Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2010 Revitalizing the suburban dream: disaster, displacement and resilience in Eastern Orleans Parish Meredith Morgan Feike Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Feike, Meredith Morgan, "Revitalizing the suburban dream: disaster, displacement and resilience in Eastern Orleans Parish" (2010). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3128. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3128 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. REVITALIZING THE SUBURBAN DREAM: DISASTER, DISPLACEMENT AND RESILIENCE IN EASTERN ORLEANS PARISH A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography and Anthropology by Meredith M. Feike B.A., H. Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University, 2001 M.A., Louisiana State University, 2007 May 2010 ©Copyright 2010 Meredith Morgan Feike All Rights Reserved ii For Mom and Dad Your unconditional love, support and patience has made all the difference iii Acknowledgements There are many people that supported me over the course of my doctoral studies. First and foremost, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Miles Richardson who taught me to subvert the dominant paradigm and listen to the landscapes of our world. I would like to thank Dr. Joyce Jackson, Dr. John Pine and Dr. Kent Mathewson for all of their wisdom, guidance and encouragement over the past several years. I must acknowledge the faculty and staff of the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University for making my graduate school experiences both enjoyable and deeply rewarding. I am sincerely grateful to the people of Village de l‟est for warmly welcoming an outsider into their community. I would like to especially thank Father Vien Nguyen for the use of photographs, his time and all the hard work he continues to do for the community and the people of New Orleans East. Last but never least I would like to thank my family and friends for their unconditional love and tireless support. To Cameron Elmer, Connor Elmer, Sarah and Laura Calabresi, you all are my inspiration to try to make this world a more peaceful and tolerant place. To William Maxwell Crane, my soul mate and the love of my life, I cherish every day the love that we share and look forward to embarking on life‟s journey with such an incredible partner and confidante. I would like to thank my best friends Erin Berglund, Natalie Eskine, Holly Braud, Adam Anthony, Joey Hernandez and Greg Klein, who have been there for me in so many ways over the past decade. The companionship and encouragement given by my brother, Merritt Elmer, and cousin, Mary Calabresi, have aided me in all my academic endeavors. I owe much to my wonderful grandparents, Walter and Rose Marie Morgan. And to my parents, Larry and Charlotte Feike, I owe everything. iv Preface The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season brought widespread devastation to the Gulf Coast of the United States. In the city of New Orleans, it was the technological failure of the levee system, coupled with breakdowns in both political and social systems that caused the worst disaster in America‟s history. Social theorists have long sought to understand human rationality and the decision-making processes that influence behavior. Redevelopment projects in neighborhoods hard-hit by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina provide researchers with a natural laboratory to observe human action during periods of extreme physical and emotional difficulty. Hurricane Katrina tested the disaster resiliency of communities throughout the Crescent City. More than four years after breaches in levees led to the flooding of one hundred forty square miles of the city, some residents are still struggling to reclaim their neighborhoods one block at a time. After such a catastrophic disaster, how does one measure the success of large- scale redevelopment? The degree of progress experienced by New Orleans lies in the eyes of the beholder. While a homeowner from the Garden District may focus on significant improvements in the area and believe the city is making substantial progress, other residents in Lakeview and Gentilly may be disappointed with the city‟s recovery process deeming public officials incompetent and progress unsatisfactory. Rebuilding the lives of those impacted by the storm is an arduous process that calls for a collective effort by federal, state and local public officials, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, scientists and community members. Local economic strides, repopulation, steady pace of reconstruction of homes and critical infrastructure, as well as the availability of community services and resources, are all indicators of efficient revitalization efforts that signal a turning point in New Orleans‟ comeback. v Eastern Orleans Parish, a section of the city that is located north of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and east of the Industrial Canal, is a portion of the local landscape whose long-term sustainability remains uncertain. Rebuilding is extremely slow with only a fraction of residents returning to the area. The East, as locals refer to it, was experiencing rapid decline prior to Hurricane Katrina. Violent crime plagued the area and many businesses relocated to other parts of the city as economic gains faltered. Development in New Orleans East began after World War II as a result of urban sprawl. Many New Orleanians desired a more suburban lifestyle away from the hustle and bustle of the central city. Financial gains from the oil boom of the 1970‟s led to the construction of dozens of neighborhoods in Eastern Orleans Parish, fueling a mass expansion eastward. Consensus over whether to continue to spend federal aid dollars rebuilding the eastern portion of the city is tenuous at best. A number of New Orleanians are reluctant to reconstruct an area that some regard as being too far gone to fully recover, with others adding that the land should be returned to its natural state as a swamp, creating a buffer that would lessen the impact of future storm surge on the historic center. The uncertainty that surrounds the fate of New Orleans East influences the decision of the local population to return and rebuild. However, there are many residents who chose to ignore the naysayers, striving to revitalize their suburban dream against all odds. vi Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………iv PREFACE…………………………………………………………………………………………v LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………..viii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………...xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….1 2 INCORPORATING THE HUMANISITIC TRADITION……………………………..10 3 ASSESSING COMMUNITY VULNERABILITY…………………………………….23 4 VILLAGE DE L‟EST: A COMMUNITY PROFILE…………………………………..36 5 RESILIENCE IN THE WAKE OF DISASTER……………………………………….50 6 THE POETICS OF PLACE…………………………………………………………….77 7 EXPLORING THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE………………………103 8 REVITALIZING AN ETHNIC ENCLAVE………………………………………….137 9 RECONSTRUCTING COMMUNITIES AFTER DISASTER………………………150 10 BUIDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE……………………………………………..161 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………183 APPENDIX THE PLACE OF RESILIENCE IN DISASTER LITERATURE………………….....207 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………239 vii List of Figures 1. New Orleans on August 31, 2005…………………………………………………………......1 2. Hurricane Katrina Flooding Estimated Depth – August 31, 2005…………………………….4 3. Widespread flooding in Orleans Parish……………………………………………………...23 4. Interstate 10 Service Road entrance to Spring Lake Subdivision……………………………25 5. Dead body outside the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.....................................…...29 6. Young evacuees at San Diego‟s Qualcomm Stadium………………………………………..31 7. Google Earth aerial photo of Village de l‟est………………………………………………..36 8. The abandoned Lakeland Medical Center…………………………………………………...39 9. Vietnamese business corridor on Alcee Fortier Boulevard………………………………….41 10. Map of Village de l‟est……………………………………………………………………...42 11. High-Rise Bridge – photo taken from the nearby Danziger Bridge…………………………44 12. Maxent Canal in Village de l‟est – note destroyed gardens..…...……………………………46 13. Father Vien Nguyen comforts an elderly parishioner……………………………………….50 14. Entrance to the Mary Queen of Viet Nam Field, post-Katrina..…………………………….59 15. Flooding in Village de l‟est………………………………………………………………….62 16. Ken‟s Pharmacy in Village de l‟est…………………………………………………………66 17. Navigating through Village de l‟est by boat………………………………………………...68 18. Hong Kong City Mall – Houston, Texas……………………………………………………71 19. Father Vien speaks to displaced community members……………………………………...73 20. Vietnamese home in Village de l‟est………………………………………………………..75 21. Entering New Orleans East from I-10 Twin Span Bridge…………………………………..77 viii 22. Renovated home on Aberdeen Road………………………………………………………...79 23. Resident handing out ice and bottled water…………………………………………………84 24. Saturday morning Farmer‟s Market