Off the Market

We bought this house at 224-226 South Hennessey a few years ago for $207,000. We lived in the downstairs unit for a couple of years while our house, 1 block away, was being rebuilt. When we finally moved back home we rented out both units.

Being a landlord is at times a hassle. One of our tenants became very late in payments and eventually left owing us quite a bit of money. Over the summer we tried to sell it. We first listed it at $225,000, and lately reduced it to $210,000. We came very close to selling it once but the buyer's financing fell through. It's been on the market for 3 months, and I think we're going to have to get back into the landlord business. Thus I listed the apartments on Craigslist today. The rent is $1000 per unit, and I've already gotten several people who want to check it out. I sure wish we could have sold it though, and at times I'm afraid we owe more on this house than it is currently worth.

Three Years Waiting for Home Elevation Grants

We elevated our home in October of 2007. You can actually see it go up up up in this video:

My government, as part of a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), claimed they would reimburse us for the costs. It cost a lot, about $90K. But the thinking is that it wouldn't flood again and thus would potentially save the tax payers hard-earned money in the long run.

That was three years ago. We got reimbursed about half of the costs in May of 2009. We're still waiting for the rest.

2 Tattoos 2 Days 2 Sports

My sister Chris, or Poncho as we call her, was in town over the weekend. Like a good brother, last Christmas I paid for us both to get tattoos. She got a Cubs logo on her ankle, I got a Saints fleur-de-lis on my calf. We ambitiously sought out to see our two favorite professional teams play over the course of two days. So we all drove to Houston to see the Cubs play the Astros. Our first stop in Houston was the Beer Can House. It was truly awesome. And that's not the beer talking. Here are a few photos of my newest favorite place on earth:

Then we went to see an art display called St. Boniface's Last Days at the Art Palace Gallery featuring the work of Peat Duggins, who is Therese's cousin. Then some more museums and then we saw the Cubs beat the Astros. It was Gilgamesh's first major league baseball game. Here is Chris, a true Cubs fan, at Minute Maid Field:

It finished at 9ish, and then I drove 5 1/2 hours back to New Orleans, slept, and with Poncho, headed to the Dome.

There we engaged in the pregame ritual of reading from the Book of Breesus and the Who Dat Prayer Book under the leadership of Chef Who Dat? Video of this sacred event from an iphone courtesy of Mark C. is here:

Then the Saints barely beat the Panthers and then we slept well, knowing both of our teams won.

When the Anti-Government Fringe Runs Government

When I lived in Israel I was amazed to learn that their parliament (the Knesset) included religious Jews who always voted against legislation that would favor Israel. This was because these elected officials believed that the nation of Israel had no right to exist until the Messiah returned, and thus they were bent on destroying it. This of course seemed to me to be a bad way to run a country.

More recently I'm troubled by the anti-government Tea Baggers. They are angry, and they keep saying they want their country back from an imaginary big government socialist plutocracy. Sure, there are many Republicans who for years performed poorly on purpose to argue that government is never the answer. This is best exemplified for us in the Gulf Coast with FEMA, the apex of government incompetence. Clearly the Tea Baggers don't want to destroy the United States, and with unemployment being so high and foreign policy so unethical I'm angry as well. But I'm a big fan of roads, the post office, and public education, and these things need taxes. I also would only vote for a candidate who has a clear plan of how to better govern, not one bent on doing away with government. That would be anarchy, which sounds appealing at first to my punk rock roots, but I tasted anarchy in the days after the levees failed, and it sucked.

Jefferson Parish and Vial Lemmons

When we moved to New Orleans 10 years ago, we quickly learned to dislike Jefferson Parish. This mostly came from the fact that whenever we went there to shop, older Caucasian people would approach us wanting to comment on our cute young children. They would shudder when we told them we just moved to New Orleans, and they told us to leave the city quickly. We'd ask why, and they'd tell us they used to live in New Orleans until the neighborhoods "went black," and "Blacks took over the schools" and so they moved to safer places like Metairie. To be fair, I have many friends who live in Jefferson Parish, but when I hear these racist things from so many strangers, well, Ick.

Jefferson Parish is full of WalMarts, SamsClubs, Olive Gardens, Taco Bells, and resembles pretty much any place in America. It's where Steven Seagal used to fight crime to honor his racist buddy Harry Lee until Seagal's sex slave escaped. Its identity comes from being the anti-New Orleans. As such, instead of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Jefferson Parish celebrates a "safer" version called Family Gras, which of course means Fat Family. There's much more that's fat in Jefferson Parish, most notably Fat City, which has been in the news for being sleazy even by Jefferson Parish standards. Now that's some sleazy. Perhaps most symbolic, Jefferson Parish looks like a rifle.

Rifles bring to mind one of the disgraceful acts ever committed by Jefferson Parish. It was no surprise to me that in the days after New Orleans flooded some Jefferson Parish police and sheriffs took over the Crescent City Connection bridge which connects New Orleans to Jefferson Parish. Several trapped residents of New Orleans tried to cross on this public road from their flooded homes to dry ground, and these police wouldn't let them. The police shot at the pedestrians with rifles, and hurled racial epithets. Again, no surprise here.

What is a surprise is the decision yesterday by Federal Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon. She ruled that it is reasonable for police to restrict with force people evacuating a disaster from using public roads. She wrote "Because restricting pedestrian traffic on the Crescent City Connection was a reasonable restriction, it is not an unreasonable restraint of liberty in violation of the Fourth Amendment." She then went on to note that these people who were shot at by police and degraded with racial epithets were eventually taken to Baton Rouge. As someone who spent some time in government care after Katrina when I was dumped off at the Causeway Concentration Camp, and then escaped this chaos, I believe Judge Lemmon would have a different opinion is she or a family member had tried to cross the bridge. No matter, it's a great day to be a racist in Jefferson Parish, as their anti-New Orleans identity has been further confirmed.

I'm currently looking for a copy of her 14 page ruling.

12th Man

The most frequent topic of conversation this past week has not directly involved Katrina or BP oil. It's whether or not tonight's Saints game in which the championship banner is revealed will be louder than the Return to the Dome game against Atlanta in 2006. It is hard to imagine it will be. Back in 2006 we were screaming with primal frustrations that a year since the flood had wrought. We were screaming at our insurance companies, FEMA reps, and corrupt politicians. Tonight against the Vikings instead will be joyful yelling, hugs, and high fives. It will be loud to be sure, perhaps loud enough for Minnesota again to have 12 men in their huddle. I think it will be a very physical game with a few cheap shots against Brees and fights to follow. I will be wearing my Reggie Bush jersey. I think this year will finally be the year that he becomes a marquis back, but then I think that every year.

Happy

The five year anniversary of Katrina was difficult for me to get through, but I did, and right now, I'm sort of surprised to find myself happy. At home my kids are doing well. Gilgamesh is starting his first year playing football, and Kalypso is doing well at cross-country, violin, and she is going to work for the school newspaper. So my kids are engaged. Not in the southern/Mormon marriage way, but engaged with their worlds. At work the past two years were tricky due to a revision in the core curriculum and the reaccreditation process. But now there is nothing tricky on the horizon. Plus, it is a Friday right before a three day weekend, with the weather looking great for the Dash 'Stache. I made an awesome beer hat to wear during the ride. There are no hurricanes heading into the Gulf and Earl turned out to be not as bad as some predicted. And then we finally have real football starting with the big game next Thursday. Life is good in New Orleans...

Dash for the 'Stache

Do I have a bicycle? check

Do I like to drink beer? check

Am I a Saints fan? check

Do I sometimes wear a fake mustache? check

This Saturday, September 4th, I invite you and your bike to join us under the flavorful leadership of Chef Who Dat as we peddle from pub to pub in Mid-City and then arrive at the Superdome for the annual blessing and application of the sacred stache to the sacred fleur du lis. It's magic. And just because I can't get enough of it, here's that video again of some lady a year ago falling off her bicycle. As Gstohl says while courageously still filming, "Wwwwoooooooooooooo!"

Katrina's Five Year Anniversary & Parenthood

This past week has been difficult. All the terrible memories have been stressful. I was lucky enough to be able attend President Obama's speech at Xavier University today. But all things considered, the main thing I worry about with all of the Katrina stuff is my children. Did Therese and I make the right decision in staying in New Orleans, or would we have been better parents by moving elsewhere. I encouraged my children to write about this today. Here is what they said, and I am very proud of both of them:

Kalypso

Gilgamesh

Hate from California

Writes James from Sacramento:

Mr. Homan:

I read your column in the Sunday, August 22nd edition of the Sacramento Bee. First, let me say, I am sorry for your loss and the loss to everyone in New Orleans from the tragedy caused by Katrina, a hurricane, a natural disaster. Being from California, I find your column not only offensive, but more of the same, "I'm a victim, feel sorry for me" narrative that most of the country has grown tired of by this point.

The line in your writing that is the most offensive is where you write, "I forgive the politicians and the media for never quite understanding that this was a human-induced disaster." Really? What human caused a hurricane to start in the Caribbean and come in to New Orleans from the Gulf? I'm sure you will answer with "George W. Bush".

I have a question for you. Why is it that 5 years after Katrina people in New Orleans are still unable to cope with the aftermath of Katrina? After billions of dollars have been poured into New Orleans, why are we still hearing from the people of Louisiana, "We need more money?"

I am a native of Northern California. I am in my mid-40's I vividly remember the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. I remember not being able to get in touch with family in the San Francisco Bay Area for days after the 'quake, not knowing whether or not they were ok. I have seen more wild fires than I can remember. I remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles. I live in Sacramento. I remember being within hours of being evacuated due to rising flood waters in 1986. I have seen several floods in the Sacramento area since 1986. I remember floods here in 1995 and 1997. Of course, we have also had dozens of cases of civil unrest and riots which really are man-made disasters (unlike Katrina, which was a natural disaster). My point is this: here in California, we have had 100 times the disasters than Hurricane Katrina and we have recovered from each and every one of them. Yes, we had some help from the federal government, but for the most part, we figured it out on our own. And before you go on your, "California is rich" narrative, many of the disasters struck very poor parts of our state. Even the needy people of our state know that everyone needs to pitch in.

Your article is nothing more than more liberal whining in an attempt to get people to remember the tragedy of Katrina. No one will forget. But now it is time for the citizens of New Orleans and Louisiana to quit whining, get to work and take care of themselves and quit asking for the rest of the country to send more aid. Generous Americans from all walks of life have donated millions to victims of Katrina.

Take some lessons from California. We have weathered a lot more than Katrina over the years and we have rebounded each time.