New Orleans resident Albert Bass, 48, battled rapidly rising water in his Lower Ninth Ward home a year ago. After cutting his way through the roof of his house, Bass began a week-long quest to survive. Meanwhile, New Orleans began its own ongoing struggle to survive unfathomable destruction and resulting population loss. The U.S. Coast Guard left Bass on the St. Claude Bridge, where he saw more than 200 people with “nothing but their wet clothes.” He looted for food and water and eventually evacuated to Lafayette, where he survived a 104-degree fever and white blood cell infection from contaminated water. But one year later, Bass said he sees little progress in the Lower Ninth Ward, an area still lacking electricity and most notably – its residents. An ice cream truck often weaves through the empty streets of the Lower Ninth Ward. The jovial melodies that once sent children rushing to their parents for money fall silent upon the largely abandoned neighborhood. New Orleans’ population is hovering at 181,000 – a 61 percent drop from the pre-Katrina population of 463,000, according to The Brookings Institution – a Washington, D.C., independent research organization. “If there’s no people here, there’s no voice,” Bass said. “If there’s no voice, [the government] can do what they want.” City officials debated the proper way to commemorate today’s Katrina anniversary – including fireworks to celebrate recovery efforts. The city canceled the fireworks and instead endorsed a series of mournful remembrances, including the Great Flood Commemoration March through the Lower Ninth Ward, sponsored by the New Orleans charity People’s Hurricane Relief Fund. “If you want to celebrate, get those FEMA trailers on these empty lots. Get these people back down here so they can work on their own houses,” Bass said. “Because if they don’t have a place to stay… you know, we’re losing it bit by bit.” Malcolm Suber, national organizing coordinator for PHRF, said he believes remembrances should have a respectful, not celebratory, tone. “We will be reminded of a great loss. We have a long, long way to go,” Suber said. The city’s lack of a “master plan,” he said, has left many residents wondering when public schools and hospitals will reopen, but he still sees a “hopeful picture” in the strength of New Orleans residents. “I see bewilderment. What are they going to do? Will there ever be an explanation?” Suber asked. U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La., told The Daily Reveille “bureaucratic delays” have “plagued” many of the state’s recovery efforts. “Billions of dollars have been wasted on the rebuilding effort. The people on the ground who really need this help are not getting it,” Jindal said. “The residents of Louisiana deserve better.” According to a report released by the General Accountability Office, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispersed up to $1.4 billion in fraudulent aid. “People were able to use fake Social Security numbers and cemetery addresses to obtain financial assistance,” Jindal said. “There have been countless instances of relief dollars being spent on luxury vacations and $800 purses instead of basic needs.” U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., told The Daily Reveille she is encouraged by progress made during the past year, including “$41.5 billion in federal assistance for Louisiana alone.” But Landrieu remains concerned about the long road to recovery. “The recovery is only just beginning in many parts of the affected area and will remain incomplete as long as tens of thousands of Louisianians can’t come back home to their homes, and our businesses, schools and hospitals can’t reopen,” Landrieu said. “Delays and inefficiencies on the part of many federal agencies have been very frustrating for the people of Louisiana.” Byron McGowan, 42, a former Gentilly resident, said he expects a 10- to 15-year period for New Orleans to return to its pre-Katrina state. McGowan landscapes yards in the Lakeview neighborhood, an area he said New Orleans will need to redevelop for tax-based funding. “We have very few hospitals and limited grocery stores,” McGowan said. “The number of convenient things you expect to have in an everyday life is still not ready to go for the citizens yet.” Lauraen Johnson, 14, a resident in the New Orleans East “Goose” neighborhood, lives with her uncle in a FEMA trailer. Johnson lived in Monroe until March when her family returned to New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. “When we came back, it was a mess. We didn’t have no grass,” Johnson said while watching her young cousins play basketball in the street. “A house was in the middle of the street. There were birds on the dresser.” Johnson’s bedroom walls buckled. The floors were covered with thick sludge – a remnant of the nine feet of water that sent her furniture floating through her apartment. She said her family received only $2,000 in FEMA aid to repair their apartment, which remains unoccupied. “In the apartment next to us, they had a dead body in there. They must have forgotten it or something. I don’t know,” Johnson said. “Then I told Mama I was ready to go. I didn’t want to see no more. I was ready to go back to Monroe.” But Johnson stayed. “The community is getting better. People are coming back,” Johnson said. “Children are coming back. It seems like it’s going to be the same New Orleans, but it’s going to be different.” Today she plans to celebrate her survival and the survival of her resilient city. “Get a big ol’ jazz band in the middle of the street and just say, ‘Nah, look at us.’ We came a long way,” Johnson said. “And I thank God every day because it could have been worse.”
—–Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]