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| Uneven Katrina recovery leaves Lower Ninth Ward with little love for presidents | Uneven Katrina recovery leaves Lower Ninth Ward with little love for presidents |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Three presidents are descending on New Orleans in three days, but they are not assured of a warm welcome from everyone. | Three presidents are descending on New Orleans in three days, but they are not assured of a warm welcome from everyone. |
| Related: What Katrina left behind: New Orleans' uneven recovery and unending divisions | Related: What Katrina left behind: New Orleans' uneven recovery and unending divisions |
| Ten years on, resentment still lingers about the failure of the federal levee system during hurricane Katrina, the botched response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), and the long and difficult process of accessing billions of dollars in grant money for rebuilding, which for some people is not finished. | |
| In 2005, 17 days after the storm hit and the city flooded, then president George W Bush gave a speech from the heart of the French Quarter. He offered a “pledge of the American people: throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes”. | In 2005, 17 days after the storm hit and the city flooded, then president George W Bush gave a speech from the heart of the French Quarter. He offered a “pledge of the American people: throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes”. |
| “We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives … When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm. | |
| “As all of us saw on television,” Bush continued, “there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. | “As all of us saw on television,” Bush continued, “there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. |
| “We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.” | “We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.” |
| Ten years later, if you measure success by quantities of tourists, boutique hotels, elegant restaurants and a boom in tech startups, New Orleans is thriving. If your yardsticks include levels of poverty, unemployment, racial inequality, housing costs and black neighbourhoods being returned to pre-storm conditions … not so much. | |
| If Bush came right here to ground zero in the Lower Ninth Ward, the reception probably wouldn’t be that great | If Bush came right here to ground zero in the Lower Ninth Ward, the reception probably wouldn’t be that great |
| “If [Bush] came right here to ground zero in the Lower Ninth Ward, the reception probably wouldn’t be that great,” said Chuck Perkins, a poet, at a ceremony on Monday to unveil a plaque marking the breach of the industrial canal’s flood wall, which led to some of the worst scenes of devastation. | “If [Bush] came right here to ground zero in the Lower Ninth Ward, the reception probably wouldn’t be that great,” said Chuck Perkins, a poet, at a ceremony on Monday to unveil a plaque marking the breach of the industrial canal’s flood wall, which led to some of the worst scenes of devastation. |
| “It depends on where you are in the city. You can come to New Orleans and go to places where tourists are more likely to end up and you’d look around and never know a tragedy like Katrina happened here. | “It depends on where you are in the city. You can come to New Orleans and go to places where tourists are more likely to end up and you’d look around and never know a tragedy like Katrina happened here. |
| “There are neighbourhoods like the Lower Ninth and New Orleans East where it’s more like working-class people with fewer resources and you’re more likely to find it looking the way it is now. That is unacceptable.” | “There are neighbourhoods like the Lower Ninth and New Orleans East where it’s more like working-class people with fewer resources and you’re more likely to find it looking the way it is now. That is unacceptable.” |
| President Obama will tour several neighbourhoods on Thursday and talk about economic innovation and resilience. | President Obama will tour several neighbourhoods on Thursday and talk about economic innovation and resilience. |
| Bush will visit on Friday with his wife, Laura. They will go to Warren Easton charter school in the Mid-City district, which benefited from funds from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. | Bush will visit on Friday with his wife, Laura. They will go to Warren Easton charter school in the Mid-City district, which benefited from funds from the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. |
| Related: 'New Orleans West': Houston is home for many evacuees 10 years after Katrina | Related: 'New Orleans West': Houston is home for many evacuees 10 years after Katrina |
| On Saturday, Bill Clinton will take part in a commemoration called the Power of Community, in the city’s basketball arena. Clinton and George Bush Sr established the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, which according to officials raised more than $130m for relief and recovery efforts. | On Saturday, Bill Clinton will take part in a commemoration called the Power of Community, in the city’s basketball arena. Clinton and George Bush Sr established the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, which according to officials raised more than $130m for relief and recovery efforts. |
| “We ain’t been winning anything,” said Henry L Irvin Sr, an air force veteran in an aquamarine T-shirt bearing the slogan “Katrina – I am a survivor”. For nearly three years after the storm hit, he stayed in a trailer on the other side of the canal. He returned to the house he had lived in since 1964 in March 2008. | |
| The ongoing $9.7bn Road Home programme from state and federal authorities based its grants on the value of homes before the storm, rather than the cost of rebuilding them. This meant that people in poor, mostly black neighbourhoods received less money that those in more upscale areas, even if their houses needed similar levels of repair work. | The ongoing $9.7bn Road Home programme from state and federal authorities based its grants on the value of homes before the storm, rather than the cost of rebuilding them. This meant that people in poor, mostly black neighbourhoods received less money that those in more upscale areas, even if their houses needed similar levels of repair work. |
| Irvin said: “The dollar value on our property was so low back in them days you couldn’t really build nothing with what they gave.” | Irvin said: “The dollar value on our property was so low back in them days you couldn’t really build nothing with what they gave.” |
| He did not recall Bush’s speech. “I don’t watch people like that. People like that, that ain’t my people,” he said. “I don’t like Republicans, I don’t care what their name is.” | He did not recall Bush’s speech. “I don’t watch people like that. People like that, that ain’t my people,” he said. “I don’t like Republicans, I don’t care what their name is.” |
| They’re not gonna let Obama get nowhere close to down here | They’re not gonna let Obama get nowhere close to down here |
| Robert Richardson, from rural Louisiana, moved to the Lower Ninth in the 1960s and was amazed by the quality of life – indoor toilets, stores around the corner. After the storm he slept in a truck and said he “lived in a gutted-out house for three years – roaches, rats”. | |
| Rebuilding work did not begin on his home until October 2009, the retired labourer said. | Rebuilding work did not begin on his home until October 2009, the retired labourer said. |
| “They fought us tooth and nail on the rebuilding,” he said. “I got a little bitterness towards them because it took this long. A lot of people believe it was by design: ‘If we just wait this out, maybe a lot of them will leave.’” | “They fought us tooth and nail on the rebuilding,” he said. “I got a little bitterness towards them because it took this long. A lot of people believe it was by design: ‘If we just wait this out, maybe a lot of them will leave.’” |
| The population of the Lower Ninth is less than 40% of the pre-storm level. There are few amenities. The farther north you go from North Claibourne Avenue, which has a smart new fire station and $19m community center, the worse things look. | The population of the Lower Ninth is less than 40% of the pre-storm level. There are few amenities. The farther north you go from North Claibourne Avenue, which has a smart new fire station and $19m community center, the worse things look. |
| “They’re not gonna let Obama get nowhere close to down here,” said Errol Joseph, sweating and sitting on a bucket on the front porch of his house on Forstall Street, which is finally near completion thanks to help from volunteers with lowernine.org, which has rebuilt 77 houses – like other nonprofits, helping to fill gaps in federal and local responses. | “They’re not gonna let Obama get nowhere close to down here,” said Errol Joseph, sweating and sitting on a bucket on the front porch of his house on Forstall Street, which is finally near completion thanks to help from volunteers with lowernine.org, which has rebuilt 77 houses – like other nonprofits, helping to fill gaps in federal and local responses. |
| In 2007, Obama used the shortcomings of the Bush administration’s response to Katrina as a rallying point during his election campaign, promising among other proposals to strengthen the levees. This has happened, at a cost of $14.5bn, though the system is less resilient than some advocates would like. | In 2007, Obama used the shortcomings of the Bush administration’s response to Katrina as a rallying point during his election campaign, promising among other proposals to strengthen the levees. This has happened, at a cost of $14.5bn, though the system is less resilient than some advocates would like. |
| Errol Joseph thought Obama might get a sanitised tour of the Lower Ninth, which has more than a hundred stylish homes built by Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation that look as if they could be overlooking a Scandinavian fjord, rather than the concrete levee of an industrial canal. | |
| “They’re putting cosmetics on everything right now,” he said. “They’re cutting the grass – they never cut the grass down here. Look at that lot over there.” | “They’re putting cosmetics on everything right now,” he said. “They’re cutting the grass – they never cut the grass down here. Look at that lot over there.” |
| He gestured at thigh-high weeds behind a ruined house across the street. Next door, a ripped American flag fluttered from a pole. | He gestured at thigh-high weeds behind a ruined house across the street. Next door, a ripped American flag fluttered from a pole. |
| The 64-year-old’s attempts to move home turned into a nightmare of bureaucracy, for which he blamed the state and insurance companies. Ironically, he is a building contractor by trade. | The 64-year-old’s attempts to move home turned into a nightmare of bureaucracy, for which he blamed the state and insurance companies. Ironically, he is a building contractor by trade. |
| He wears a couple of hospital bracelets on his right wrist “in case I pass out, or something. Every day I’ve been here in this heat and it’s tearing me down,” he said. “In the morning I take like 16 pills, just to stay living.” | He wears a couple of hospital bracelets on his right wrist “in case I pass out, or something. Every day I’ve been here in this heat and it’s tearing me down,” he said. “In the morning I take like 16 pills, just to stay living.” |
| Here, Bush’s pledge to rebuild “better and stronger” appears a long way from being realised. | Here, Bush’s pledge to rebuild “better and stronger” appears a long way from being realised. |
| “I didn’t think it would take 10 years,” said Robert Richardson. “I figured about five years or so and we’d be squared away. It’ll take another 10 years now.” | “I didn’t think it would take 10 years,” said Robert Richardson. “I figured about five years or so and we’d be squared away. It’ll take another 10 years now.” |
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