In posting about my experience where I accidentally packed a pocketknife in my carry-on luggage, it reminded me of my trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi two years ago, when the knife-packing error occurred. It had inadvertently been caught in my backpack, and I hadn't noticed it was there until the X-Ray found it. From the check-in counter I was able to acquire a tiny box, placed it in the box, sealed it, and then checked it as luggage. Coming home, however, I decided to mail it on ahead and so went to the post office in Bay St. Louis to do it.
Bay St. Louis, like most of the Mississippi Gulf Coast was incredibly hard-hit by Katrina. I can remember, in my mind's eye, the quaintness of the town. And I can't begin to imagine the devastation, how everything I saw there has suddenly been undone.
Last week the New York Times ran a portrait of the victims. I think it's good that the New York Times does things like that, because it gives victims of tragedies back their humanity that summation in the news otherwise strips from them. Reading the news it always seems like it's strangers that bad things happen to, but in reality it's people just like those you know.
I was also thinking recently, as a result of something posted on the Conglomerate, about the Gulf Coast casinos. I'm not really a fan of building casinos all over the place. I think they can do more harm than good so easily. Some are far cries from the economic panaceas they are touted to be, and some put more strain on the local communities than cash into the coffers.
Mississippi apparently had a rule that casinos could be built, but only if they floated. I guess that was to keep them from really being "connected" to Mississippi, but it seems like a distinction without much difference. Their impacts on the communities were the same as if they'd had an actual foundation, and without it they were much more vulnerable to Katrina's destruction.
So I was thinking about whether the casinos should be rebuilt, and if so, how. Again floating, or attached to land? And I was thinking about all the problems incumbent with casinos, and then I started to wonder how much that mattered. The fact of the matter is that a casino is what brought me to Mississippi. I had never been there before and had little impetus to go, had it not been for the Huey Lewis and the News concert, which was at a casino. Now, one traveler, especially one like me, hardly justifies building casinos. But maybe there are lots of travellers like me. My friend whom I met on the way back, for instance, had also just spent some time on the Gulf at its casinos, and I doubt he's the only one who had ever travelled there to do so.
I guess the question is whether on balance they are truly an asset to the area, or only a burden. And if it's a close call, how much of an asset or how much of a burden. Mississippi, for better or for worse, gets to start over. It seems unlikely that the casino companies, even if they want to come back, would want to rebuild as floating establishments (unless it was vastly cheaper to do so). If they are to come back, they may insist on building on solid ground. Assuming so, to what extent should Mississippi encourage them to?
These is a question I can't answer, but I hope somebody does.
Edited 10/4.