We have left these people behind.  New Orleans is a very depressed city today and has a vacant feeling to it.  I haven’t been here in years, but this town used to be flowing with life.

The Lower Ninth Ward, once a fully populated neighborhood, is now a large field of weeds mixed with rubble from old foundations.  There’s barely a building standing and only a few new homes started or completed.  90% of its population has stayed away.  Frankly, we’ve given them little or no reason to come back.