How many of New Orleans' 15,000 businesses have reopened 4 1/2 months after Hurricane Katrina?1,658 (11 percent)
How many of the city's 2,666 restaurants have reopened?
880 (33 percent)
How much debris has been collected?
5.3 million cubic yards or enough to fill 13,250 Olympic-size swimming pools
How many hospital beds are open in the city?
74 adult beds and 35 pediatric beds
How about psych beds?
2
Wait a minute. We have to talk about this one. That's two psych beds in a city that very recently suffered the worst natural disaster in national history and is filled with people trying to cope with extreme loss and uncertainty about the future. Scary.
How many building inspection applications are being filed with the city each day?Between 400 and 500
How many permits are being approved each day?
214
Hmmmmm. That doesn't add up.
How many meals are being served by the Red Cross from the 44 trucks that roam the city?
24,000 last weekend
How many trailers have been requested from FEMA?
23,995
How many are currently occupied?
1,400
How many of New Orleans' 462,269 pre-Katrina occupants will return to the city?
144,000 by January 2006
181,000 by September 2006 (one year after the storm)
247,000 by September 2008 (three years after the storm)
Sources: Jan. 10 storm update from the New Orleans Emergency Operations Center (read it here), except for population estimates which are from Rand Corp., GCR & Associates.
Pics: Neutral ground art along St. Claude Street in the Bywater neighborhood. (We call medians neutral grounds in New Orleans. The name goes back to the period after the Louisiana Purchase when the Canal Street median, the space dividing the French section of the city from the American section, was literally considered "neutral ground" between the sometimes feuding populations.)
2 comments:
LOL. Every once in a while, I catch myself saying "neutral ground" up here in Yankee land and I get strange looks. I'm not surprised by the statistics. Louisiana in general - and New Orleans in particular - have always been dysfunctiona. Even in the best of times, it was hard for the city to keep itself together. I just keep hoping against hope that someone will come in and shake things up, get them moving again.
Your pic of the crosses strung with Marti Gras beads is particularly poignant, given all the recent hurricane-related deaths and your city's struggle to come back from the edge of extinction.
Obviously your figures weren't the ones our ill-ustriousless leader saw on his most recent visit, when he said New Orleans comeback is looking "great."
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