Katrina, the Pain Index by Bill Quigley

The story in numbers.

0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistancefrom the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road HomeCommunity Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.
0. Number of apartments currently being built to replace the 963 publichousing apartments formerly occupied and now demolished at the St. BernardHousing Development.
0. Amount of data available to evaluate performance of publicly financedprivately run charter schools in New Orleans in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007school years.
.008. Percentage of the rental homes that were supposed to be repaired andoccupied by August 2008 which were actually completed and occupied – a totalof 82 finished out of 10,000 projected.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of housing vacant orruined.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2006 and2007.
4. Number of the 13 City of New Orleans Planning Districts that are at thesame risk of flooding as they were before Katrina.
10. Number of apartments being rehabbed so far to replace the 896apartments formerly occupied and now demolished at the Lafitte HousingDevelopment.
11. Percent of families who have returned to live in Lower Ninth Ward.
17. Percentage increase in wages in the hotel and food industry sincebefore Katrina.
20-25. Years that experts estimate it will take to rebuild the City of NewOrleans at current pace.
25. Percent fewer hospitals in metro New Orleans than before Katrina.
32. Percent of the city’s neighborhoods that have fewer than half as manyhouseholds as they did before Katrina.
36. Percent fewer tons of cargo that move through Port of New Orleans sinceKatrina.
38. Percent fewer hospital beds in New Orleans since Katrina.
40. Percentage fewer special education students attending publicly fundedprivately run charter schools than traditional public schools.
41. Number of publicly funded privately run public charter schools in NewOrleans out of total of 79 public schools in the city.
43. Percentage of child care available in New Orleans compared to beforeKatrina.
46. Percentage increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
56. Percentage fewer inpatient psychiatric beds than before Katrina.
80. Percentage fewer public transportation buses now than pre-Katrina.
81. Percentage of homeowners in New Orleans who received insufficient fundsto cover the complete costs to repair their homes.
300. Number of National Guard troops still in City of New Orleans.
1080. Days National Guard troops have remained in City of New Orleans.
1250. Number of publicly financed vouchers for children to attend privateschools in New Orleans in program’s first year.
6,982. Number of families still living in FEMA trailers in metro New Orleansarea.
8,000. Fewer publicly assisted rental apartments planned for New Orleans byfederal government.
10,000. Houses demolished in New Orleans since Katrina.
12,000. Number of homeless in New Orleans even after camps of people livingunder the bridge has been resettled - double the pre-Katrina number.
14,000. Number of displaced families in New Orleans area whose hurricanerental assistance expires March 2009.
32,000. Number of children who have not returned to public school in NewOrleans, leaving the public school population less than half what is waspre-Katrina.
39,000. Number of Louisiana homeowners who have applied for federalassistance in repair and rebuilding who have still not received any money.
45,000. Fewer children enrolled in Medicaid public healthcare in New Orleansthan pre-Katrina.
46,000. Fewer African American voters in New Orleans in 2007 gubernatorialelection than 2003 gubernatorial election.
55,000. Fewer houses receiving mail than before Katrina.
62,000. Fewer people in New Orleans enrolled in Medicaid public healthcarethan pre-Katrina.
71,657. Vacant, ruined, unoccupied houses in New Orleans today.
124,000. Fewer people working in metropolitan New Orleans than pre-Katrina.
132,000. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to theCity of New Orleans current population estimate of 321,000 in New Orleans.
214,000. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to theU.S. Census Bureau current population estimate of 239,000 in New Orleans.
453,726. Population of New Orleans before Katrina.
320 million. The number trees destroyed in Louisiana and Mississippi byKatrina.
368 million. Dollar losses of five major metro New Orleans hospitals fromKatrina through 2007. In 2008, these hospitals expect another $103 millionin losses.
1.9 billion. FEMA dollars scheduled to be available to metro New Orleansfor Katrina damages that have not yet been delivered.
2.6 billion. FEMA dollars scheduled to be available to State of Louisianafor Katrina damages that have not yet been delivered.
Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola UniversityNew Orleans. He’s a regular contributor to CounterPunch, and can be reachedat Quigley77@gmail.com The NUCLEAR RESISTER, is published 5 to 6 times ayear. It can be contacted at nukeresister@igc.org