New Orleans a chocolate city- it has been one for a long time, and it will continue to be one. The city (pre-Hurricane) was 2/3 Black and will continue to be. The interactions among members of the large Black population insure a vital culture.

The planners are putting forth ideas ranging from practical to cloud nine, but it will take time to vet them, and they must be integrated with federally mandated regulations and money available.

Much cleanup must still be done; contractors and their workers have taken care of about 30% so far. One may quarrel with 'where done' and 'amount done' but so many decisions are involved, that it is hard to evaluate progress.

People on the Gulf would agree more of those "gigantic- huge pink slabs of beef, bellies, legs like tree trunks...behemoths" are needed to speed cleanup and demolition- contractors with FEMA jobs can't find enough qualified workers. That writer with the Observer whatever doesn't understand contract labor- these workers must have a large vehicle to transport their goods to a job. I had an in-law in the business who would operate a crane one contract, an earth mover on a dam the next and so on. Much of the time he not only had an SUV or heavy-duty pick-up, but also a truck and trailer since the job often was far from housing. It's not a life I would want although the money is good. (I wonder if that writer is a Hobbit).