In an attempt at a hasty investigation of a post-Katrina New Orleans, US, just days after my arrival in the city, I interviewed Ted Hornick, editor in chief of The Trumpet – a bi-monthly community magazine aimed at helping New Orleans neighborhoods orchestrate the change. These are excerpts from our interview:

“…The new president has already made statements that he is going to be assisting the progress down here…

…Right now especially, 3 years is enough time after which people want to see more concrete deliveries, want to see information that they can keep track of, that they can use and at the same time they are ready to start putting more investment, more time into it, if it means those results…

…There are plans for a census to go through next year to really assess the population level which is the subject of a lot of questions. Before the storm New Orleans had 450.000 people, recent estimate (I saw it) placed it at 280.000 post-storm, so that is a real question…

…A lot of people speak to individual accomplishments and see them as a part of a larger rebuilding, a part of these deliveries that are supposed to happen…

…New Orleans is historically famous as a very corrupt city. They’ve just put in place their first inspector general – historically, and he is putting in his first reports…
(Few days after the interview, Ted sent me a FYI email informing me that the Inspector General had just resigned.)

…The other thing you have to remember it is not just the hurricane that damaged this area, it is the failure of the Federal levees, which were supposed to last for years and which are now still being repaired and brought back to a level at which they will be able to protect the city – a level of which we are getting different reports of when that will happen. We are told that they are working around the clock on them and we have to trust that they are, but they need to build them deeper and stronger. So anything that is going to happen is going to take time…

…There are problems with insurance returns for a number of people trying to come back to the city because of a number of insurance companies said that “you were insured for wind but not water damage, so we are not going to pay you back for restoring your house.”

In other places people were more fortunate and their homes weren’t devastated, they have to contend with blight in their neighborhood, they have to contend with the damage to the surrounding area and the lowered quality of the neighborhood around them. Those strike me as the most significant concerns at the moment…

…I think it is also convincing people to come back…

…The Nation, a popular national magazine did an article just recently about hidden racial attacks post-Katrina and just the racial discrimination that was happening here when there were no police functioning, and even when the police were functioning, they were brutalizing minorities, so time brings these things to light…



Lala Raščić, born in Sarajevo 1977. Lives and works between Sarajevo and Zagreb. Graduated from Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb.