LARROQUETTE... AND NFL LEGEND
MARSHALL FAULK ... THEY ALL
CALLED THE NINTH WARD "HOME."
REBUILDING HERE HAS TAKEN LONGER
THAN ANY OTHER
NEIGHBORHOOD RAVAGED BY
HURRICANE KATRINA.
IT HAS ALSO BEEN DUBBED A FOOD
DESERT .... FOR ITS LACK OF
GROCERY
STORES. BUT THE CITY OF NEW
ORLEANS SAYS MORE THAN 5-
HUNDRED-MILLION DOLLARS HAS BEEN
INVESTED IN THE LOWER NINTH
WARD.
WDSU REPORTER TRAVERS MACKEL
JOINS US WITH THE BIGGEST
CHALLENGES FACING THE
COMMUNITY... AS WE HEAD INTO THE
"NEXT" DECADE OF KATRINA
RECOVERY.
IN THE DAYS AND WEEKS AFTER THE
STORM - IT QUICKLY BECAME
A NEIGHBORHOOD NAME THAT THE
NATION LEARNED TO KNOW WELL -
THE LOWER NINTH WARD. AN ALMOST
ENTIRELY AFRICAN AMERICAN
COMMUNITY: CLOSE KNIT AND
HISTORIC - BUT PLAGUED WITH
PROBLEMS LIKE POVERTY AND CRIME.
THE ROAD TO RECOVERY,
LIKE THIS NINTH WARD STREET -
BUMPY ... BUT MANY SAY 10
YEARS LATER, THEY'RE STARTING TO
SEE IMPROVEMENT.
LIKE SO MANY DISASTERS THAT CAME
BEFORE IT ... THE NINTH WARD
STILL REMAINS A TOURISTS
ATTRACTION 10 YEARS AFTER THE
STORM ... AND ALL THE SIGHTSEERS
STILL MAKE DONALD
PRITCHETT'S EYES SORE.
Nats
HE LIVES DIRECTLY ACROSS THE
STREET FROM THE EXACT SPOT
WHERE THE LEVEE BROKE ... AND IS
BACK HOME, WITH A BIRD'S EYE
VIEW
OF THE CITY HE LOVES.
I lived here all my life, 55
years.
AND DESPITE A CHECKERBOARD
NEIGHBORHOOD OF NEW HOMES,
OLD ONES, DESTROYED ONES AND
EMPTY LOTS - HE SEES THE SIGNS
OF PROGRESS IN THE LOWER NINTH
...
it's much better now, much
better.
CHARMAINE MARCHAND LIKES TO HEAR
THAT. THE ATTORNEY
REPRESENTED THIS PART OF THE
CITY AS A MEMBER OF THE STATE
LEGISLATURE WHEN KATRINA HIT AND
IN THE YEARS
FOLLOWING. SHE STILL LIVES IN
THIS AREA, LESS THAN A MILE FROM
THE LEVEE BREACH ... AND SAYS
RECOVERY HAS BEEN SLOW.
at the end of the day we still
can't get a lot of things down
here because our population is
not back, our population is
not back because opportunities
are not here and opportunities
are not here because
infrastructure
wasn't here.
MARCHAND SAYS SHE HAD TO BATTLE
FOR RECOVERY
DOLLARS IN BATON ROUGE AT THE
STATE CAPITOL ... AND
MORE IMPORTANTLY SHE HAD TO BEAT
AWAY WHAT SHE
CALLS AN EFFORT TO "JUST LET
THIS AREA" GO.
hell yeah it upset me - this is
where I live, this is where I
grew up.
AND AT COMMUNITY MEETINGS IN THE
CITY AND AT THE
STATE CAPITOL, MARCHAND SAYS
RESIDENTS STEPPED UP TO
MAKE SURE THIS AREA DIDN'T
BECOME GREEN SPACE OR AN
INDUSTRIAL PARK. .... ALMOST
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING
KATRINA, THE PEOPLE WHO CALLED
THIS AREA HOME HAD SOME
STAR POWER BEHIND THEM.
we knew we couldn't bring back
the families and friends that
were lost, bring back the
heirlooms, the pictures, but
maybe in the process of
rebuilding we could build
something smarter. We could create a better way of
life for the people who live
there.
BRAD PITT CREATED THE "MAKE IT
RIGHT" FOUNDATION IN
2007, AND SINCE THEN THE NON-
PROFIT HE FORMED HAS
BUILT MORE THAN 150 HOMES IN THE
LOWER NINTH. ALL ECO-FRIENDLY
HOUSES ... THEY WERE GIVEN TO
QUALIFIED RESIDENTS WHO
WANTED TO COME HOME BUT
STRUGGLED WITH THE MEANS TO
GET BACK.
Nats - Green
PEOPLE LIKE ROBERT GREEN.
i'm an original rooftop rider,
one of the first residents to
return to the lower side of the
lower ninth ward.
HE'S ALSO PRESIDENT OF THE
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION,
SELLS TEE-SHIRTS AND MUGS TO
TOURISTS AND LIVES IN A BRAD
PITT HOME.
he built better, wiser - he
built green homes - we are here
thanks to him - 150 strong.
BUT WHILE THE BRAD PITT HOMES
ARE FILLED ... OTHERS ARE NOT.
it's the lowest recovery numbers
of all the neighborhoods.
DR. ALLISON PLYER RUNS THE
GREATER NEW ORLEANS DATA
AND RESEARCH CENTER.
folks may find the recovery data
in the lower ninth disturbing,
but i'm not sure they'll find it
shocking. THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD
INCOME IS AROUND $33,000
DOLLARS A YEAR AND THE POVERTY
RATE IS WELL ABOVE THE CITY'S
AVERAGE OF 27-PERCENT ... IT'S
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR OF 40-
PERCENT. AND DR. PLYER ALSO
SAYS ONLY 37-PERCENT OF THE PRE-
KATRINA POPULATION IS BACK. a
lot of the homes were built by
families and they had just
handed them down without always
doing all of thepaperwork so that when katrina
hit, if the person idn't haveall the paperwork to prove they owned t. it
made it hard, almost impossible
for them to apply for road home
and such.
AND THEN THERE'S THE CRIME
ISSUE, A SITUATION THAT
GOES BACK PRE-KATRINA.
crime was a major problem.
CITY LEADERS ARE AWARE OF ALL
THE LINGERING PROBLEMS BUT
ARE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT
CHANGE ... POINTING TO TWO
NEW SCHOOLS, A COMMUNITY CENTER,
FIRE HOUSE AND
LIBRARY.
it's gonna be a take time kinda
thing ... But if the people
follow the investment we are
making ad make theirown it will go back to the
viable community that it always
was.
PRITCHETT HOPES TO SEE MORE SOON
... BECAUSE HE'S BACK FOR
GOOD.
there's progress, there's
progress.
AND HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN THE
NINTH WARD.. ALMOST 59
MILLION IN ROAD REPAIRS AND
IMPROVEMENTS.
AND AS FAR AS REDUCING BLIGHT..
THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
SAYS 535 STRUCTURES HAVE BEEN
DEMOLISHED OR
BROUGHT INTO COMPLIANCE.
OWNING A HOME IS THE AMERICAN
DREAM. BUT MANY IN THE 9TH
WARD FOUND THEMSELVES LIVING A
NIGHTMARE... 10
YEARS AGO. UP NEXT, WHAT'S
BEING DONE TO HELP BRING THAT
DREAM BACK TO THIS PART OF THE
CITY.... AS WE EXAMINE KATRINA:
10 YEARS FORWARD.