Dear Senator Obama,

     I've spent time this summer working with a friend of mine to help raise money for New Orleans, LA.  It saddens me that our country has not returned  that city and its citizens to the way they were before Hurricane Katrina.

      It is nearly 2 years after the Hurricane and areas of New Orleans are still devastated.  People are being given a pitance of what their homes were worth.  Prices of available housing have risen and so has the cost of living.  Major chain stores like Walmart and Target refuse to return to these areas and there is a general loss of available jobs.  Oil companies are buying up land and offering people settlements for oil spilt during the floods.

      I live in the Chicago suburbs and watch new neighborhoods being constructed within only a few months time.  It has been 2 years since the Hurricane and we haven't made a dent in getting people back into homes in the areas where they used to live.  And some housing has been built on lots that have been cut into smaller lots than pre-Katrina to make it more profitable for the owner of the land.

       As an American, I feel we need to do something about this.  Awareness should be raised and something should be done.  Upon being made aware of the situation most Americans want to do something to help.  Granted it is not always easy to help, but we have American citizens that are being forgotten.  We can do more.  Something needs to be done to ensure that the corruption and underhandedness going on in New Orleans is stopped.  And we need to get people back in homes and living a half-way normal existence after being put through such a tragedy.

It never should've taken this long.

Bob Carr