They Found a Body

From ABC 26 News:

Contractors gutting a home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans made a gruesome discovery Tuesday morning. They found a body, apparently left there since Hurricane Katrina.

Walter Smith says they spotted the body before they even entered the home in the 1300 block of Tuplelo [sic] Street.

Given the level of destruction in the Lower Ninth, I can understand that people are still finding bodies. But, contractors “spotted the body before they even entered the home?” Even though “[m]arkings on the front of the house indicate it was checked at least twice for bodies?”

C’mon. Justified or not, the people of the Lower Ninth feel like they have been forgotten. This only adds to their despair. And Tupelo St., while not a main street, is a divided and well-trafficked street, near Jackson Barracks.

It may turn out that the body was not there since Katrina. But the damage was done today:

The discovery fuels a sense of hopelessness in the Lower Ninth Ward. Much of the neighborhood is still frozen in time and little has changed since Katrina flooded their streets and destroyed their homes.

ALL of New Orleans needs to be rebuilt. And progress needs to be spread out. If certain areas are mending while others languish, the tension between residents allowed to come back and those still on the outside will rip apart whatever good is accomplished.

I don’t know if New Orleans ever really was a completely functional community. But, now we have the chance to be, unless we keep neglecting the Lower Ninth.