Lower 9th finally gets mail delivery

[a kennedy]

NEW ORLEANS — Roosevelt Johnson opened the door to a big surprise Monday morning.

The mailman.

"Mail in the Lower 9th Ward — ain't that something," said Johnson, 46, who hasn't seen a mailman around the neighborhood since Hurricane Katrina deluged the city 11 months ago. "This means a lot," he said, shaking mail carrier Wayne Treaudo's hand.

The rest of America takes the mail for granted. But here in the Lower 9th Ward, where Katrina's flooding reached rooftops and pushed houses off foundations, Treaudo's first round of mail delivery carried some hope for normalcy in a place where normal is hard to come by.

The Lower 9th Ward, once home to about 20,000, is one of the last New Orleans neighborhoods where basic services remain scarce. It's the only neighborhood in the city where electricity and gas services have not been fully restored. Government-issue travel trailers began showing up just last month.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-17-mail-ninth-ward_x.htm

[dsc]

1. almost a year

Cripes. One would think we were a third world country.

[mom cat]

3. We are.

[babylonsister]

2. Just in time for the next round. nt

[zbdent]

4. Better check those "Governmet-issue" trailers

for water and mud damage ...