Making It Right

Horacio Ruiz
Hope for Stanley

I wanted to post some pictures on the blog about the Make it Right Foundation. It was a foundation started by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that committed to building 200 homes in the Lower Ninth Ward. They committed toward building Green Homes that were energy efficient and had less of an impact on the environment by using solar power and by using rain water. The homes are also elevated and have escape hatches on the roofs in case of another catastrophic flood resulting from the breach of a levee.

Residents are excited about the homes. They say, and in my opinion I have to agree, that New Orleans is going to have a community unlike anywhere else in the world, just as it did prior to Hurricane Katrina. The homes are a sight to behold in the devastated area. They look out of place, there is no doubt about that, but they are definitely a welcome sight. People will move into these homes and rebuild their lives.

Only a few days ago I met the man pictured to the left. His name is Robert Green and he is living in a trailer by where all these Make it Right homes are being built. He is going to have one of those Make it Right homes built where his trailer currently stands. He has a gravestone for his mother and granddaughter in the front yard, which he will keep when his new home is built. Green's mother and granddaughter were on the roof of his old home when it was flooded and swept away when the Industrial Canal levee was breached. He watched his granddaughter and mother drown. Green has made mistakes in his past, but he has now become an activist in the Lower Ninth Ward. He has been pictured with Brad Pitt and Jet Li at public functions and has had stories about him published in NPR, PBS, the Los Angeles Times, and CNN, to name a few. Here's hoping that Green's wounds heal with time, and that he continues to positively impact his community.

The third house pictured from the top is my favorite that has been built so far. The contractors also planted cacti in the front yard and the surrounding space. I spoke to one of the contractors responsible for spraying green-based insulation and he had nothing but good things to say about the buildings. Obviously, he is benefiting from the contractor work, but he really spoke about the cost savings that the residents will benefit from and he also spoke about how solidly the homes have been built so that they should be able to withstand some extreme weather conditions.

Following on the green-based initiative in the Lower Ninth Ward, some kind of futuristic playground was also built in the Lower Ninth Ward. For lack of better words, it was pretty cool. There weren't any kids at the playground when I visited, but that just gave me more space to run around. The playground does provide an interesting visual, I only hope that there will be kids that can soon enjoy running around these unique structures. There's no doubt that people are hard at work to bring back the Lower Ninth not just better than ever, but better than anywhere.