Desperate Living

If you want an idea of how screwed up things are here in New Orleans, consider this. Earlier this week a hotel caught on fire. It’s the Economy Lodge Motel, located right downtown. It took firefighters all night to put the fire out. The hotel hasn’t been operational since the flood. That was eighteen months ago. Turns out this is the fourth time it’s caught fire since then. Turns out there were between 30 and 70 squatters living there. No electricity, of course, and no water, since the copper pipes were stolen long ago. Truly, people are living in desperate circumstances.