Four years should make a difference. However, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." It is New Orleans after all.

Saturday, August 29 marks the fourth anniversary of Katrina's brief visit to New Orleans.  A wierd "new normal" equilibrium reigns. Leadership is totally absent. Brad Pitt won't run for mayor although his platform might have legs. He said, "I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform."

The flooded zones are still destitute although Lakeview is just too attractive and people have been moving there steadily. The east is spotty. The lower ninth remains destitute. The house that Mike Holmes built is one year old. Holy Cross school is now in Gentilly.

January, 2009 saw a new report by Ivor Van Heerden that pummeled the Corps of Engineers over the impact of the Mr GO. Van Heerden a frequent critic of the Corps surfaced a new study that pins much of the blame for the destruction of New Orleans on the impact of the MrGO navigation channel.

Louisiana Recovery Authority is crowing that about 300 of the 500 planned Katrina cottages are now under construction. So 19 months after Gov. Bobby Jindal took office and 31 months after the state received $74 million for the cottages none have yet been completed and occupied. By taking a different approach Mississippi has 3,000 units already occupied.

It looks like we are approaching the end of the long Road Home program.As of August 24, 2009 here is the box score:

Total Applications Received	229,417
Total Eligible Applications	151,822
Total Applications       with Benefits Calculated	133,008
Total Benefits Calculated	$8.19 Billion
Total Applications       with Funding Disbursed	124,620
Total Funding Disbursed	$7.98 Billion

Mississippi DOTD suggests they may have to make some adjustments in their contraflow plan after the successful (uh disastrous) performance during Gustav. Officials have come to the conclusion that ending the I-59 contraflow 21 miles form the border in rural Mississippi gave motorists no chance at all to avoid gridlock. Extending the contraflow another 20 miles to Hattiesburg would be preferred because of the confluence of highways there but requires more manpower to control access (or "assist motorists" as the MDOT inaccurately expressed their purpose). No comment yet on the situation at the I-59 and I-20 intersection at Meridian.

January 3, 2009 brought the first flooding of the New Year. Heavy rains created street flooding across New Orleans. Accumulations on Jefferson Avenue uptown stranded patrons of the Prytania theater who had flocked to the 7pm showing of Benjamin Button, the Brad Pitt movie set in New Orleans. Entering the theater in a light drizzle, movie goers had difficulty distinguishing the sounds of Hurricane Katrina on screen from the thunder outside. The show ended with the theater completely surrounded with water from street flooding. Good natured patrons stripped off their shoes, rolled up their pant legs and and tiptoed carefully to their cars.Officials issued a flash flood warning as portions of Elysian Fields and Almonaster avenues, Gentilly Boulevard and Polk and Banks streets were covered with several inches of water.The canal along Gen. de Gaulle Drive in Algiers threatened to overflow. About 18 inches accumulated under I-10 at the Carrollton underpass.

The rest of the city looks much better. Traffic cams are the city's fastest growing revenue source, funding the public defenders office and much more. Giant new safehouses adorn the Jefferson Parish pumping stations. Levees are higher all around the city. One of the new hurricane proof twin spans to Slidell is open. MrGO is closed to traffic but not to saltwater so the coastal erosion continues. The rest of the wetlands are continuing to sink beneath the waves.

In July the city was hot. The gulf was hot. El Nino is brewing in the Pacific but is not expected to be a factor until December. The Loop Current is hot but far away from the mouth of the river. One tropical storm brewed up in August and drenched the Florida panhandle but otherwise it has been quiet as the big Atlantic storm have been veering north. Then August saw the first cool front of the year. Morning temperatures in the 60's and mid-day maximums in the 80's couple with low humidity were welcome relief form the summer for a few days.

On average, New Orleans still has the newest refrigerators in America with few over 4 years old.