[StBernard] USA TODAY - ST. BERNARD

[Westley Annis]

	 Westley, don't know if you saw this - jill dolese
	USA Today
	
	
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-04-stbernardparish-katrina_N
	.htm
	
	3 years after Katrina, St. Bernard Parish fights uphill battle
	
	CHALMETTE, La. (AP) - Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina
	shifting demographics and the loss of community touchstones have
	rendered tight-knit St. Bernard Parish almost unrecognizable to
those
	who cherished life here before the storm.
	
	By one estimate, less than half the 67,000 pre-storm population is
	back
	in this New Orleans suburb, and residents are now poorer and more
	reliant on services from the cash-strapped parish government, St.
	Bernard President Craig Taffaro said.
	
	
	There is no hospital, shopping options are limited, and teachers are
	in
	short supply. Many returnees cling to the life they once knew at
	remnant
	neighborhood hangouts.
	
	
	Broken streets, concrete slabs where houses stood and abandoned
strip
	malls are the veneer. The unseen wrath of Katrina is its theft of
the
	soul of St. Bernard.
	
	
	Taffaro believes the clock is ticking on St. Bernard's future. His
	priorities: speeding up the pace of rebuilding homes, schools and
	other
	infrastructure, and taking the politically risky step of proposing a
	smaller habitation footprint.
	
	
	"I want St. Bernard to be the hardworking, determined community it
	always was," he said.
	
	
	Isolated in the Mississippi River delta between the Gulf of Mexico
	and
	New Orleans, St. Bernard always seemed a world to itself. Its
	residents
	liked it that way.
	
	
	Canary Islanders who settled fishing communities in the 1700s, white
	flight to the suburbs of New Orleans in the 1950s and '60s and
	deep-rooted black communities cr eated a blue-collar independence
set
	amid oil refineries, alligator-infested swamps and the site of the
	Battle of New Orleans.
	
	
	Generations of families lived within blocks of each other. They had
	what
	they needed - shopping, ball games on Friday nights, friends and
	crawfish boils.
	
	
	Since Katrina, things have changed.
	
	
	Henry Rodriguez Jr., longtime parish leader defeated by Taffaro last
	fall, remembers when he could walk into a store and know almost
	everyone
	in it.
	
	
	"That's not true today," he said as he drove his pickup along
streets
	so
	warped and broken that doing the speed limit can be risky.
	
	
	Some residents, black and white, complain about Hispanic workers in
	the
	area now, many talk about crime, and it's hard to find anyone who
	says
	rebuilding hasn't been agonizingly slow.
	
	
	"This whole entire thing is a joke," said George Tustin, who left
	Indiana to settle in Meraux because o f St. Bernard's reputation as
a
	good place for families.
	
	
	At least $1 billion in federally funded infrastructure repair is
	being
	done. Taffaro said parish leaders have made strides in penetrating
	the
	recovery bureaucracy to get work moving on sewerage, fire stations,
	schools and post offices.
	
	
	But the task is enormous. On Aug. 29, 2005, flooding from Katrina
	came
	from almost every direction. A survey showed virtually every
building
	in
	St. Bernard was damaged. As in neighboring New Orleans, trucks
	rumbled
	through neighborhoods for weeks removing debris, and cultural and
	government chaos followed.
	
	
	One of the biggest challenges, as in other areas lashed by Katrina
	across the Gulf Coast, is housing.
	
	
	Red X's brand thousands of houses that parish leaders want
	Demolished.
	The State plans to transfer to local control thousands more bought
	from
	Homeowners who didn't want to return. Some might be renovated and
	Attract new residents. Others may be torn down. Taffaro said he
	envisions neighborhoods with more green space and honestis with
	larger
	Yards.
	
	
	Few expect St. Bernard to reach its pre-storm population soon. A
	major
	obstacle is the lack of a hospital, though efforts are underway to
	build
	One. Parish estimates put the population at 32,000. Chief
	administrative
	Officer Dave Prelate says he'd be happy to have 45,000 by 2013.
	
	
	"Will we have as many schools? No. But certainly things will be a
lot
	Better and more progressive," he said.
	
	
	Jeff Pohlmann hopes so. He's been doing a one-hour commute from
north
	of
	Lake Pontchartrain to St. Bernard to work in his restaurant, Today's
	Ketch Seafood. "I hate the commute," said Pohlmann, who used to live
	nearby and worries about the next hurricane despite government
	Assurances that levees are secure.
	
	
	Pohlmann puts up with the drive because he feels a deep connection
to
	CHALMETTE.
	
	
	There are signs the St. Bernard he remembers is there. Some
	neighborhoods are ghostly quiet at night, but in others children
play
	Pickup games in their driveways. Store clerks presenting your bill
	still tack "baby" onto their thank you in an unmistakable St.
Bernard
	Drawl. Softball leagues are back, and schools are reestablishing
	Community hubs.
	
	
	Still, Taffaro fears more serious day-to-day struggles could be
	Overwhelming. He knows moving forward will take digging deep into
St.
	Bernard's emotional reserve, and getting over a sense of being
	Forgotten.
	
	
	Just up the road from St. Bernard is New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward,
	where
	presidential candidates, volunteers, TV home repair shows and
	Celebrities such as actor Brad Pitt have heaped attention. Such
	concern,
	St. Bernardino say, seems to stop at the parish line.
	
	
	So they take out their frustrations by singing karaoke or shooting
	darts
	at hangouts like the Dog House, one of 15 bars, casinos and grills
	the
	Local tourism bureau lists as nightlife. Others replant roots at the
	Festivals that are quintessential St. Bernard.
	
	
	A spring crawfish festival drew families and friends, many out of
	touch
	Since Katrina.
	
	
	Anthony Mends said he doesn't regret returning. He has a new
	neighbor,
	His only one, a woman from Florida. He's running on faith now.
	
	
	"This is home," he said.
	
	Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.