rebuilding is slow, parts of the city are fine (The French quarter, wasn't really touched that much, other then looting and such, what they didn't tell some people is there was at least 5 bars in the quarter that never closed during/after the storm.) The city itself, is kinda sad still. The suburbs are back in full force at this point. The Riverfront along the quarter is back open for the most part, but some shops haven't reopened, (Virgin Megastore of late has decided to never reopen..the giant Tower Records on the other hand has reopened and has been booming.)
Sadly enough there are still some parts of the city that look mostly the same the you've probably seen on the news, complete miles of Nola East, Lakeview, 9th ward, some scattered places uptown are still in complete tatters, Most of Nola East is still completely dead.
the sad thing is even in the subburbs and such is the lack of normal life, most fast food places close at 3pm, 5pm, or 8pm. There's A 24 hour IHOP(that ironicly has just opened in the last three weeks..brand new and shiney) There's ONE open Denny's that closes at 10pm. (I say this because there was lots of 24 hour options before the storm, McDs, Taco Bell and the like) it really is surprizing at the point, The latest any of the walmarts stay open is 8pm, there's one Save-A-Center(A&P, BiLow, whatever you wanna call it) that stays open to Midnight, along with One Winn Dixie that does as well. Even the local malls still close at 7pm.
Now on the otherhand, if one was ever thinking about moving here, now would be the best time to do it. If you can find a place (and it's not that hard to find in the subburbs, as much as the news and others would tell you different. Rent prices have gone up maybe 10%, which honesty raises them to still below what you would pay most other places, average rent is still 400-500 for a 2bdrm townhouse that I've seen.)(I was temp thinking about moving because of my neighbours, luckly enough they've announced they're moving next month, hopefully back to virgina.) The lowest Fastfood type jobs are still offering to start at 9 to 10 bucks with a weekly bonus. Specialized jobs (other then Retail really, But lots of places are looking for retail mgmt, walmart being one, heard of them hiring Managers on at 22 bucks a hour plus benfits.)
I don't know, it's hard to explain. there's lots of people that just refuse to leave the town, it's one of those places I guess. I didn't leave until two days after the storm and was among the first back, it's home. it's all hard to talk about without going into great detail, and alot of bitterness. The worse day that the city had after the storm was when they pulled out that general that had been here right afterward. he had a dramatic impact on the way things were going, he made them go in the right direction or he kicked random peoples asses until it did. now things are slowly going back to same as it ever was and its sad. Hoping that hte local elections will help take care of that tho.
anyway I'm going to stop ranting.
::steps down from box, goes back to hiding::
~b