New Orleans: There's Good News Here

Today, New Orleans is a case of good news/bad news. For example:

Bad News	Good News
As of 2006, neighborhoods that weren't doing very well before Hurricane Katrina - still weren't doing very well.	Neighborhoods that hadn't been sinking, economically, before Katrina were recovering.
A great many people left New Orleans, escaping Hurricane Katrina.	As of last summer, About 50,000 people had returned eastern New Orleans.
The New York Times described the pre-Katrina New Orleans school system as "stagnant"	As of last summer, New Orleans students' scores were improving.

There are other improvements, too. As Katrina bore down on New Orleans, city leaders told police officers to forget about their families. Some forgot about their jobs, instead. "It's a double-edged sword, and it's either your co-workers or your family," one New Orleans cop said. "And I will choose my family every time." This time around, all 1,485 or New Orlean's police officers got paid time off, so they could get their families to safety.

At least, I think it's an improvement. I'd be a little worried about someone who could say, 'sure, why not?' when told to let the spouse and kids drown.

Evacuation of New Orleans wasn't the mess it was before, and during, Katrina. I even see one of the 'failures' as good news. The city had a bar code system set up to track people leaving the city. The system failed: so New Orleans' leaders dropped the system, and got people on the buses anyway. They say they'll collect information from people at the other end.

Failure? Yes: but when the bar-coded wristband system wasn't working, the powers that be in today's New Orleans didn't stop the evacuation. Job one was getting people out of harm's way, and that's what they did.

Right now, late on Labor Day, waves are going over the top of some levees in and around New Orleans, but the levees are still there. Including the Industrial Canal levee that broke during Katrina.


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New Orleans isn't out of trouble yet. It looks like Gustav is going to be around for a while, and there's been some damage.

More:

• "Water 'sloshing over' some New Orleans levees"
  CNN (September 1, 2008)
• "City works to keep officers' families safe, officers in town"
  CNN (September 1, 2008)
• "Devasted eastern N.O. showing progress"
  bnet (July 23, 2008)
• "New Orleans residents get out of Gustav's way"
  Associated Press (August 31, 2008)
• "Changes at New Orleans Schools Bring Gains in Test Scores"
  (May 7, 2008)
• "Building a Better New Orleans: A Review of and Plan for Progress One Year after Hurricane Katrina"
  Brookings Institute (August, 2006)