My editor/publisher knew that I was down in New Orleans a few months back and asked me to describe what I saw in a few words. I was speechless. There is a mixed feeling in the air. You see the rebirth of a city before your eyes. There is a certain melancholy for the old days and a sanguine view on what lies ahead.

There is construction going on everywhere. And the really sad thing is that if you were here pre-Katrina, you saw that a lot of the construction needed to be done back then.

I was sitting at a restaurant in New York City where a girlfriend of mine was working and I was chatting with a gentleman about Katrina and how I thought that in one way it was Mother Nature’s way of cleansing the city.
He was so thoroughly disgusted by what I had said that he stormed out and left yelling that Katrina had a higher death toll than 9/11 and who was I to make such a statement. I was shocked.

I wasn’t talking about the death of all those people and animals. I have nothing but the highest regard for humans and all living creatures. He didn’t allow me to finish what I was talking about. The streets that were urine laden and simply filthy pre-Katrina needed to be cleansed.

Buildings desperately needing to be fixed somehow were forgotten with each year’s budget proposals. I’m not even going to get into the misled politics of Louisiana because out of all this ongoing chaos come some of the best people I’ve ever met in my life.
Today there is a certain desperation in their eyes, but they still grin and they are very optimistic. Some are jaded with the politics, let’s face it who wouldn’t be with all the controversy over the billions of dollars that people donated and not knowing where those funds went. How many housing situations were mishandled and still are today.

This is one of the major problems that still stand today. The lack of housing and the houses that are available have such high insurance rates that it is scaring people off from coming back.

Shop and restaurant owners are having a difficult time keeping people employed due to the lack of housing available. There are a myriad of reasons to be angry, and yes many residents are, but above all this they still seem hopeful about everything. Some people have left and made better lives for themselves and their families.

Regardless of all the negativity that surrounds New Orleans, you will never find another place on earth quite like it. You have to embrace it for what it is. New Orleans is a unique culture with amazing architecture and a fascinating history not to mention some of the best food in the world.

I encourage people to visit New Orleans.You will be treated like royalty. You must be careful at night and be smart about not going down lonely, dark alleys but isn’t that true of every major city in the U.S.? It will take a long time for New Orleans to rebuild, but it will rebuild.

When you visit New Orleans, stop by Mothers, just outside of the French Quarter on Poydras and order the Ferdi special. You’ll have to wait in line for it, but it is well worth the wait, and tell them Kelly sent you!

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