Thursday, October 4, 2007

What is K-Ville? Why is New Orleans called K-Ville?

Two questions that I have been asked and have been seeing in forums.

K-Ville is a new series coming in September starring Blake Shields, Cole Hauser, Maximiliano Hernandez, Anthony Anderson, John Carroll Lynch & Tawny Cypress.

K-Ville is also a new name for New Orleans. Note that people who live in New Orleans, do not call it K-Ville.

Why is New Orleans called K-Ville? It means Katrinaville. I don't know who first coined the term but it was first used not long after Katrina hit.

Technically, I guess it could mean any place inundated by Katrina and that would include a large portion of the gulf coast. I typically hear it referring specifically to New Orleans, though.

A good description that I read some time back is in this article in the Guardian Unlimited, Hell and high water.

Katrina-ville is not just a trailer park. It is also a state of mind. It is a Checkhovian nightmare of bureacracy, corruption and insurance rip-offs that has plagued the region devastated by the storm and slowed reconstruction to a disgraceful crawl. It is of politicians unable to rise to the challenge. It is why New Orleans has still not unveiled a rebuilding plan. It is why $2bn of reconstruction funds have been wasted or stolen. It is the corruption that allowed 1,100 prison inmates to claim $10m in rental relief or saw renovations for an Alabama shelter eventually cost $416,000 per evacuee (more than the cost of a new home each).

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