Stories
Lower 9th
[caption id="attachment_48" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A gutted home in the Lower 9th "][/caption] So we did a part of the lower 9th last week. We’re in between neighborhoods and we’re scoping out our next canvass. That’s how we do it; pick a whole neighborhood and search every...
Hurricane Relocator in Crayon
[caption id="attachment_45" align="alignright" width="483" caption="Searching for squatters in an abandoned apartment building"][/caption] We surveyed an abandoned apartment complex this week. A story ran in the newspaper with neighbors complaining that the complex in question was teeming with both vermin and squatters. Fortunately, this distinction means that...
Fear
“Mike and I are going to be checking out an encampment on the Algiers Levee tonight.” I inserted this into the general goodbye-banter between two people who’ve grown familiar with each other – amidst such standard stuff as “good night”, “be safe” and “see you tomorrow”. ...
The Voices In My Head
It’s a fine line between a brilliant idea and intrusive noise. I think we crossed it when you strategically gutted your last apartment with your elbow....
Revolutionary ??
You never know who you are going to meet on our streets. We were standing outside the Royal Sonnesta on Bourbon Street for a fundraiser. Mike was smoking a cigarette and I was watching people passing by wearing Mardi Gras beads and drinking hurricanes. Tuesday night...
On the Fourth Anniversary of Katrina, New Orleans is still far from recovery
By: Jordan Flaherty, Contributing Writer Posted: Monday, August 31, 2009 1:03 pm On the Fourth Anniversary of Katrina, New Orleans is still far from recovery Crawling through a hole in a fence and walking through an open doorway, Shamus Rohn and Mike Miller lead the way into an...
Derelict Buildings House Thousands In New Orleans
by Kathy Lohr - NPR Four years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has regained about 75 percent of its pre-storm population, and there are signs of economic progress. But although New Orleans is rebuilding its arts and tourism venues, including a $165 million theme park in...
Living in a House That's Not a Home
We have a big problem in little old New Orleans. In fact, we have 65,000 of them. Almost four years after the federal levees failed to hold back the wrath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is now the #1 most blighted city in America. We...
Why go to law school when I can spend my nights in abandoned buildings in New Orleans?
I recently got word that University of Michigan law school won’t let me defer law school again. I was accepted 16 months ago, and a few months later asked for and received a one-year deferral . But now my request for a second one-year deferral...