. The house is empty for 5 years, get a clue already.

Now, I do have to add... There are some residents who don't know what's going on, what is reliable, etc. This is our government for you. They can't even get the message out consistently and quickly. That said, I'm not shouldering all of this on the government.... for the folks who still have the rights to the property, get off your duff and DO something - weed the yard, take out the trash. If you know your property has a home that is in imminent danger of collapse - there are people and companies that demo - dammit, take care of your property and the safety of what was once your neighborhood. Otherwise, don't cry about the government accidentally knocking down your house because it looks like crap and they thought it was a demo home. If you want to keep it - take responsibility for it and show some pride in it!

Danny, the Best Man at our wedding ~ his Mom's home in Kenner was destroyed by Katrina. It was sad, very sad to see his childhood home in such a condition. He brought is Mom to Texas where he lives, but was that the end of it? No, he took on the work, effort, planning, etc.. and had a demo crew tear down his mom's house and he rebuilt a house to put it on the market. THAT is how you handle business.

We need to move forward with rebuilding New Orleans. Greg and I were talking about this the other day.... Metairie doesn't have a mayor. Less red tape and confusion that way. LESS government.