Just a quick reminder: the CIP meeting is at 6:30 tonight at Mayfield.

22 years ago Sarah and I were married!  Huzzah!  She's put up with me this long I figure she's stuck with me.  After our wedding, we went to New Orleans for our honeymoon.  We stayed up in the Garden District in a timeshare her parents had given us (not for good, just that week).  It was a great location and the trolley went right in front of the hotel – straight into the french quarter!  Every large city south of the Mason-Dixon should have trolleys – a very efficient way to travel inside the city.  We had a ball.  We went out every night and during the day went to the Audobon zoo, aquarium – just everywhere.

åWe had occassion to go back to the Big Easy this week on business.  There is a particular piece of software that we use in our business and the manufacturer was holding a customer conference in NOLA so we decided to go.  Flying through Atlanta isn't fun but it's tolerable – once past there it's only an hour to NOLA.  As our flight approached New Orleans I noticed wide swaths of green space.  The more I looked at it, the more it bugged me – there was a troubling "regularness" to it.  After a minute it occured to me that what I was looking at was the remainder of the street grid.  The houses, telephone poles, etc were completely gone.  The terrible aftermath of Katrina.  Seems like so long ago really.  It doesn't end there.  The superdome has been completely overhualed and re-skinned in shiny gold – it's sponsored by Mercedes-Benz – but it is difficult to seperate the memory of what happened there from what you see today.

This time around we stayed in a Hilton hotel down by the "Riverwalk".  Near as I can explain it, the Riverwalk is NOLA's attempt to provide a somewhat PG alternative to the French Quarter.  The Riverwalk was very much in its' infancy when we were there 22 years ago.  It consisted mainly of the Aquarium and parts of the Hilton Riverside (which has bedbugs, btw).  Nowadays it's all fancy with a pretty big casino and a fair amount of investment being directed into the surrounding "Warehouse District".  The Warehosue District is the new favored son in NOLA.

The French Quarter, in my mind, is but a shadow of its former self.  This would not seem to be attributable to Katrina as there wasn't much flooding there so the Quarter sustained limited infrastructure damage.  I suppose that the economy has more to do with it but, whatever the cause, Sarah and I both agree that the entire quarter is seedier than it was 22 years ago.  Back then there were certainly strip clubs (Big Daddy's Bottomless and Topless famously had a machine that would push a set of manniken legs through an upper window) but it was low-key (or as low key as legs through a window gets).  There were also dozens of bars and a few really great Creole/French restaurants.  However, the French Quarter has never been a place to take your kids and there's never been any mistaking it for anything other than an adult playground.  Unfortunately, the "old normal" of excess – someone barfing in the street – is simply blown away but what's there now.  Larry Flynt has 3 clubs on Bourbon street.  One of these is a "Barely Legal" club.  There are barkers and girls in the street trying to get people into the clubs.  My advice is to not slow down or turn your head to look into the doorway to see what the commotion is.  You'll likely be looking at a girl pulling her top down or bottom up.  It's very much in your face.  I suppose I'm grading on a sliding scale of incremintal depravity here but I can live with someone drinking too much and puking in the gutter – just don't puke on me.  Barely legal strip clubs with teenage girls working the street is something else altogether.  22 years ago the French Quarter was simply Georgetown with better food.  Now it's much darker.  I can't imagine living in a place like that and both of those things are something we must guard against as we develop Old Town into an Arts & Entertainment zone.  Also couldn't imagine being a police officer there.  It would be exhausting.

The other interesting thing about traveling when you are in local elected office is that you notice every scrap of infrastructure.  Why aren't the sidewalks fixed?  How come there are so many damn potholes?  Hmmm, that's a good idea, we should do that in Manassas.  Whose idiotic idea was that?  Why does that front cover on the fire hydrant appear to be held on by a bra (true story)?  

Overall, the French Quarter is an infrastructure disaster.  There are plaques on the sidewalk that proudly proclaim the repair of the sidealks with a 1985 bond issue but you better stop to read them.  You might fall in a hole and disappear forever while walking if you're distracted.  I tried jogging up through the Quarter in the early morning – I did this in DC last summer and really enjoyed it.  Places look really different at 6am.   However, I had to turn around after a block or two b/c it was too much of a pain to dodge all the holes, broken bricks and bumps.  Ended up running right next to the mighty mississippi – it was beautiful if humid.

The good news for NOLA is that if the French Quarter is being left to its own devices, the Warehouse district is ascendant.  This district, which is generally south of the FQ, is where NOLA is spending her money (or at least of the places I saw).  There are condo conversions going on and some great restaurants there.  Emeril's restaurant is there.  This district is largely anchored by the Riverwalk and the Casino but appears to be growing strongly even a few blocks from the Mississippi.  I expect that some of the success from this district will bleed back over towards the FQ.  Also of note are two large hotels (and chain hotels at that) that are going in right on Bourbon Street.  That will setup an interesting dynamic in the future for the local government: Larry Flynt versus Hilton Hotels….I'm glad I'm not on their Council.  Glad to be back in Manassas.  Next up, City Council retreat and a business trip to Las Vegas.  Never been to Vegas.  Not looking forward to it.  The flights to and from Vegas aren't good.