Tagged: features

Did you know New Orleans now has a brand new, world-class car and motorcycle race track?

Wes Ratcliff, NOLA Motorsports Park Director of Business Development & Technology, along with Max Materne, GM of The Transportation Revolution New Orleans, are Peter’s guests on this week’s Out to Lunch.

After interviewing nearly 20 people involved in the coastal restoration process and program — from scientists and engineers, to public officials leading agencies — one of the surprising findings was the consensus among them that people living inside these levees — who live in the most threatened spot in North America due to sea level rise, subsidence and coastal land loss — don’t seem to be fully engaged or aware of just how precarious their situation is.

So, is this common?

Who:  Valerie West, 44, a New Orleans native who returned home after years of traveling the world as a military wife because her kids wanted to graduate from high school in the city in which they were born. A housekeeper at Ochsner who lets loose every Sunday as an active member of the New Orleans second-line culture (her club is the Original New Orleans Lady Buckjumpers). A teen mother who saw all three of her kids go to college. A woman whose life was forever changed by violence.

What in the world am I doing here?

Why do I stay?

In light of the drama surrounding the recent Mother’s Day second-line parade tragedy, I bet I’m not the only one asking these questions today. Friends from upstate New York to the West Coast heard about this one, and they are all asking me these same questions.