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Westley Annis Westley at da-parish.com
Sun Mar 23 08:45:54 EDT 2008


" I am glad we all agree we love St. Bernard parish, and are all looking for
a
better place in which to live. I know it will take a long time for it to
become "NORMAL", as some would call it, but considering the time that has
passed, I believe we're already seeing a lot of progress. "

Jer: St. Bernard is indeed habitable. Some say that it lacks vital
resources (like Hospitals and proper healthcare, functions, things to do,
etc.) but it's a solid choice (at least in the long run to those who refuse
to allow any future disasters disturb their way of life) to wait until it
gets back to any degree of pre-K normalcy (God, we pray!)..

Others believe that having too many people back only exacerbates traffic,
long lines, and human misery.

Whatever choices good people of St. Bernard Parish have decided, it is the
one that should be made without regrets--there now or not.

My only concerns are major ones for many and myself: the demographics of new
families where there used to be bonded neighboring. Changing neighborhoods
internally for many is not what is wanted nor needed. Section 8 housing,
more apartments, less neighbors for security, and increased gouging by some
businesses, utilities and insurances, etc. at the expense of great people
struggling to get by.

By the time ample time is reached to achieve what should be applied as
normalcy to people's lives there, many have and will have to make decisions
as to how much longer they can hold out. IMMEDIATE Jobs have had to be
addressed (especially when small businesses employed those and couldn't
afford to reopen. Big established employers (Wal-Mart/K-Mart, Sears, and
countless others made the coffin nails more swifter to be applied) couldn't
wait around for mass migration back into the parish and this made decisions
to stay or leave more expedited.

Home IS where the heart is. St. Bernard Parish in my mind, heart and soul
travels with me until the end of time no matter if I'm in Timbuktu or within
the parish helping out. (I still have quite a few family friends and my
church there).

When the infrastructure takes 3 yrs. to start seeing normal, it signals a
new beginning for returnees and the beginning of the end for those who HAD,
not CHOSE to move on. Remember, the exodus started moving away years before
Katrina (as recent statistics showed New Orleans and da Parish losing
residents compared to growth in other parishes claiming positive gains in
new citizens. Katrina made the choice for me and most of the emigrants. Most
of us had no plans to change our way of life prior to the storm. The
"cyclonic gun of wind speed and storm surge" made important decisions for
us. No jobs, no money, no family, no church, no way of life in society.

Hooray for those who had more fortunate situations of having more carpenter
skills, financial means, gumption, or nucleus left to maintain a very hard
life until stability. Unfortunately, many of us never had as equal an
opportunity or emotional strength to see that far into the future. It's
worse than sad--it's the truth and it hurts unceasingly.

--jer--





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