The worst street in the world- in New Orleans
The most embarrassing thing happened to me. It was one of those, “roaches don’t come until you have guest at your home” moments. Some colleagues of mine from Houston followed me to New Orleans in their car. I asked them if we could kindly stop at my house before making our final destination at the University of New Orleans. I slowly entered my street in the 7th Ward. I thought they would notice how slow I was going, and follow suit. They didn’t. About the time I maneuvered my way through our pot hole ridden street, I heard a terrible noise “scrap !#!#%!%# bang, “ I turned around and saw my friends getting out of the car to look. Not a good sign.
They, like hundreds of other amateur pot hole drivers didn’t make it 1/2 way through the block without the bottom of their car scraping against one of the sink holes in the street, which by the way, looked like an earth quake hit it – 10 years ago. This section of this street has put many cars out of commission. It is called the “build-in speed bump” by my neighbors.
This incident was a great embarrassment to me. I couldn’t blame Hurricane Katrina, because the streets had been like this for over 15 years. Each year it got worst and worst. About every 5 or so years the city would do a little patch up job. Kind of like putting a band aid over the wounds of an open heart surgery patient.
I wondered how the city went about choosing which streets to repair. A few have been repaired in the area. If those streets were worst than mine, I wouldn’t have a problem understanding that we would have to wait until our turn on my block. The truth is, the streets I have seen were nothing like my street. I wonder, did they pull straws or flip coins in the government to decide which streets to repair?
Oak Park is a pretty good area, with so much potential. We are a community that is near the bayou, near the lake and was greatly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. We are also in the fringes of Gentilly ( a historic area in New Orleans). For the life of me, I can’t understand why in the years I have lived in the area, my street has never been repaired.
Keith Oberman has the “Worst Persons in the World,” on MSNBC. Well, we have “The Worst Street In the World,” in New Orleans, Louisiana.
My solution:
Use some of the traffic light camera revenue Mr. Mayor and FIX THESE DARN STREETS
