NEW ORLEANS-- In Broadmoor, people who live here say they live in the heart of the city-- but that heart nearly stopped six years ago.
"Initially, it was the threat of being razed, as a neighborhood," said Kathleen Coverick.
The fears manifested when eight and a half feet of water swamped Broadmoor after Hurricane Katrina. Six years later, though, places once taken for granted are now on the cusp of return. Case in point: the Rosa Keller Library, which is set to re-open in January, with a community center attached to it.
"It is part of the Broadmoor Education Corridor, and that has been our way, and our focus, to bring our neighborhood back better than it was before," said LaToya Cantrell, president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association.
Along with the opening of new schools, more than 86 percent of the homes in Broadmoor have been rebuilt. The sixth annual "Broadmoor Fest" on Saturday offered neighbors a chance to connect with one another.
"I lived here before Katrina and we are a much more unified neighborhood. Everybody looked out for everybody else; the houses are clearly up and renovated," said BIA commissioner Kelli Wright.
A good portion of Broadmoor's recovery can be traced back to volunteers. About 13,000 of them, from all over the country, came to help Broadmoor rebuild, after Hurricane Katrina.
"We've had $1.3 million-plus of revenues generated from volunteers-- meaning, the labor they brought in. It's been countless, countless hours," Cantrell said.
Despite the progress, some problems remain, including 300 blighted homes, which the Broadmoor Improvement Association says can attract crime.
"That's bringing blight to the community. Issues of crime, places where vagrants live-- which is an issue," Cantrell said.
"We just need full cooperation from the city, from partner agencies, to address the toughest challenges that remain," said Coverick, a Broadmoor commissioner.
According to the Greater New Orleans Community Center about 15 percent of Broadmoor's homes are unrecovered. The city's overall rate of unrecovered homes is 34 percent.
