New Orleans and the national organizations -- please read

[Devin Browne]

Hi all -- I just came back from visiting my sister and her family in
New Orleans.  A year later and that city is still a wreck.  Vast
stretches of poor and middle class neighborhoods (and a few wealthy
neighborhoods, to be fair) are still untouched, many with no
electricity or other services.  I witnessed a boat on top of a house,
dozens of cars in yards and sticking out of buildings, and hundreds of
flattened houses.  My partner and I took a tour of the city areas
affected by the hurricane.  Our tour guide, a retired school teacher,
even took us by what was left of her house.  The devastation is beyond
what you read about, what you see on TV.  It's hard to imagine that
this is an American city, so little has been done.

The French Quarter, the Garden District and a couple other more
tourist-friendly sections are fine (including my sister's
neighborhood, Algiers Point, which is above sea level and was spared
major damage), but many stores, restaurants and other small
non-corporate businesses are really struggling.  The city needs so
much, most of which has to come from federal, state and local
governments.  There is little you and I can do outside of visiting New
Orleans itself and continuing to pressure our representatives to fully
fund reconstruction and urge them to visit the city themselves.  Here
in Pennsylvania, last I read, only one of our congressmen and neither
of our senators have seen the devastation first-hand.

However, as language teachers, many with connections to national
organizations, we can urge these organizations to schedule their
conferences and conventions in New Orleans.  The city is again able to
handle these types of events -- the national librarians' association
was the first to come back into the city and the convention went very
well.  New Orleanians are very friendly, welcoming people who are
proud of their city and love to entertain visitors with incredible
cuisine and wonderful music.  For those of us who work closely with
the nationals, please ask them to consider New Orleans as a conference
destination.  Without an increase in tourism and conventions, the city
might not ever recover.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Devin Browne
French & Russian Teacher
Pittsburgh Public Schools
Pittsburgh, PA

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