(from Thursday 8/22)
I love New Orleans, and I am here once again. I have vacation time I have to take, I have enough miles to take a cross-country train ride for free, enough hotel points to stay free, and air miles to fly free. The only long-haul east-west train I am yet to take is the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, so for me, this is the easiest vacation I have had to figure out.
That New Orleans has been through hell actually was the deciding factor. Since Katrina (almost 2 years to the day of my arrival), I have felt the obligation to return there and spend some dough. Of the flying, staying, and riding, the only one that I would have been denying New Orleans cash on by doing for free is the hotel, so I decided to pay for that. Since it is the off-season for N.O., the room was relatively cheap, but I think more than seasonality was behind the price. I am no expert on New Orleans, but I suspect that the hotel was cheap because occupancy is still down. I have been to N.O. a few times, and never at exactly this time of year, but I don't recall it being empty like this either time. I certainly don't remember as many empty stores and shops as I saw. That isn't to say that the spirit of the city has gone anywhere - I still felt that certain something - but I can't say that the something was particularly effusive or tied-up in any particular festivity.
This is sad for me. The politics of it is something I think I can largely avoid here since I think it is obvious. Watching this government's response to Katrina was the first time I had ever felt truly humiliated to feel a part of this society. The display of indifference, impotence, and ultimately incompetence of the handling of Katrina is something unique in my memory. To imagine it was all just a set of bad circumstances is something only the kind of person who thinks George Bush has been a good president could imagine. I see him as one who has politicized every single thing within his possible influence. I think that is beyond debate. He has done this from day one and by design. It is Karl Rove's genius. It is why Karl Rove makes the political cynicism of the Clinton's look strictly Junior Varsity.
Is it possible to believe that Bush politicizes every single thing he surveys, but would turn that off in his dealings with a heavily Democrat, heavily poor and black city? For me, it isn't. New Orleans got what he and his supporters believed they observed. I have voted Republican in my life and even identified myself as a Republican. I think Ronald Reagan did some great things. I think George Bush Sr. was & is a good man and not at all a bad president. I believe Bill Clinton (who I never voted for) and Hillary (who I will not vote for unless I happen to be in a state where the election is close in a national election that is close) are unpleasant people, and that Bill largely got lucky in having 8 years of good economy and relative peace. I am not a Democrat. I will not ever be one. I am an independent. I have a progressive streak in terms of what I think government should be like, but I am also conservative in my personal life. I liked Dear Leader's speech post-9/11 and put aside my dislike of him after that until he made it impossible to tolerate him anymore. I am going into all of this solely to try to make the case that I don't come to my feelings about his handling of Katrina solely for partisan reasons. I think one can objectively make the case that what happened there, and what appears to still be happening, is and was deliberate. The destruction of a largely liberal black city isn't something they would ever send an army to inflict or anything like that; but I 100% believe them capable of (indeed, likely to) not missing the opportunity to allow circumstances to do a place like that in. I do believe that they were indifferent from the beginning, and only when it became politically difficult to continue that indifference, did they even make a gesture towards helping. Even in that gesture, there was never any real intent of restoring the life and dignity of the city. Instead, the opportunity was ceased to hobble the city (other than for the desirable types.) The sheer volume of poor, who allowed the Dems to keep a lock on the city, could be dispersed and thereby making it even harder for the state to go Dem. And that is for openers.
Anyway, I am sure many of you think this is all far-fetched. Fine. We can agree to disagree. You can choose to see any damage inflicted on this city to be accidental, or if you are sick in the head, you can choose to see it as having been self-inflicted. My point here is more to simply introduce the idea that I think the city is still hurting and that seeing it makes it hard to delight in the progress that has been made. Our nation has nothing like New Orleans other than New Orleans. It is indispensable to us as a nation I believe. If someone visits and asks which cities they absolutely must see, I can see ways of getting New Orleans in my top 5, certainly top 10 for sure. Each day it operates at partial strength remains a blight on the whole nation I believe. It distinctly bothers me.
If there were any potential upside, it might be that there appeared to be an Abercrombie & Fitch that was shuttered. If there was a way to limit hurricane damage to just that outcome, I think we might go looking for ways to create just such a perfect storm nationwide.
Another casualty of the storm appeared to be the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum. Again, other than for the people who needed the jobs there, it is hard to think of this as being a huge loss. That is super-prime real estate, sitting between the French Quarter and the river (I think it is in the old Jax Brewery building. Imagine if that spot were to find itself being used to showcase jazz - I mean actual jazz; not just the dixieland stuff that feels almost like a parody of itself anymore. Imagine if there was Louis Armstrong in the air, and not just "Oh When The Saints Go Marching In" by Pete Fountain? What if a jazz themed restaurant did better than the Bubba Gump & Hard Rock outlets nearby? Ha! Now I am talking like a crazy man!
As I said, I wouldn't be shocked if August was generally a slow month down there. It is quite muggy and hot. I love that weather, but I seem to be alone in that category. If that is why things were slow, then I can't gauge exactly how things were going. All I can judge upon is the high number of shuttered stores along Canal Street, and even a few deeper in the French Quarter itself. The Krystal Burger was still going. I saw a new Walgreens in the FQ. The Hustler strip club was still going. Even so, there wasn't a huge proliferation of chain stores around. I think of that as a good sign since they love to swoop down and snap up locations when there is a situation like Katrina. They use money earned elsewhere to carve up what they can get their hands on, and then ride out the slow period for as long as it takes (stuff local business can't do on any sort of scale.) I am not suggesting that there is virtue in having another bead/joke t-shirt shop on Bourbon, but better that than Applebees. Heck, I would prefer another branch of Love Acts to a Red Robin.
I myself already own as many N.O. trinkets as I need. I was able to get a few Tabasco products I don't usually see (the soy sauce, and then a new Sweet/Hot sauce), and I loaded up on the chicory coffee and beignets. That is good livin'. I didn't originally plan on walking around the FQ for the trillionth time - which isn't to say I don't love doing that - but there were a few things which made it so this is exactly what I ended up doing; not the least of which was the call of the locomotive horn!
There is the waterfront trolley/streetcar line, which is groovy and merits watching on its own. Then, in a bit of good luck for me, I finally was able to catch sight of one of the little local railroads in the area when a single switch engine from the New Orleans Public Belt went by. To have my bag of beignets, my iced cafe au lait, and the site of a little local engine working the riverfront is one of those nerdy things I totally dig, and which usually make people look at me like I am warped ("is he really climbing up the rail to photograph one little engine putting along when he could turn around and catch a shot of a horse-drawn carriage in front of the beautiful cathedral?")
I love the old buildings, and I took some shots of those too, but since I was visiting the city alone, I finally had my chance to indulge my train nerd/transportation fantasy-tour impulses.
The one big thing missing for me on this trip was the fact that the St. Charles Steetcar Line was operating on a very truncated route, and most of the line was being serviced by bus instead of streetcar. One of the biggest casualties of Katrina was the fact that most of the newer (red) streetcars were completely flooded out, and the only cars that really made it were the ancient green ones used on the St. Charles route. Since there aren't enough red cars to run the Canal & Riverfront route, almost all the awesome old cars are being used to service them and not St. Charles. I was really really hoping to take the St. Charles train all the way around so I could see more of the Garden District and related neighborhoods than I had before.
I suppose I coulda just gotten on one of the buses that are covering the route, but it just ain't the same for me. Not even close. I f'ing LOVE the old green cars (San Francisco actually has one of them on our F Line and I sometimes take it out to my office - it is super cool here too!) It dawned on me that very very few cities in the US still use the old PCC cars or compatible trolleys, but that SF is one of them. I wonder why it is that SF couldn't send some cars down to N.O. - or why the big trolley museum in the SF burbs couldn't send some too. I think Philly still has some surplus cars, and does Newark (these were the last cities I know of that used to use them.) In my humble opinion, the cities that kept a light rail system in place are going to be increasingly happy that they did so. The new light rail cars being built are nice and all, but they got NO FLAVA. Rather than send NO a bunch of dullard rides, I think a form of Trolley Aid should be undertaken to get them a real & operable fleet that retains the funk. I actually was thinking of trying to see if this is something NO would want or the trolley suppliers here would do. Like most ideas of this nature, I get excited about it for a day or two and then forget. Sniff. Who knows.
While I didn't end up catching a ride to the Garden District, I did tool around on the funky Green cars quite a bit. There was a stop by hotel and by the casino and by the FQ, so pretty much when I wasn't hoofing it, I was riding. That is 100% good living.
Since the next day was gonna be one in which I needed to pack up and get going to the train station, I made a quick pit stop for some last minute grub to pack (they had Tabasco-Cajun potato chips that RULED, there was also mini Sweet Potato pie, and a totally boss coconut pie I got - and yes, as you can see, I was eating particularly healthy this trip!) After that, as the sun dropped, I went back, packed, and then headed down for big poker action.
As I always say, I seem to do WAY better at poker when I don't play in one of my local card rooms. I am not sure if big casinos attract dead money or what, but I really almost never lose at casinos, whereas I usually get smooshed at the local card room. In any event, I decided not to put an all night session in or anything. I played for a few hours, started with $100 and got up to about $250. That was a nice little session. As always, I couldn't leave without squandering much in the video poker machines, but I don't mind. Just like when one loses in an Indian Casino, it does seem to go a decent cause. I am no fan of Harrah's, but helping the take at the one in downtown New Orleans isn't something I feel 100% bad about.
If I did feel bad, it didn't keep me awake. I had had a long long day, so I hit the pillow and was out, with visions of Amtrak Engines dancing in my head as I got ready for the trip ahead. In the hours just before a big train trip, I usually am literally giddy in the way kids are on Christmas Eve. As I will relate, there was a large chunk of harsh mixed in with my mellow the following morning, but all is well that ends well. I had enjoyed the day in NO and was looking forward to seeing the deepest south and farthest west our nation goes in the days to follow.
The good living has just begun, as has the bad writing. Updates to follow as fast as my fat little fingers can peck them out.
Posted by rudayday at August 28, 2007 09:56 PM