Sep 26 2006
The Saints go marching in…but did our priorities go marching out?
It was blasted all over the news tonight, how the New Orleans Saints were hosting their first game in the Superdome in post Katrina NoLa.
Saints March in As Superdome Comes Alive
As rock bands blasted and tailgate parties served up barbecue and brew, thousands of people poured into the streets Monday night, hoping to forget about Hurricane Katrina during a Mardi Gras-like celebration of the Saints’ first home game since the storm.
Crowds swamped the area around the Louisiana Superdome in a human sea, creating a huge traffic jam for the team’s emotional return and the reopening of the stadium, which underwent $185 million in repairs to erase damage done during and after Katrina.
At first, since I am not a Saints fan, it didn’t really impress me. But after some reflection I realized that this is a huge moment for NoLa. the Superdome was the symbol of the local and state governments failure, the site where the sheep were herded to and left to the elements and the wolves.
People applauded when Bourbon Street reopened, and Mardi Gras went on, as those are vibrant images of the fun and happiness that most of us think if in regards to NoLa, but the Superdome was the grim reminder of the gritty ugly reality.
Even with its gleaming new cover, the Superdome remained a symbol of Katrina’s misery. Tens of thousands of storm victims suffered there in withering heat after last summer’s hurricane filled the city with stinking floodwaters.
In a sense the game tonight is an attempt at a symbolic healing. So the festivities, more akin to a Superbowl then a Monday night football game are understandable, and even applauded.
And yet…
A part of me remembers reading recently how the clean up is dragging for so many people, how newspaper articles bemoaned that so much work had to be done, and complained about how the government needs to do more.
So I had to ask myself, was money spent to rebuild the Superdome that could have had more benefit to the community at large?
And reading a bit farther in the article, I realize that my questions were not the first.
Amid the desolation, some residents could not bring themselves to celebrate the team’s return.
Irma Warner, 71, and her husband, Pascal Warner, 80, live in an apartment in suburban Metairie while working six days a week to restore a home flooded by 7 feet of water in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood.
"We rode around through the Ninth Ward yesterday," Irma Warner said. "When I saw that, I thought, how can they spend $185 million on the Superdome. What about all these poor people?"
Of course, she is not in the majority in this:
Harold Johnson couldn’t get into the Superdome, but he planned to sit with his neighbors outside his government-issue trailer and watch the game on television.
"I don’t want to talk about Katrina. I don’t want to talk about insurance. I don’t want to talk about anything but kicking Falcon butt," Johnson said as he stocked up on beer at a grocery store for the cookout with his neighbors.
But even their party is a stark reminder of how far people have to go.
Johnson and his neighbors were holding the party outdoors because none of them had room inside their trailers.
And this person summarized what is really at play here:
"This is exactly what the city needs," said Saints season ticket holder Clara Donate, 58, who lost her home and all her possessions to Katrina’s floodwaters. "We all need something else to think about."
So let’s be real and call this what it is. It was a 185 million dollar band aid.
And a part of me has to wonder if that money could have eased some real suffering elsewhere. Did the leaders of NoLa play another game of priorities? It would be somewhat ironic for it to happen at the Superdome where so many were forgotten and ignored, and now we can play football and celebrate the millions spent to repair the broken stadium, while millions of people still sit displaced.
And let us not forget that outside NoLa, as some celebrate and others remain bitter, we far away can remain insulated.
Afer all, to us, It’s just time for our Monday night football, and that Saints just beat the Falcons.
3 Responses to “The Saints go marching in…but did our priorities go marching out?”
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You were not alone. This morning on the news they were interviewing people who did not have enough money to make the repairs needed to make their homes liveable-but they were stuck living in them anyways. They’s cleaned up as best they can, but can’t afford to fix the damage. They were none to pleased that the community could find the money to fix the dome, but not to help the citizens.
During Katrina the Superdome was used to forget and ignore the plight of New Orlean’s citizens. Once again the Superdome is being used to forget and ignore the plight of New Orlean’s citizens.
So what has changed you ask? People would much rather think about games and money than strife and poverty and there’s plenty of money to be made with professional football.
Bread and circuses…