A Penguin in the Orchard

Still A Mess

We’d hoped for so much better a year later.

MSNBC - Bush” Katrina-hit region ’still a mess’

Bells tolled in this shattered city Tuesday morning, marking the moment one year earlier when New Orleans’ levees buckled, unleashing a torrent of water that ripped homes from their foundations and sent half the city into an uncertain exile. As the bells rang, survivors of the storm gathered outside City Hall.

It goes far beyond a shame that New Orleans is still a “shattered city” a year after Katrina. It’s impossible to believe that the governments - local, state and federal - are doing all they can to rebuild the city. I’d hoped that a year later, we’d at least be saying that New Orleans was on the mend. Not so, even according to the figurehead of the federal effort.