Some facts: I’m an optimist. I love New Orleans. I’m keeping my car gassed up and my bags packed so I can roll right on home the second they let us back in.
Some other facts: most of New Orleans’ historic districts–the Quarter, Uptown, the Marigny–are fine, having sustained only minor damage in the hurricane. The character of the city that tourists and locals know and love won’t change. Property values in the city will drop a bit, particularly in those areas that saw minimal flooding like like Mid-City and the Treme, but the majority of the historic homes there will survive.
Today, as I drove through miles and miles of mating lovebugs on my way to dad’s place in Mississippi, I was pondering all of this, when suddenly I had a vision–a fantastic vision of New Orleans’ future. And basically the vision was this: what if New Orleans suddenly became “The Place” again? You know, the happening, moving, so-hip-it’s-not-even-on-the-radar hip place to be?
It’s within the realm of possibility. I mean, New Orleans has character and charm and romance out the yin-yang. Other culturally rich places like New York, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and even Provincetown have become impossibly expensive, pushing the young, the artists, the drag queens–in short, all the interesting people–out of town. What if New Orleans will became their new home? What would that be like?
That’s my vision.
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