Chip Taylor

Voting (to not move) with your feet

Katrina displaced many New Orleans residents. Some of them may not move back -- at least right away.

In the days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his New Orleans neighborhood, Bruce Norwood was in a rush to get back home.

He wanted to help rebuild his city. Never mind that he is 48, suffered a minor stroke this year and has high blood pressure. He thought he had desirable skills: He had been a construction worker and a house painter for years.

But now Norwood is settling into a one-bedroom apartment in North Potomac. He has been a deli sandwich-maker at a Giant supermarket in Rockville for almost two months. And he is near family members -- also evacuees -- just as he was in New Orleans: He lives next door to a nephew, less than a mile from one sister and 10 miles from another sister.

"There's no reason to leave here," he said. "I'm comfortable. I'm very comfortable."

...

He still hopes to return to New Orleans someday, when it is back to normal. But he doesn't think it will happen soon. He said expects to stay in Maryland for another year or two.

Two thoughts:

1) The longer he stays in Maryland, the less likely he is to move back to New Orleans.

2) The larger the number of people who wait for New Orleans to get "back to normal" before they move back, the longer it will take for N.O. to get back to normal.