The BBC goes Geraldo
BBC World News reported live from New Orleans today for the express purpose of juxtaposing the decadence of Mardi Gras with the fact that much of the city is still unliveable. The point of the report was clear, that New Orleans has misplaced its priorities because it is devoting resources to cleaning up the tourist spots for a big party rather than to the ninth ward, where actual people drowned in their attics. It's a compelling case. But it sort of misses the point.
New York was promised some $20B by the federal government after the terrorist attacks, most of which it never actually saw. It's easy to promise money in the wake of a tragedy and even easier not to appropriate the cash once everyone is looking somewhere else. New Orleans suffered a mass exodus because after Katrina. And, if the news is to believed, those exiles enjoy Houston and their other new homes too much to return. During Super Bowl week in Detroit, refugees were still in Motown hotel rooms rented by FEMA. People are in no hurry to go back to a city that is socially stratified, deeply corrupt and unpleasantly humid.
I've never been to New Orleans, but I've watched a lot of movies that were set there. And my sense is that while it may be a "chocolate city," the economy was driven by oil and tourism. Oil will still be there. But those tourist dollars came from largely from white people that wanted to experience the "R"-rated Orlando. Apart from the floats, the formal Mardi Gras celebration appears to have very little to do with the people of New Orleans. But you have to spend money where you hope to make money.
It's a crappy reinvestment plan, to be sure. But it's hard to argue with the logic. Given who controls the federal purse strings and their track record in regard to cities in need, it's not all that unreasonable to think that tourism dollars are the only outside ones New Orleans can actually count on.
New York was promised some $20B by the federal government after the terrorist attacks, most of which it never actually saw. It's easy to promise money in the wake of a tragedy and even easier not to appropriate the cash once everyone is looking somewhere else. New Orleans suffered a mass exodus because after Katrina. And, if the news is to believed, those exiles enjoy Houston and their other new homes too much to return. During Super Bowl week in Detroit, refugees were still in Motown hotel rooms rented by FEMA. People are in no hurry to go back to a city that is socially stratified, deeply corrupt and unpleasantly humid.
I've never been to New Orleans, but I've watched a lot of movies that were set there. And my sense is that while it may be a "chocolate city," the economy was driven by oil and tourism. Oil will still be there. But those tourist dollars came from largely from white people that wanted to experience the "R"-rated Orlando. Apart from the floats, the formal Mardi Gras celebration appears to have very little to do with the people of New Orleans. But you have to spend money where you hope to make money.
It's a crappy reinvestment plan, to be sure. But it's hard to argue with the logic. Given who controls the federal purse strings and their track record in regard to cities in need, it's not all that unreasonable to think that tourism dollars are the only outside ones New Orleans can actually count on.
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