Hurricane Recovery

I haven’t posted in about a week because I was out of town. I took a long weekend and traveled down to New Orleans with some friends. This was our second trip. The first was in June of 2007.

Two years post-Katrina, the effects of the hurricane were still visible everywhere. On this trip, it was obvious that the recovery operations have come a long way. We did not have a car on this trip, so we could not get too far away from the tourist areas, so I cannot speak to the state of the recovery in the 9th ward and other outlying areas of the city.

Still, the amount of cleanup in the French Quarter, Warehouse District, and Central Business District was impressive. Two years ago, there were high rise office towers in the CBD with boarded up windows. The high water mark was still visible on many of the commercial buildings in the area around the Superdome that flooded. From my casual inspection, all of that damage has now been repaired.

Although the French Quarter experienced no flooding, hurricane winds had seriously damaged some buildings, especially along the riverfront. I looked for those same buildings, but it looks like they had been successfully rehabbed in the last two years.

We did see one lot on Exchange Place where a building had been taken down to the foundation, and a steel frame structure erected. Steel girders would support the second and third floor balconies. I suspect that once the building was finished, a façade would be installed on the exterior to fit the building in with prevailing historical architecture that surrounded it. But this looked more like the process of upgrading historic buildings than repairing storm damage.

The St. Charles and Canal Street streetcars were both running, a welcome change from 2007. We rode the St. Charles streetcar out past the Garden District to the end of the line. Once you got past Tulane University, there were more signs of disrepair. Gas lines were being reworked, and the sidewalks exhibited serious buckling. But we only saw one abandoned house with the spray painted markings the emergency crews had used. Two years ago those houses were everywhere, even in the high rent Garden District itself.

The biggest changes were to the businesses themselves. On our first visit, it was obvious that tourism businesses were suffering from the lack of workers. Every restaurant and retail store had help wanted signs out. Day and hours of operation were curtailed, due to the lack of staff. Levels of service were not what they should be, because the available staff were stretched too thin. In one coffee shop, the owner bussed the table before we sat down, took our order, then went back to the kitchen to cook it.

None of that was in evidence on this trip. All of the tourist businesses seemed to be operating at full capacity. I saw a few help wanted signs for retail counter help, but that was all.

From what I have read, rents in New Orleans have gone up significantly post-Katrina. However, the higher rents have not deterred people from moving back, rolling up their sleeves, and going to work.

New Orleans is a much smaller city than it was in summer of 2005, and it may always be a much smaller city than it was. But from one tourist’s perspective, the heavy lifting of recovery from Katrina appears to have been accomplished. It looks like the balance point between living costs and employment opportunities has been reached. Any future growth will have to be organic, driven by the dynamism of the local economy, instead of an influx of Federal money.

One more thing. I can personally attest that the oyster beds have recovered.