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November 21, 2007
Wreck this house: the happier side
There are some signs of hope in gutting land. I think Road Home money is hitting enough people that things are slowly creaking to life. I talked to Shannon (ex-AWK, now at Common Ground) and she sees the same in the Lower Nine. And when things start happening, they seem to happen in clusters.
Case in point: I took some of my pictures from my last post on one of the "Godot" nights in the Lower 9, and while driving around I took one last swing down Urquhart near Andry, the place I mentioned last week as being bereft of life, where Common Ground had their block party near the first anniversary. And fuck if there weren't at least three houses being worked on. I just drove through, didn't take any pictures, but right at dusk there were two houses being attacked with tools and another house with a stack of new building materials on the porch.
Just like that, overnight, this block is creaking back to life.
My son's music teacher is one of the Jordan clan, and during teacher conferences a few weeks ago I told him how I'd worked on gutting his dad Kidd Jordan's house, and asked how they were getting along. He says the house is still gutted, they've got their money but haven't decided yet what to do with the house. They now have an apartment in Baton Rouge and a trailer at SUNO where Kidd is on faculty, and they go back and forth. It was a sad loss because they had just finished a nice remodel right before the storm, but I get the sense that they are empty nesters now and aren't sure they still need the big house where all the Jordan kids were raised. At any rate, Kidd spends more time in Europe than in New Orleans anyway; his style of jazz is too "out" for local tastes, whereas France has knighted him, and the very far out experimental jazz scene where Kidd fits in is centered in places like Paris and Berlin. And there are still Jordans in the neighborhood...one of the daughters is back in her house a few blocks away from the parents.
And Lisa's house, which we helped her gut this summer, will be occupied one of these days. Although it's still in contractor limbo, the gutting was major progress made possible by Lisa's stubbornness and the help of a few blogger friends.
And then there is Morwen.
Morwen, Morwen, Morwen.
I have never seen a bigger "FUCK YOU" to the Federal flood and all floods that may follow it than Morwen's castle, currently being reborn in Gentilly.
Before:
After (or at least in progress):
Morwen is using green building techniques, thermal wells, and a strong flood and windproof foundation, and she's WAY above the floodline now, as you can see.
This one to me is a miracle, because as everybody knows the day we started the gutting, this house was a bitch to knock down. I didn't tell Morwen at the time because she was in a low place and I didn't want her spirit to take any unnecessary knocks, but at the end of that day Sheik actually pulled me aside and said "are you sure you want to keep working on this? are you sure they're coming back? because this house is a mess and it's going to be a huge job to gut it out". She ended up getting a professional team to finish the job but I'm still proud of the work the bloggers and readers did, with the help of the Arabi Wrecking Krewe. We put a good-sized dent in it, and seeing that house way up in the air above the floodline, visiting with Morwen a couple of weeks ago while contractors of three or four varieties clambered all over the house in various places...that's the payoff.
I'm looking forward to the housewarming party.
Posted by ray at November 21, 2007 11:52 AM | Permalink
Categories: [katrina | new orleans ]
Comments
"because this house is a mess and it's going to be a huge job to gut it out"...
Sheik was right on that score. The company we hired worked almost five more days in order to get everything cleaned up. Later the boss told me that he had underbid the job. My response, "Live and learn".
In ten days I'll have some more pics on Flikr of the house. The gang is close to closing in the walls after the next two inspections.
For the Housewarming party the exterior will look like poop, but the inside will be all finished. (I still need to buy furniture for the place.)
Posted by: GentillyGirl at November 21, 2007 1:22 PM
And I forgot to once again say "Thank You" to the folks that came to start on the house.
Betts and I were determined to fix things, but our spirits were sagging greatly at the time Arabi and the Bloggers who came to help us. The survival of the Treehouse due to your actions also helped us survive this last year since those days. We swore we wouldn't back down and leave.
Thank You All! *curtsey*
Posted by: GentillyGirl at November 21, 2007 11:49 PM
'I have never seen a bigger "FUCK YOU" to the Federal flood and all floods that may follow it than Morwen's castle, currently being reborn in Gentilly.'
Would be too rude, crude, and socially unacceptable to say, "Keep On Fuckin'" to all those stalwart rebuilders putting the figurative finger in the faces of all those who would have it otherwise? Just sayin'...
Happy Turkey, all!
Posted by: liprap at November 22, 2007 12:28 PM
Sticking the middle finger in the dike, you mean?
Posted by: Ray at November 22, 2007 12:32 PM
Morwen,
This is great! I can't leave a comment on your blog so...
Ray, you are fucking priceless and so is your mouth.
Posted by: Marco at November 23, 2007 7:05 AM
Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive!!! I've heard all about it but the words don't do it justice. Thanks for the pics, Ray. I hope y'all had the best Thanksgiving. :)
Posted by: Sophmom at November 23, 2007 6:18 PM
We will not go down again. What we are doing is what I wished for all of the City to do, but most whimped out (and the Road Home B/S concerning Re-imbersment concerning raising homes above the Flood level is still up in the air.)
Worst case scenario from the ACOE is 8+ feet if the flood walls break. We are at 9 feet.
Understand, I'm planing on staying for the Future...
Our plan is to survive the city's resource groups'lies.
When we are dead the place reverts to the Trans community. It will become their safe house and meeting center.
I have fought for years for folks that were forgotten... this time I fight for a place, our place to be a sanctuary. This is our gift to many... it is our way of saying "Thank You" to our friends.
This is what we are about.
Posted by: GentillyGirl at November 25, 2007 6:31 PM
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