Rebuilding New Orleans

Here it is over three years since Katrina hit and we are finally seeing progress in New Orleans East. If you don't know New Orleans well, the east side is the area that had the most damage, most famously the lower ninth ward which was devastated. The upper ninth ward does not look as bad as the lower ninth, but that's not saying much. There seem to be more buildings starting in the upper ninth and more reconstruction. The largest project is Habitat for Humanity's Musician's Village. There are dozens of houses that are already built and many more in the works. The houses are modest but fit perfectly into the neighborhood. The shotgun style houses are all jacked up at least six feet to hopefully survive the next hurricane and are painted bright festive colors. The day we visited, there were several volunteers working on the houses and progress was grinding on.

The lower ninth ward is in much worse shape. There are few houses that look inhabited and there are miles of empty lots with just the foundation sitting there like a grave stone. The one bright spot is immediately as you come over the bridge, the Make It Right foundation (run by Brad Pitt) has built half a dozen amazing houses in the shotgun style. All the houses are at least one story off the ground. The designs are a modern take on the traditional house in that area and I have to say I would be happy to live in any one of them. They were commissioned by architects all around the world who entered a design contest. They have some very interesting specs and from what I understand they are very efficient, with up to 85% of the electricity needs being supplied by solar panels. The plan is to keep building them and I hope they do, they are the best thing I have seen in New Orleans for years.