MOSAIC NOLA:The Gentilly Project

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

On the third day...

Today I prepared a description of a proposed activity that will help map out recovery gaps and progress in New Orleans by neighborhood.

There are many kinds of personal and grassroots recovery actions in New Orleans, and perhaps these different things can be made more transparent. That way, the activities can be less scattered, different efforts can be coordinated, and others may be inspired by what they see happening and offer additional help.

It helps me to talk to different kinds of people to sort these plans out, and when doing so I do get a general sense of mood about the city's recovery. What I'm hearing today isn't too good. The mood seems very sad. One person described it me as a "continuing state of disequilibrium, unpredictability, and unreality."

An infrastructure for communication looms very large as something that's needed for the recovery effort. I'm hearing anecdotes of people in different locations who are feeling disconnected and looking for updates of what's really going on and where things are really headed.

Fortunately, the project's contact center is ready now, and there is sufficient breadth and numbers on the project email list to continue making an impact beyond the Internet. The limiting factor is a series of events and programs to drive the communication. And a series of events and programs requires articulation of a public mission for January and February...

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