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This chapter talks about the politics involved in the planning for housing and neighborhoods after the events of Katrina. It talks about the United States’ culture of opportunity, wherein the aftermath of Katrina was seen as a chance for individuals to improve their economic lots in life. It was a chance to remake themselves as individuals, and as a city. In the case of New Orleans, so much of the city had been damaged or destroyed that it was practically a blank slate where much reimagining and redoing of the city’s infrastructure could take place. One plan mentioned in the chapter is the Bring New Orleans Back (BNOB) plan, drawn up by a group appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin in the weeks after Katrina. This plan advocated green spaces for the city, but was rejected by residents because those spaces eliminated their neighborhoods. This chapter talks about several other plans and options that have been proposed for post-Katrina New Orleans.

This chapter focuses on how the grocery industry has managed so far in post-Katrina New Orleans. It begins with the publication on yahoo.com on August 30, 2005, of two photographs showing people wading through the floodwaters, both carrying groceries. The only difference between them was that one was of a young black man, while the other was of two young white adults. It was the captioning of both photographs, however, that caught the public eye, as the African American man is said to have “looted” from a grocery, whereas the white couple merely “found” their bread and soda in the same store, the Circle Food Store — a store that has yet to reopen three years after the storm. This whole episode raises questions that are specific to New Orleans, but have much wider implications about the relationship of food access to urban development. This chapter thus explores the political, social, and economic significance of the number of neighborhood markets that were created in New Orleans as a response to Hurricane Katrina.

Mardi Gras functions as the city’s principle synecdoche; yet, the holiday can also serve as a barometer or indicator of fluctuating civic tensions, as Carnival has remained fluid and changeable, sensitive to the altering complexions of the city—its demographics, politics, economics, and social organization.