Note: Mary Sue and Steve Katz are part-time Vail residents whose home in New Orleans was severely damaged and flooded by Hurricane Katrina. They have been traveling back and forth between Vail and New Orleans since the storm.

NEW ORLEANS - This was my fourth trip to New Orleans. It's been only seven weeks since Katrina, so I've been there about every other week. That pattern should end and about once a month should suffice.

Progress has been made on the house, but without power and water, we are limited. Generators only last so long. There is no system to generate air flow and there is no security in the area. Without water and power, it's no fun being there.

A result, in between our last trip, is that our house was looted. Mary Sue was upset. Her personal possessions were all rooted and some stolen. To add insult to injury, none of my clothes were taken. They really are kind of special. Most of them survived not only Katrina, but Betsy (1965) as well.

I didn't find the looting surprising. The area is pitch black at night. There are mostly migrant workers in the area during the day. The area is mandated empty at dark. It's a thief's "made to order."

A happy note is Moe. Moe is the pet of our friends Carlton and Lizzie, who are both blind, and their five kids. Moe was rescued from a post-Katrina pack, picked up by Mary Sue and I, temporarily adopted by my friends Buddy and Kathy Bart and sent by me and the benevolence of Continental Airlines to where they have relocated in San Antonio, so he should live happily ever after.

Politics returns

New Orleans real estate is in a state "never before seen" There are pockets life in the Warehouse District and along the strip of land between the river and St. Charles Avenue.

The rest of the city has the personality of the 'kid in the graveyard'. He is too curious to leave, but too scared to advance. No one is selling and no one is rebuilding.

Louisiana has always been famous for its politicians. After all, our last three insurance commissioners as well as the Edwin Edwards, governor for 12 years - and clearly the most powerful man in the state - are in federal prison.

The in-fighting in Louisiana is starting to formulate and the city can't afford it. Special interests are arising in the rebuild and the city won't evolve without a unified effort.

Sinking city

Many people have asked me why New Orleans was built that deep under sea level. The answer is that it wasn't. Over the past 250 years New Orleans has sunk about 8 to 10 feet.

Built on a marsh between the Metairie Ridge and the ridge now known as the French Quarter, the 'between' filled in with tons of concrete street and hundreds of multi-story buildings. Put it all on a scale and you get enough weight to compress peat bog.

Then there are the levees. Built to keep the water out they also kept the alluvium out. Instead of refilling delta and wetlands, that rich soil was lost into the gulf.

A little here, a little there and after a couple centuries you're missing a couple feet or so of good, absorbent soil. Put it all together and you have a city susceptible to flood - and along came Katrina.

I hope everyone has appreciated "my view". It comes as an attempt to present some personal, some family issues, as well as an analysis of a major event with no precedent. This would be such an interesting story - if it just wasn't about me.



Vail, Colorado