The 9th Ward Makes its Comeback, One Nail at a Time

Dead and dying, devastated and demoralized, no place in America epitomized the lowest lows more than the neighborhoods on the edge and outskirts of New Orleans after Katrina swept through. It hung in the air, and lay in the mud. That was the story that dominated headlines for the better part of a year and for good reason.

All throughout New Orleans and its surrounding area, the region grabbed the spotlight when the news was so bad it seemed almost surreal at times. But then the spotlight dimmed and the work to rebuild began. It was slow at the beginning, but no less sure - - as colleague Scott Campbell reported here in the year following Katrina. In the beginning, most of the rebuilding was fueled by government spending. A lot of it since has been fueled by private efforts - - Habitat for Humanity, telethons, private contributions and private investment.

The earliest, most dire predictions have now proven to be wrong.

On a breezy Saturday, in the wake of this year's Mardi Gras, the progress was clearly continuing. Less than 1,000 feet from the Lake Pontchartrain levees that failed so tragically in 2005, you could hear the sound of men hammering nails into boards and saws cutting two-by-fours - - the sounds of construction. The sounds of rebuilding.

Don't be mistaken. In the neighborhood closest to the levees, too many houses still sit abandoned. But in between, too, houses have been rebuilt, families have moved back in, kids are playing in yards, and businesses in the area - - pizza shops, auto garages, dance studios - - are bustling with activity.

The folks in the area are buying computers for their schools. Right this minute, the State of Louisiana is asking for bids on millions of dollars worth of computer equipment. The recession is hitting Silicon Valley hard, but maybe not as hard as it would be if the taxpayers of the 9th Ward weren't kicking in to continue to rebuild the region's technology infrastructure.

And those are just a couple of examples.

Among the many homes, both rebuilt and decaying, is one house on a corner of Tupelo Street, about a quarter of a mile from the levees. It needs work, badly, and the lot may very well be more valuable if the building was torn down. But the note spray painted on the side -- "Don't Demolish" -- indicates somebody, somewhere, has plans to fix it up.

A housing and financial crisis have swept through Wall Street and the economy at large, and a lot of commentary holds that it will turn into a depression. Here's to hoping it's as accurate as some of those earlier, dire predictions about the 9th Ward and St. Bernard's Parish.