Holidays Not So Big — Or Easy — For N.O.
CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick was on assignment in New Orleans from Dec. 16-20, 2006 and filed this report for CBSNews.com.
During the week before Christmas in New Orleans, a heavy fog settled in each night. On some days, the fog lasted well into the next afternoon, becoming clear and warm afterwards. Other days, the weather remained cloudy and cool. The shifting weather reflected the mood of some residents in the days leading up to the holidays.
"Uncertain. It's that kind of season," said Kenneth Colin, a taxi driver who lives in a FEMA trailer in the Lower 9th Ward.
The holiday decorations in New Orleans are sporadic and toned down this year, even in the usually festive French Quarter. On the mule-drawn carriages in Jackson Square, only one of the mules sported reindeer antlers as a costume.
"I didn't put lights up this year. I didn't have the help," said Brian Dupepe, owner of the Hotel Provincial on Chartres Street in the French Quarter.
In New Orleans' Lakeview neighborhood, where the streets are still buckled from Hurricane Katrina and crowded with demolition and construction crews, newly rebuilt houses with Christmas wreaths and lights sit next to abandoned or demolished homes. Some residents are home for the holidays, but many of their neighbors are not yet able to return.
In hard-hit lower Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, there are few buildings standing. The most visible work is being done by earthmovers, fortifying the levees. Many residents are waiting for that work to finish so they can rebuild. Their insurance will depend on it. In the meantime, only a handful of FEMA trailers in the town of Port Sulphur are decorated for the holidays.
Last year, Randy Gauthier strung Christmas lights on the shell of his destroyed seafood business.
"I used a generator to power them. But this year it's just too much trouble," he said. His wife and children live an hour and a half's drive away so his daughters can attend school.
Throughout the region, there is a mixture of worry and optimism about the year ahead.
Photos: Christmas In New Orleans
"There is some uncertainty. At this point we would have hoped to see a clear way forward," said psychologist Joy Osofsky, who is working with recovery workers, schools and the elderly. "If it was really clear how things will be rebuilt, including the levees, you would see the mood improve. But it's dragging on."
One thing she says the locals cheer is visitors. Even traffic jams are welcome.
And New Orleans tourism officials are hopeful that visitors will return in large numbers in 2007. Tourism accounts for 35 percent of the city's budget. — and locals say the best way for Americans to help the struggling city now is to visit it. There are growing signs that is beginning to happen and New Orleans is prepared for it.
"Last year at this time, there were 9,000 hotel rooms filled primarily with FEMA workers and displaced New Orleanians," according to Sandra Shilstone, president of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corporation. "Today, there are 29,000 hotel rooms."
Hotel occupancy is close to 50 percent.
New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport is now servicing 109 flights per day. That's still less than the 162 daily flights before Katrina — but the increasing number of passengers could allow some shuttered stores and restaurants to reopen.
Shilstone admits it has been a challenging year.
Convention business could be back to 70 percent of pre-Katrina levels in 2007, but the lack of conventions this year has been devastating to some businesses on Royal Street in the French Quarter, known for its galleries and antiques shops. Conventioneers often spend more money than leisure tourists.
"Tourists coming to see the hurricane damage don't budget $30,000 for chandeliers, antiques and art," said Sterling Gallery owner Albert Quaid. "There are merchants who are about to go out of business and they're just hanging on."
The gallery next door has already closed.
Some of the city's famed restaurants have also struggled; they say business is down 40 percent in some cases. There has been a shortage of workers, which forced restaurants to cut their hours of operation and scale back their menus.
Steve Pettuce, co-owner of Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, solved that problem by bringing in foreigners on working visas and renting out an entire Bed & Breakfast to house them.
Many of the Hotel Provincial's staff members were forced to leave New Orleans after Katrina. Most lived in the 9th Ward and lost their homes. When his hotel was filled with FEMA workers immediately after the storm, Dupepe offered only weekly housekeeping services. Now he has a contract with a local business that provides day workers.
Some of the staff is now returning to New Orleans, but "housing will be a major issue for years to come," Dupepe said.
Crime will also be a challenge. According to figures released by the New Orleans Police Department and reported by the Times Picayune, murders increased 36 percent from July through September.
Kenneth Colin, whose FEMA trailer sits outside his Lower 9th Ward home while it's being re-built, says the drug dealers have returned. He stood in his front yard late one night, pleading with them to "respect the neighborhood" and leave. He believes police and National Guard patrols have had no impact.
Colin is determined to remain there. But he says the neighborhood is divided about its future. Many residents are not returning, and the streets are lined with "For Sale" signs. Other displaced residents hope to demolish their homes and rebuild, but the process is confusing and time-consuming.
"The rules keep changing," Colin says.
Colin's FEMA trailer is without Christmas lights — and like many, he will be spending the holidays with his family elsewhere.
The holiday cheer may not be as visible this year, he says, but that doesn't mean it's any less important.
Plaquemines Parish Councilman Amos Cornier agrees.
"It's what's in people's hearts that really matters. I'm sure the Christmas season will bring out the spirit in people — and the closer it gets, the more they'll be happier to be home."
Even if home is a FEMA trailer this year.
By Cami McCormick