I learned something interesting today. CNN really likes to exaggerate a slightly interesting story. I'm guessing I heard 5-10 different people say, "This is the real New Orleans, not the CNN New Orleans," today.
I came down here seriously doubting the ability of New Orleans to have rebounded well enough to host a convention the size of the one I will be attending here. Having spent 24 hours here, I now have no doubts at all that this city is doing just fine.
Coming down the freeway from the airport, I saw a little bit of remaining damage in a few deserted buildings. But in the French Quarter I haven't seen anything wrong. In fact, I'd almost say some parts of the city are better than ever before. The theme of the day was, "When we got the chance to rebuild, we didn't just rebuild, we improved." (And quite a bit of that improvement was done with tax dollars/FEMA money.) I've been here once before, and enjoyed the city, but didn't fall in love with it. Today I discovered that I actually really do like this city a lot.
Enjoy the pictures of the city!
New Orleans hosted ALA last summer as well, which is a huge librarian conference (the one here in Seattle last month was the mid-year version of the same show, about half the size, I think?).
ReplyDeleteI heard from those who went (I didn't get to go) that it was nice and that the convention worked well, except that the air conditioning in some hotels wasn't back in yet, which in late June is kind of a necessity. But New Orleans was hard to fly into--apparently flights were hard to get--and due to warnings about mold and allergens, as well as to the worry that it wouldn't be ready, many people stayed away and the conference wasn't as large as it normally is.
ALA had been planned on being in New Orleans long before Katrina, and they felt it important to continue their support. It sounds like it's gotten even better since June, which is good to hear.
Is it getting easier to fly in, though? You might want to investigate that. (I'm sure you have a whole list of things you check out, and I'm sure that's part of it. But, y'know, just thought I'd let you know what I'd heard.)