Back From The Big Easy

I just got home tonight from my week-long trip to New Orleans. The trip was by turns wonderful and depressing.

Caught up with old friends, celebrated my birthday, and was interviewed for this month's episode of Timecode:NOLA. (You can view the podcast of my appearance on iTunes. It's episode 302, and I talk about the making of my film Potter's Field.)

Complaints about FEMA money, SBA loans, getting screwed by Entergy, and the increasing cost of living seemed to dominate most of the conversations I had with people. Most of the rents have doubled or tripled since the disaster and are now comparable to the rent here in New York.

A whole new population of Mexican migrant workers have moved in to work construction and odd jobs since a lot of the residents haven't. RV units and tents are scattered all over the city. Contractors from Texas in trucks and SUVs constantly cruise the wrong way down one way streets.

The days after Mardi Gras used to be when the city was at its cleanest, having undergone all-night clean-ups that scrubbed the town of its pre-lent filth. There was no such clean-up this year and as I was leaving today the streets were as dirty and covered in Mardi Gras beads and trash as they were during the festivities.

But Mardi Gras was a necessary diversion from the constant battle to stay afloat. It was the one time people stopped wondering who was going to fuck them over next and took time off to try and have a good time.

There's a delusional quality about New Orleanians, and in the face of constant adversity they swear things will get better and plow through the day. That's admirable, but it will be many years before the town gets back on its feet. The vultures are still there, picking at the bones of a dying city. The idea of raising rent on hollowed-out homes from $400 to $1300 completely baffles me, but it is that rampant irrationality that drove me out of the town in the first place.

It was overwhelming. Several people I talked to had been charged hundreds of dollars for energy they didn't use while the town was evacuated and they were shuffling from town to town waiting to return. Entergy says they'll be credited the money, but if they don't pay it up front, they risk damaging their credit.

ugh.

Aside from all that it was wonderful to see my friends again.
And to take a long shower with actual hot water every day.