Related: Big Easy Goes Bust
"Blight dims post-Katrina optimism; Recovery fails to reach some in New Orleans" By Becky Bohrer and Peter Prengaman, Associated Press | August 27, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - .... On paper, the city’s economy appears to be thriving, with relatively low rates of unemployment, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. But in post-Katrina New Orleans, residents’ perceptions of their city’s recovery tends to depend on where they live, their vantage point of it. Swaths of some neighborhoods are sparsely populated, even desolate, and federal rebuilding dollars have provided much of the economic resilience.
While the recovery has been “stronger than anticipated,’’ the city “will still face challenges to long-term stability and prosperity,’’ according to a report released Tuesday by GCR & Associates Inc., an urban planning and consulting firm. New Orleans’s economy is among the healthiest of major metro areas, according to the Associated Press Economic Stress Index, which assigns counties a score of 1 to 100 based on unemployment, foreclosure, and bankruptcy data....
There are other causes for optimism: the overhaul of New Orleans’s long-dismal public school system, an influx of college-educated residents, the greening of neighborhoods as they rebuild, and the elevating of more homes to help protect them from future flooding....
Some analysts believe the economic resilience powered by tens of billions in federal rebuilding aid is unsustainable. Once the money is spent, they say, the tourism-based economy and lower-wage jobs that dominated before Katrina are likely to reemerge. The flow of returning residents has slowed, the cost of living has spiked, and blight is rampant....
Lakeview, which saw some of the worst flooding, has come back stronger than other New Orleans neighborhoods largely due to its relative pre-storm affluence.... As Lakeview residents invested in homes and businesses, government dollars followed. The post office has reopened, main streets have been or are being rebuilt, and a business district is thriving....
But....
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Maybe not getting the paper today was the best thing for me.
It makes me realize how tired I am of reading smiley-faced, agenda-pushing horse s*** like this.
