NOLA: Impressions of a Semi-Tourist

Sunday I took my first trip back to the city since the storm...I'd been looking for an excuse to head in that direction for a while, but there's plenty on my plate right now, and I certainly don't want to gawk at the destruction...so I've kept my distance, hoping a semblence of normality would return to the place.

No, I'm NOT a native--neither by birth nor adoption--but proximity (and a few friends/acquaintences) give me a feel for slightly more of the city than purely the tourist areas (hence, my self-description as "semi-tourist"); however, the main tourist drag was my destination this past weekend.

What's a little frightening about the NOLA situation right now is this: as you travel in, at least from the west, you can certainly see some effects from the storm. On the causeway before you get to the west burbs, you can see LOTS of broken or bent trees (and the little place along the Bonnet Carre spillway is gone). Storm damage is evident in the suburbs themselves--blue tarps cover plenty of roofs, the glass building at Causeway is missing some windows, etc. etc.--but even as you head towards downtown the scope of destruction is by no means evident. Schroeder's latest points this out as clearly as anything. And while there's also evident damage in the CBD, it and the Quarter look, well, not bad under the circumstances.

Further, I don't know if it was "luck" or not, but traffic was relatively easy to deal with...and parking was a hell of a lot easier than usual: the lot across from Canal Place was startlingly empty...as was my usual first stop when doing the tourist thing.

The problem is, though--again, as Schroeder notes--is that the areas most affected by the hurricane AREN'T along the tourist path (even if the Grey Line plans or is already running a disaster tour). That and the relative lack of visible damage from the highway coming in from the west might well give folks a false sense as to the city.

Maybe those arriving from the east get a different picture--and like I said, I wasn't down in the city to gawk at the damage--but too many folks who I either know, or read, make it clear that NOLA might have survived, but it is by no means recovered. Yet, people coming in from, say, the airport, and going to the CBD/Quarter, could get a different impression. I hope not, but...

And, I'll also mention that I'm damn glad the city is showing some signs of life--and, if I'm not in the way, I'll hopefully be making more time to get down there...like I used to.

However, again, without a FULL metropolitan recovery, it's not going to be the same. A city can no more thrive without ALL its citizens than a car can run without, say, all it's cylinders.