prytaniawaterline.com Blog

The weekend was very relaxing for me, I managed to get some exercise which always makes me feel beter. I was also able to get some rest after a long week of craziness. Gustav spared teh city for the most part causing inconvienience but sparing us from catastrophy. I am ready to go back to the office this morning, working form home has started to bore me, I should be pretty busy today. I am hopeful that Ike is going to miss us, at this time it looks like it wil go west of us maybe causing some bad weather here. Of course thes things can change. On the news the mayor is talking about changing the re-entry plan to the city. My plan is to come back 24 hours after the storm has passed. The dumb ass mayor doesn’t get it, you can’t start hurricane recovery without poeple in your city. Maybe next time I won’t be as eager to leave. The Saints won a really exciting game yesterday giving everyone a feel good moment after a long week. Lets hope we don’t have to go through it again this week.

I was able to get on my bike today and pedal on the levee. It was great, I went farther than I normally do, I needed some extra stress relief. I have pretty much gotten myself back to normal, I rounded up groceries, and cleaned up what I needed to. I have been working from home, there hasn’t been that much to do. Most of my co-workers are still coming back or are cleaning and repairing their property. Lost power at one point for about ten minutes, it really worked out to my advantage. It sent everyone outside, I now have an invitation to dinner next door. Good fortune seems to follow me around and I really appreciate it. I know that there are so many people who are suffering from far worse conditions than I am right now. I do know how it is, I came back willing to face those hardships if I had to. To all who are still not okay I wish you the best.

Some photos from my morning ride.

Tree down in the park.

Branches litter the sidewalks

Broken Power pole on River Road

The bridge this morning

The Trail was empty this morning

There is traffic on the river

As I watch the news this morning the stories are about people still coming home. I would be climbing the walls if I were not already back. That is the power this city has over me. Going on a vaction or trip that keeps me away from home is one thing. Being forced to leave by a storm or your government is another all together. With the minimal amount of damage that New Orleans sustained I do not understand the Mayor’s reluctance to let people come back on Wednesday. If there had been water in the streets or significantly more damage I might understand, but that is not the case here. The major problem here has been power. The power system was still fragile since Katrina, if Entergy tries to tell you it was in tip top shape before Gustave hit they are not being honest. I know in my old Prytania street neighborhood some power lines have been drooping for three years. To not allow people to come back because they don’t have power should not be a call by government, it is a personal decision. If I want to come back and be hot and miserable that’s my choice. Recovery after a hurricane or other natural disaster cannot take place if the people are not back. That should have been painfully clear after Katrina.

As far as how things went, I was pleased that there was no massive looting or flooding associated with Gustav. If those things had occurred it might have been the final nail in New Orleans’ coffin. The evacuation was nightmarish, I would have been better off if I had stayed. Word is in my block we only lost power for about two hours. Financially it was not too big a hit on me, but for others I know it was a financial hardship. In the end New Orleans was spared the worst that could happen, what about next time? I think you are going to find a lot of people who are not going to heed the government’s warnings to get out next time.

I took a ride to the house on Prytania Street to check on things. Everything was OK just no power. Looks like some of the neighbors over there took a look and left. I spoke with the neighbors on both sides of the house yesterday, but it doesn’t look like the stayed. The block is pretty much deserted. Damage doesn’t appear to be too bad uptown lots of tree limbs but nothing like the aftermath of Katrina. Power is spotty, I have power but the Jefferson Magazine street area doesn’t seem to be energized. The Laurel Street Bakery is open, I wanted something but did not want to stand in line. Langenstein’s was open yesterday, and so was Frankie and Johnny’s. Whole foods has power and there were some workers wandering around inside. I imagine they will open when they get some people back to work. Entergy trucks are all over the place, it’s hard to tell how much progress they are making. I guess I’m lucky to have juice maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am so close to Children’s Hospital. I’m sitting at home monitoring my email from work, probably going to take it easy unless the job comes up with something for me to do.

I arrived home at about three o’clock, the power was on and there was no damage. Lucked out with the power thing there are people just blocks away who still do not have power. Coming in there was a clarification about the re-entry. The roadblocks had been lifted but the mandatory evacuation was still in effect. I guess that was the mayor’s way of saving face for the bad desicion to not allow those who wanted to return to come back. Government needs to give the people accurate information so that they can make their own decisions instead of trying to make decisions for us. The city is quiet and there are Police and National gurd vehicle patrolling around it is a safe city right now. As for hurricanes every one I have experienced has been different, that’s why it is so hard to plan for them. This one was definitely a different experience for me it was the first time I had left before a storm.

Just been to Wal-MArt and the Winn Dixie, got a pedicure frpom my friends at Nail Diamond. I ready to go, got word that the road blocks are lifted I am heading out in about 30 minutes. Not sure when I will be blogging again there is no power at either one of my abodes. I don’t care I am ready to go home.

Orleans parish will be not be open for residents return today, It looks like surrounding parishes will let their folks come home but Orleans lags behind as we always do. I don;t think I can express my contempt and lack of respect for local leadership any more than I did yesterday. My opinions of them are the same today but I am going to give up the fight. Just as the Katrina recovery is stuck in low gear our local leadership again puts roadblocks up to make things harder on the citizens. As they pat themselves on the back for a job well done I consider it premature. Don’t pat yourselves on your back until you get your citizens home.

I will be out shopping today I am going to spend some money on some things I have been meaning to buy, the only problem is I will be spending that money in Mobile Al. and not New Orleans LA.

If New Orleans is going to thrive and survive our local government needs to get rid of that can’t do attitude that they have.

The final straw the idiot mayor seems to be more concerned about the interruption the storm caused to the Republican National Convention than the return of his citizens to New Orleans.

From wwltv

.” He apologized to the Republicans, which put the pagentry of their convention on hold to wait for Gustav to move through the Gulf Coast.

“You know, I think Gustav rained on their parade, on their little party,” said Nagin, a Democrat, who cut his own trip short to his party’s convention to prepare for the storm. “And hopefully they can rekindle. We’d love to host them in New Orleans next week, and they can come down and we can show them how to really do it right

You don’t think that it rained on the parade of the citizens of New Orleans, where is your apology to them.

Anything done right for this storm has been overshadowed by the inability of the citizens of New Orleans to return home.