Boating Recovers in The Big Easy
Three years ago, the boating community in New Orleans was set adrift by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
As with much of the city, questions are still being raised about what recreational boating will ultimately look like on the other end of the recovery. Will the devastation and displacement of significant numbers of boaters lead to a renaissance and return of the shore’s original charm and character, or will developers ad bureaucrats turn this segment of a unique city into another venture with the same big-box retailers, boutiques, bookstores and restaurants that exist in malls everywhere? Amid all of the questions and conflagration over the city’s future, life goes on. Signs of progress are evident in many parts of the city. The restaurants and professional sports teams are back. Spending by tourists is better than before, and members of the local boating community want everybody to know it is now business as usual in New Orleans.
“There are boating areas within the greater New Orleans area that are busy and prosperous and interesting. These are scattered across the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and in a few areas along the rivers and around the tributaries of Lake Maurepas, just west of Lake Pontchartrain” said Michael Mayer, president of Mayer Yacht Services. “I think most of the service businesses on the north shore are in pretty good shape. Here on the south shore, we’re seeing signs of a resurgence, but I think that really has to be measured in months and years.”
South Shore Marina, one of the city’s most popular marinas, was virtually destroyed. An $8 million reconstruction project involving the facility’s 453 slips and another 26 covered slips has been designed to allow for each pier to be reopened as soon as it becomes available, said Louis Capo, director of the Division of Non-Flood Assets at the Orleans Levee District, which operates South Shore Marina and nearby Orleans Marina. He said the covered slips should begin coming back online before spring, with total restoration of the marina expected to take about 12 months.
Orleans Marina Spared
“There is a lot of interest in South Shore. We’re receiving a lot of calls from people wanting to know when it’s going to be open,” Capo said. “Right now, Orleans Marina is probably 95 percent full and we have a waiting list of about 300 people.”
Orleans Marina was largely spared due to being buffered from the hurricanes by the New Orleans Municipal Yacht Harbor to the north. There is some damage to the harbor master’s building which is currently being repaired, so the staff is working out of a trailer on the site. The power and all of the decking has been restored. Pennick Dock at the marina can accommodate boats of up to 140 feet and several yachts have been housed there over the last few months, Capo said.
The Municipal Yacht Harbor still has no power or water. About half the boaters who were there before the storm are said to remain, awaiting redevelopment by the city.
The Party Is Still On
New Orleans is at the big toe of boot-shaped Louisiana, bordered on the north by Lake Pontchartrain. Lake Pontchartrain is connected by an eastward channel to Lake Borgne, which is joined by the Mississippi Sound to the Gulf of Mexico.
Running through the city is part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a 1,072- mile inland route from Carrabelle, FL, to Brownsville, TX. The Waterway also connects with the Mississippi, providing a protected passageway for freight barges and pleasure boats.
Pleasure was shorn from the equation in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and the resulting levee breaches left about 80 percent of the city underwater. The city still remains in a serious, state of flux. Uptown neighborhoods and the French Quarter pretty much look the way they did before the hurricane, while much of the lower Ninth Ward – the epicenter of controversy involving the aftermath of the storm – looks as if Katrina struck only yesterday
However, using the measured approach that Mayer suggests, the story becomes increasingly positive with every passing day. The city now has more restaurants than it did before Katrina and the convention and the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau has noticed a promising trend of more affluent visitors. While overall numbers of visitors are still down, their spending appears to be up. They appear to be more civic-minded as well. The Essence Music Festival returned for its July 2007 date after being displaced to Houston the previous year. About 200,000 people are expected to attend this year’s festival in the Superdome. Several organizations have held their annual conventions in the city over the last three years.
The Bayou Classic, the traditional football game between Southern University and Grambling State University, returned in November of 2006 after being displaced to Houston in 2005. The city played host during the 2007 college football season to the New Orleans Bowl, the Sugar Bowl and the BCS title game. It was the site of the 2008 NBA All-Star game in February. Jazz Fest Returns to Seven-Day Schedule The National Football League has made a commitment to the city, with the return of the New Orleans Saints, following speculation of a move elsewhere after Katrina. The Saints’ scheduled 2005 home opener was played at Giants Stadium, the home stadium of their opponent, the New York Giants. The remainder of their 2005 home games were split between the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX, and Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. The NFL has said there is also a possibility of a Super Bowl within the next five or six years. The New Orleans Hornets of the National Basketball Association have returned. The team temporarily relocated to Oklahoma City, OK, for the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons.
Other events such as the Jazz and Heritage Festival and Mardi Gras were never displaced. For the first time since 2005, the Festival will occur for seven days rather than six, April 25-27 and May 1-4. The Neville Brothers, the iconic band of New Orleans, a.k.a. “The First Family of Funk,” are coming home for their first post-Katrina performance in the city, appearing in their traditional spot as the Festival’s closing act on Sunday, May 4.
Mardi Gras “Indians” – black working-class groups that are part secret and spiritual society, and part neighborhood social club – really never missed a beat and continue to parade during Mardi Gras and other celebrations. While many are still working on restoring the basics within their lives, they continue the tradition, spending a year hand-stitching their costumes, using a technique that is taught from one generation to the next.
Mr. Go Breaches
The city’s first artificial levees and canals were built during colonial times for protection against flooding from the Mississippi River. The so-called “back of town” away from the river originally drained down into the swamps running toward Lake Pontchartrain. As the city grew, demand for more land encouraged expansion into lower areas more vulnerable to flooding.
With the exception of the Lower Ninth Ward, serious flooding was minimal during Hurricane Betsy in 1965. That section of town is separated from the rest of the city by the Industrial Canal and the Intracoastal. The cause of the flooding then was a breach in the Industrial Canal levee.
That same year, the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal (MRGO) was completed. Known as MR-GO or “Mr. Go,” the 76-mile channel was built as a shorter route between the Gulf of Mexico and the Port of New Orleans, one of the largest and busiest ports in the world, for ocean going vessels.
When Hurricane Katrina hit, the Industrial Canal was again overwhelmed by storm surge funneled in by the MR-GO. Levees along the MR-GO were breached in about 20 places. The Outlet is also suspected of being the cause of at least three breaches in the Industrial Canal.
While many of the things that people generally take for granted, such as access to grocery stores and gas stations, can still be a luxury in some neighborhoods, New Orleans is on a recovery path. The recovery has spawned the Musician’s Village, one of the more unique developments in post-Katrina New Orleans. The Musician’s Village was conceived by Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr., to promote and preserve the city’s musical heritage. Among the musicians who live there is Smokey Johnson, 71, a longtime drummer for Fats Domino, also of New Orleans, and session percussionist for Motown. Johnson’s playing career was ended by a stroke in 1993. In an interview with MP3.com, Johnson talked about returning to New Orleans after living with his daughter in Baton Rouge, and the quality of life the Village offers in a city that is still overcoming a massive disaster.
“It’s a blessing for me,” he says. “I’m back home and I’m around a lot of musicians I know.”
Tacking in the Right Direction
The true heart beat of the city is revealed in the lives of people like Johnson. It is because of people like him that New Orleanians love a reason to party for as long as they can, and he is part of a legacy of countless musicians, session players and songwriters who have served as the backbone of a culture that is known the world over.
As the birthplace of jazz and a place some of the world’s most popular musicians have called home, New Orleans is a melting pot of musical inspiration and innovation. From street performers to intimate clubs, jazz funerals to festivals and symphonies to rock concerts, music permeates and enriches everyday of life in the city. It tells the story of the city and its people to anyone who will listen.
Maintaining the public’s ear to drive restoration efforts is a constant challenge for officials in the Crescent City. The same is true for people involved in recreational boating. Scores of boaters were displaced by the storm and, if they’re still boating at all, they’re doing it elsewhere. Many boaters who preferred to stay in New Orleans migrated, along with their boating activities, to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
“The boating community of New Orleans is on a slower mend,” says Rolla Tichenor, a broker at A&M Yachts, on the south shore of the lake. Business for those selling small boats is booming, probably due in some part to the lack of storage space which is now beginning to become more readily available. The market for boats of 30 feet and up has been relatively limited, but it is tacking in the right direction. There are some existing contracts for vessels stretching above 120 feet, including at least one for a 250-foot yacht, he said.
“We are by no means setting the world on fire down here, but we’re not closing the doors either,” Tichener says. “We’re not moving them as fast as we would like under the circumstances, but I feel like things are turning.”
