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I had an opportunity this week to visit the post-Katrina Crescent City.

I’m in New Orleans for the HIMSS show – the annual Healthcare It and Systems show. This show is getting bigger and bigger, reflecting the nation’s desire to fix Healthcare with technology. The vendor booths have gotten huge, looking like PC-era COMDEX. But I’m told that it is still only an 8 billion dollar healthcare systems market, and it is hard to see how these hundreds of companies are going to make any money.

My cousin-in-law Guy picked me up at the airport, and drove me around. He lives uptown, near the river and wasn’t flooded. But he took me on a tour of the flooded areas south of town.

The first thing that struck me was the eerie semi-abandonment of the area. There traffic, but not much, and many boarded-up businesses. Not many parked cars on the street. Here and there are lots filled with long rows of identical white trailers – the temporary shelter for many, and still shelter more than 17 months later.

The second thing that struck me was the size of the flooded area. Not a few dozen square blocks, or a few hundred blocks, but more like a hundred square miles. Sure, much of it was flooded only a few feet deep, but in an area with mostly modest one story ranchers close together on small lots, it only tokes a few feet of water to ruin all of your belongings, and render the house uninhabitable.

Guy has a friend who was flooded out south of town, so we went looking for his house. The friend has basically abandoned the house and moved his family out of state. Driving through the neighborhood, about three out of four houses were abandoned or boarded up, some with for sale signs on them. About one in four had someone living in them, either in the renovated house, or more commonly in a trailer parked on the front lawn.

Guy told me about the struggles of those who stayed – gut the house, pull off the wallboard, clean and seal the lumber studs and sills, replace or refinish floors, plumbing, electrical, cabinets and appliances. He talked about contractors who charged double the value of the job, and only came once every few weeks to make progress. We saw the neighborhood schools, closed, surrounded by chain link fence. We saw the odd car that had floated off onto the woods, the debris in the tree limbs, and the high water line chest high on some of the houses.

But there were signs of life – houses redone, some on stilts. Fresh coats of paint on many structures. We ate in a neighborhood restaurant that had just reopened several weeks ago. The owners took the opportunity to restructure the formerly cluttered dining room and bar into a more open layout. The bar was redone with new lumber, with no sign of the old carved bar.

The convention and downtown area are fine, and the French Quarter and Bourbon Street are as entertaining as ever. I had barbeque shrimp at Pascal’s, Coffee and bignets at the Café du Monde, and caught the seriously fine Celebration R&B Band at Fat Cats on Bourbon Street, complete with tight horn section, driving Bass, smoking guitar lead, and versatile vocalist that did everyone from Sam Cooke thru Otis Redding to Stevie Wonder. Headliners in Baltimore, but a Bar Band in New Orleans. Walked around, never felt unsafe.

Bottom line – New Orleans is ready for Prime Time as far as visitors are concerned. But for those who decided to stay, there is still a long road ahead.

Larry Cone