Air Time

Whew! Things have been so busy I am behind in my postings. Part 20 of Night Watch is near completion and should be out soon.

Here's a quick wrap up:

** I donated 46 copies of Sea Changes to Social Change Caravan (www.socialchangecaravan.org). This group left Seattle this morning, Aug 23, headed to Louisiana with a busload of Katrina evacuees hoping to get resettled. Most of them have been hanging around Seattle for a year. I thought they might like some reading material for the trip; and they can sell books to raise money!

** I've been talking on radio stations around the country about New Orleans a year after Katrina. Everybody's got an opinion about that, right? Here are some of my recent and upcoming radio interviews:

8/15, 5 pm, WHAT Philadelphia

8/20, 9 am, WLKG Lake Geneva, WI

8/28, 11 am, WHJJ Providence, RI

8/30, 7:30 am, KGAB Cheyenne, WY

8/31, 12 noon, WAUD Auburn, AL

If you happen to hear me on the air, please let me know. Thanks.


You might be wondering what exactly I've been saying about the old City That Care Forgot a year after Katrina. One problem, as I see it, is that people not familiar with the layout of New Orleans are getting an incorrect picture of what's going on: it's either booming, or it's a wasteland. The reality is: it's a little of both.

Parts of the city and the surrounding neighborhoods have always been below sea-level, and those areas got lots of water, and the water stayed there for weeks, and now those areas are slow to rebuild. However, other areas, both inside and outside of the city limits, are higher, and stayed dry, and now they are experiencing a boom of activity. Magazine Street in Uptown, for example, is a happening place. Coffee shops, restaurants, music, food stores, funky old places that have been there forever -- they're still there and doing well.

I think it's fair to ask why are some of the hardest hit neighborhoods so slow to recover. Is it really about race? It might be, but a lot of people are looking at all of the low areas, especially Lakeview, Gentilly, Mid-City and the Ninth Ward, and asking: do we really want to build more houses on a flood plain?

I don't have the answers, but I believe it's a fair topic to debate and it should be open for public debate and comment. We don't want bureaucrats in Washington or Baton Rouge making decisions behind closed doors.

Well, like I said, everybody's got an opinion, and you're entitled to mine!!

Take care, and stay dry.

Bill