Loyola Law School’s “Hurricane Katrina Law Clinic” – volunteers: Brett Bernstein, Nina Sachdev, Monika Saini, Daniel Sharpe

Two years after Katrina, people are still living in their FEMA trailers because their homes are still in shambles. Some are living in trailer parks, but some are living in trailers on their own property or property of their family and friends. Through Loyola Law School’s “Hurricane Katrina Law Clinic,” we are fighting an ordinance in Jefferson Parrish (a suburb south of the Mississippi River) that would force people living in these trailers to move out by March 31 of this year, making most of these people homeless.

The Parish’s view, as we have gathered, is that they think the people living in these trailers have not been looking for another place to live. They think the trailers are a “blight” to the Jefferson Parish community; in other words, that they look bad and should not be there. Jefferson Parish has recently undergone the “white flight” phenomena, with many white folks moving from the city to the suburbs. And, most people living in these trailers are African-American. The parish’s effort to get rid of the trailers soon seems like another way to get rid of working class, African-Americans in the area. A phenomenon that we have seen is occurring throughout New Orleans since Katrina.

So, for the next few days, we are helping the people living in the trailers to write appeals to the Parish office to extend the deadline of their move out to at least August 31, 2007. (The clinic may also take further action.) The law students who were here last week created an appeal letter and formulated questions to ask people. Our task is to contact more people and get as much evidence as we can to show that they have been actively looking for a place to live.

After many phone calls today, we found that everyone we talked to has been looking and waiting for the last two years. Some people owned houses before Katrina and are waiting on money from the government’s “Road Home Program” or insurance companies to help them rebuild. Others have been looking for a place to rent, but rent prices have tripled since the hurricane. Many people also told us about mold, plumbing and rat problems in their trailers. These people would rather not live in the trailers, but where else can they live?

We should also mention that we are working with great attorneys, Davida Finger and Bradley, and an awesome Yale law student, Darryl - who would one day make tons of money on Jeopardy, but is doing international human rights work around the world instead.

In New Orleans, even in the areas that are whole again and functioning--the French Quarter, Uptown, downtown in the business district--it is impossible to be unaware of what happened here and the ongoing recovery efforts. "The Storm" is the stage on which New Orleans performs. Everyone I have met and talked to here refers to it constantly: there are hundreds of thousands of stories, and they come from every walk of life. As a speaker we heard tonight said, "Katrina was an equal opportunity employer..."

But it is not an equal opportunity restoration and reparation effort. Our four-hour tour of the city forced my perspective to change. We are all informed citizens who read the paper and various news and opinions articles; we watch the news. This city is not as it appears in various portrayals. The residents who are here do not want to be anywhere else; their perseverance in rebuilding their communities is truly awe-inspiring.



This week, four of us are volunteering with the New Orleans Legal Assistance Center (NOLAC). We are interviewing low-income homeowners who are not qualified for the federal government's Road Home program because they do not have clear title to their property. In most cases, these homeowners lost everything during Katrina. All they have left is an uninhabitable house on property that they rightfully own but do not have legal title to get the money to repair. In interviewing these homeowners, we are gathering the history of their property and consequently, their personal familial history. These are private conversations that often expose the difficult relationships that exist in almost all families. Yet, we have found that the homeowners are gracious, dignified, and unbelievably persistent in their desire to rebuild.

I am so proud to be here, to meet these survivors who continue to live their lives with dignity and strength. I think that I can speak for the group in writing that I feel privileged to be here--even for six days--and privileged to be welcome here to do whatever little part I can to help these people come home.

First day of work. Claire and I were dropped off in a sparkly new minivan in the lower 9^th Ward at a Baptist Church – one of the only standing buildings in two blocks. It was an awkward way to start the day. It’s a small one story brick building. We met two law students from the University of Washington, Seattle and two organizers from the Peoples Organizing Committee who were directing the reconstruction effort for the church. Rock spearheads the gutting and reconstruction effort of the Peoples Organizing Committee and has single handedly rebuilt this church. Last week a group of High School students were volunteering with him and stole nearly all of his tools. He has an electric drill, two screw drivers, a monkey wrench, a hammer, a pair of pliers, rulers, a wheelbarrow and one knife to reconstruct this church. The organization has no money to replace the stolen tools.

Our project for the morning was installing light switches and outlets in the church. In a crash course Rock taught for very white law students how to do basic electric wiring – with limited tools. Admittedly, my first thought was “I’m going to electrocute myself”. But what are you going to do, say ‘no I won’t help rebuild your church’? So we did. And it was successful! After so many months in the library, accomplishing something concrete and immediately beneficial for others was a great feeling.

After lunch the four law students climbed aboard a bus of 50 Howard undergrads and went on a levy tour with Rock. The difference in the levies from the poor, black Lower 9^th Ward, and the affluent Lake Ponchertrain area were shocking. Prior to the rebuilding, the Lower 9^th had a 5 foot tall cement wall, less that a foot wide, as a levy. The Lake Ponchertrain Levy is a tiered 12 – 14 foot high structure with a park running along the shore about 50 yards wide as overflow. Since Katrina and Rita the Lower 9^th levy has been increased to 12 feet but not fortified. The palm trees along the lake are now propped up with $1,500 braces – for each tree. Stuning.

Much more to come as the week progresses. Each day is a constant learning experience and words simply can’t do it justice. (But I’ll keep trying).

WRITTEN BY: Sarah