October 2007 is month 26 since Katrina. Collectively a sigh of relief is emerging across the city. Peak hurricane season is past and the first cold front of the year (temperatures in the lower 80's) has arrived with dryer air and the promise that we'll soon be able to turn off our air conditioners.

Weather, politics, crime, scandals, and football dominate the local interest. The new TV season offers prime time fantasy escapism. The boring process of rebuilding inches forward, hindered at every step by lack of planning, fear of corruption, and loads of incompetence. How can so many, be so wrong, about so much, so often?

The Road Home is grinding along, towards its date with bankruptcy. The program will run out of money in December, 2007. By then, close to 100,000 grants will have been made. That will leave almost 90,000 applicants unpaid. Increased cost of compliance grants and other second round grants like those to rental property owners remain in limbo. Lack of relief for rental property owners may help explain why there are so few low cost rental properties available in New Orleans. The LRA now owns thousands of homes and must allocate funds to care for those properties. Demolitions are mired in bureaucracy and confusion. Tearing down the wrong house has happened and will happen again. Listening to the bureaucrats testifying before other bureaucrats gives little comfort.

On the federal front bills to fund the shortfall in the Road Home and to fund the construction of 100 Year flood protection are still being debated. Passage of the WRDA bill provides money to close MRGO and fund Morganza to the Gulf flood control levees but falls short of full coastal restoration needs.

Health care issues remain unresolved. Self medication with drugs and alcohol remains the popular approach. Other health care continues to see emergency rooms clogged with the uninsured.

The Second Quarter 2007 Metropolitan Crime Commission "watchdog" report on the Criminal Justice System shows little progress against violent crime. Although arrests are up and case closing stats show improvement, the emphasis is in the wrong place. Apparently the whole CJS has slipped back into the same pattern of arrests and convictions that prevailed before the storm. Convictions for violent felonies have dropped even as those crimes have become more prevalent. Convictions for drug felonies  (the new crime lab is fully online), and arrests for municipal crimes (when citations would serve as well) are way up.

School is back in session and from the relative lack complaints, must be doing better. More charters, more choices, more management, more money all suggest this segment of our city is improving. Small fiascoes like the Lusher busing contract have replaced bigger problems. The new superintendent of the Recovery District admitted that on average public school students are two grade levels behind.

Oakwood Center shopping mall reopened in October. Burned by looters after the storm, the mall has been gutted and reconstituted.

Elections give voters the chance to let off a little steam. But what did they do this October but reelect the incumbents! Somebody needs to tell them that's what you do when you are happy with the way things are going!  Jindal moves from the Congress to the State Mansion as Governor. Now who do we elect to Congress? The special Council at Large election sees current District E council member Willard-Lewis in a runoff against past member Clarkson. The voters still won't give Virginia Boulet a chance. Broussard was amazingly reelected in Jefferson. Only Charles Foti felt the full force of the electorate for his miserable performance as AG with Dr. Pou and nurses Budo and Landry. Bob Odom is in a runoff and might get another chance at his sugar mill. Even in the State Senate we tend to elect names even if we didn't like what was going on. David Heitmeire is in a runoff to replace his brother in the Senate. Heitmeier has been an Algiers name for decades and it was a name read daily by Garland Robinette as a member of the Bond Commission which approved a bunch of porky projects even after the storms should have changed their priorities.

The close but decisive LSU victory over national champion Florida was the most stressful game ever. Then came the triple OT loss to Kentucky and the last minute win over Auburn. Les Miles likes it exciting! With another big win and some crazy upsets in the top ten, Boston College is #2. We are not talking much about Saints right now. It is going to take a few more wins to get over their 0-4 start, but they are on the way.

Do you think you have been paying attention since the storm. If so you might want to try your hand at this interactive QUIZ. Grades will be sent to yo momma and da BESE board.

October 27 saw the first big anti-War protest in New Orleans. Tied in with protests in ten cities across the nation, tens of thousands of protesters hit the streets in recognition of the 5th Anniversary of the Congressional authorization to use military force against Iraq. In New Orelans just a few hundred demonstrated. There was plenty of competition for attention as Voodoo Fest was in town.