Once, there was a great city.
Without doubt, the city took some hard whippings over its three-hundred years: ownership changes, a big war, jungle heat and putrid rot. Some bad bitches visited this town, too (Betsy in 1965, Camille in 1969, among others). But the Baddest Bitch of all stopped by briefly in 2005. Three weeks later her little sister, Rita, came searching for her. (Rita may have been younger...but apparently the family schooled her well). Some years later, brother Isaac came searching for both of them.
Neither the girls nor their brother stayed long. But the city and the levees took it on the chin. So did the people. (Hurricanes make people bat-shit crazy--either during--or after.) The city reminds some visitors of one big mental institution.
However, New Orleanians don't generally leave New Orleans unless forced.
The city Powers-that-Be seem to tiptoe through a dichotomy of preservation and decay: What to save. What to repair. What to close. What to abandon to rot. (Excepting the upgraded levees, much else of what they elect to "save" seldom seems to benefit anyone who is less than wealthy.)
The city's whippings continue to come--from without and within, "without" being environmentally, "within," meaning city fathers and terribly uneducated representatives and senators.
With hurricane season upon us; with politicians passing outrageous, ridiculous Bills, one can only watch with amazed awe--and wonder which will prevail.