Back to Normal?

I'm sure everyone has seen that people are starting to filter back into the city. Many of the schools opened up in Jefferson Parish on October 3rd. It seems that getting back is somewhat of a dilemma for people. Everyone wants to go back as soon as they can. The reality is that life is far from normal.

Stores- while there are places to buy food and gas, there is far from an abundance. All of the stores close early (6:00 or 7:00 pm). Most have supplies but may not have some of the extras. They will have Coke or Diet Coke but not Caffeine Free. They also tend to run out of the staples frequently. You can get the basics but you need to plan ahead. The Home Depots and Wal-Mart’s are open but your favorite local hardware store may or may not be.

Labor - The bigger problem is who will work in the stores. People are having a hard time getting in touch with their employees. Many have not returned. Consequently, when you go into your local diner, you may see an entire new crew you have never seen before. Popeye’s and McDonalds have increased their hourly wage (reportedly $9/hr) just to get people in. Burger King takes the cake. They are paying a $5,000 signing bonus payable after 12 completed months of work. 5 grand signing bonus for Burger King? And they say Louisiana doesn't value education.

There are many complaints of people using out of state workers instead of the local. I think this is one of those how you look at the glass. While it is true that there are shelters with people who are looking for work, there are also contractors looking for laborers that can not find any local ones. I spoke with one contractor who hirers contractors to work on air conditioners. Pre-Katrina he paid $16/hr. Now he can only find out of state (mostly Florida) contractors for $29/hr. He would gladly hirer local people if he could find them. I don't think that most people understand just how much work there will be for years to come. There will be enough labor jobs to go around.

Inflation - as with Hurricane Ivan, the price of plywood has skyrocketed. I had to go to Home Depot today and at one Baton Rouge location (Coursey Blvd), they had a huge fence surrounding stacks of plywood and two security guards. They had several other security guards in other areas as well. Sheetrock has also gone up significantly. At least one sheetrock plant in New Orleans was flooded. I'm not sure what the impact will be due to this but every house that had flooding will need some amount of sheetrock. Plywood had finally gotten reasonable before Katrina. Reasonable, but still higher than pre-Ivan. Gas jumped to $2.79 or higher once Rita hit.

Retail Sales - The reports are in on retail sales for September and it was a banner month. Or was it? After talking with many retailers, the consensus is that the hardware stores, food stores and a few other areas - gas, clothes, etc. did well. Non-essential items like music, movies and gifts did not do as well. There are many hurting retailers out there that the numbers are not reporting. Some have been quoted as saying the two weeks after Katrina were the worst in the last 25 years they have been in business.

Restaurants - Restaurants in Baton Rouge are also doing well. In Kenner/Metairie, the restaurants that are open are doing good business but the cost of their goods has gone up. Sysco was not open a week ago so many restaurants were paying retail for their meat. Consequently the consumers are passing the costs along. You can't get ice reliably either so beer and wine are doing well but mixed drinks are not.

I was contacted by someone who runs a blog that is coverying a lot of Rita. I'm providing the link to Rita in Cameron Parish. It has a lot of information for people who are looking for information about Cameron Parish.

Shameless friend plug - a friend of mine in Portland does some amazing high speed photography of water droplets. His site, Liquid Sculpture has recently been featured on a small blog site that has turned his site into an overnight success story. I remember being in his basement when he first started fooling around with this stuff a few years ago. Who would think a digital camera, a flash and some water would lead to this.