Much of the news coverage of the horrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina has focused on what many consider the almost irreparable demolition of New Orleans. This city, once a vibrant part of Louisiana’s rich history, now lays in ruins; however, Louisiana’s capital Baton Rouge, which experienced very little damage during the storm, is facing its own set of issues as it attempts to aid fellow Louisianans.

As New Orleans residents leave their homes, many have found their way to Baton Rouge, which has seen a population boom upwards of a quarter million people. This means traffic jams, overcrowding, and an overall increase in tension for native Baton Rouge residents. Grocery stores are running out of food, gas stations are fighting to keep up with long lines of customers, and, most alarmingly to residents, gun sales have increased dramatically.

“Baton Rouge is now the largest city in Louisiana, and I don’t think it will change for another five to 10 years,” said David Guillory, special assistant to the director of the Baton Rouge Department of Public Works.

On Friday, reports out of Baton Rouge rank the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (9430 Jackie Cochran Dr. Suite 300, Baton Rouge, LA 70807-8020) as the second busiest in the nation. Traffic that is already overflowing throughout the city has reached epic proportions in the areas surrounding the airport, leaving drivers and commuters at a loss as to how to get to work, school and home.

“It used to take me 30 minutes to get to work, and it now takes me two hours,” said Courtney Finnan, a resident of a nearby suburb who has always commuted to the city for work.

“My wife relocated her office here, and the other day it took her an hour-and-a-half to go 2 miles,” said New Orleans resident Charles Macalso; he frequently travels back to check on his home.

Shelters in the area have been filling up as soon as they open, with most of Baton Rouge’s Community Centers and High Schools pitching in to take on as many people as they can. With school starting last week for most of the country, Baton Rouge has had to find ways to accommodate the influx of school-aged children from New Orleans, as well as their native children, while still using schools as makeshift shelters.

One of the shelters that was first to take in evacuees was the Volunteers of America Shelter (827 America St, Baton Rouge, LA 70802). Normally a transitional shelter for adults in housing transition, the shelter has transformed into a makeshift triage and home for hundreds. The area around the shelter, as with shelters all around the city, is growing more congested by the day.

This intermingling of displaced New Orleans residents has led to a rise in already-existing tensions among the two areas; while New Orleans has always been a notoriously “fast” city, Baton Rouge dwellers have always considered themselves to lead a much “slower” existence. Never has that been more true.

Dealing with hundreds of thousands of Katrina evacuees has indeed slowed things down – traffic, especially near shelter areas and schools is gridlocked most of the time – however, the immediate need for housing has led not only to a housing boom, but to a building boom as well, with houses being rushed into production wherever possible.

“I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and we’ve never seen anything like this. The only other time I’ve seen something like this was when my daughter moved to Washington D.C.” said Lara Dupree, the owner of Dupree, Terrell, and Company, a family-run real estate firm. “Any space where builders can build is being taken up.”

Judy Burkett, president of the Greater Baton Rouge Assn. of Realtors, said that prior to the storm, Baton Rouge had 3,626 homes listed for sale – over 75% of those have sold already. Prices, however, have risen significantly, with some estimates at 20% or more. Adding to the confusion are downed communications, which have prevented some recording of sales.

“The families go out to them and they’ll just snap them up — they’ll just snap up anything they can,” Burkett said.

As with the Southern California’s current housing market, buyers in bidding wars account for the major price increases. With so many people, both native and evacuee, vying for places to live, houses are springing up everywhere.

“If there’s lots, we’re putting slabs on them as soon as possible,” Burkett said.

High Res Images

In the American consciousness, few places evoke images of urban blight like those recalled when Newark, New Jersey is mentioned. You may have been there before, but you probably didn’t go on purpose, and most likely you weren’t staying.

Maybe this has something to do with the Newark Riot in 1967. Maybe it’s because Newark is the largest city in New Jersey, or that it’s nicknamed the brick city, not that you’ve ever heard anyone call it that.

Maybe it’s because there are only five major taxpayers in the city, which ranks dead last among major New Jersey cities for collecting taxes owed.

One of the very best things people say about Newark is that it is only twenty minutes from Manhattan. This proximity has made transportation Newark’s largest industry, and helps to consistently rank Newark among the most financially stable of New Jersey’s five largest cities. Somehow this prosperity has also made it one of the bleakest places in New Jersey to live, ranking 12th on the national list of most dangerous cities from the people who count this stuff. That’s remarkable if only considering the size of the city. Of course, the population sizes don’t take into account the sheer volume of goods and services that move through the region.

Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state agency, the Port of New Jersey is just one part of an inland distribution system that promises to be able to deliver shipped goods within one day of arrival to over one hundred million consumers. We’re looking at one key piece in a massive merchandise distribution machine.

This image shows Port Newark as the ultimate commercial hub. Superhighway, railway, jet aircraft, marine cargo containers, passengers, automobiles, and military hardware all come together in one sweep of the eye. The machine is in motion, moving goods around — you can see a few ships in port and cars parked everywhere.

The people that actually live in Newark, who number around 280,000 souls, reap few benefits from all this commercial activity nearby. Below is a representative overhead photo of the town of Newark itself. Note the harsh shadows cast by Soviet-style monolithic high rises laid down in neat rows.

In the above photo the angled street at bottom right is Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. The park on the right side of the image with the neat criss-crossed paths is Lincoln Park and is one of three or four small public parks in town. Most of the green in town that you can see from space comes from the large cemeteries on the west edge of the town, which you’ll drive right past if you take the Garden State Parkway North.

The majority of Newark that is not devoted to transit and shipping consists of steel and glass office buildings, rough neighborhoods, and abandoned shopping districts.

It’s easy to understand why the city looks like it does in the above image, and why you probably don’t want to live there.

"The Federal Housing Administration redlined virtually all of Newark, preferring to back up mortgages in the white suburbs… Billed as transportation improvements, pure and simple, I-280, the New Jersey Turnpike, and I-78, harmed Newark as well… Because the new infrastructure allowed middle class people to commute into [New York City]."

"…Newark made some serious mistakes with public housing and urban renewal. Across administrations, the city leaders of Newark saw the federal government’s offer to pay for 100% of the costs of housing projects as a blessing. While other cities were skeptical about putting so many poor and socially dysfunctional individuals together… Newark avidly pursued federal dollars. Eventually, Newark would have a higher percentage of its residents in public housing than any other American city." nationmaster encyclopedia

In the above image you can see the Elizabeth Marine Terminal to the south of Port Newark.

The Newark Liberty International Airport with it’s trademark oval access road from U.S. 1 is visible to the west. This airport’s longest runway is only 9300 feet, which is considered rather short for international traffic and makes for some hair-raising takeoffs and landings with larger aircraft.

Towards the top of the image, above the railroad tracks but below the river, is the city of Newark itself.

You can actually get to recognize urban blight from space. It’s easy to see disadvantaged places once you get to recognize them. How many can you make out in Newark?

Looking around at blighted areas from space makes me realize just what a great job the SimCity 4 team did representing neighborhoods in decline.

There are three piers on the east side of the above image, which isn’t Newark at all but Bayonne, New Jersey. Two piers jut out and are easily recognized, the third is just above these two and is a military terminal.

The northernmost of the two main, rectangular piers is the Auto Marine Terminal, which is dedicated exclusively to vehicle imports and exports. BMW and freight companies lease space there to prep their new vehicles for shipment and put them on trains for the American market, or to export them overseas. Guess which happens more often?

Here’s a close up of this terminal with thousands of new cars destined for the U.S. coated in protective white plastic. The U.S. imports the cars, and imports the fuels to put into the cars. The pollution that results from burning all this fuel stays in the air, water, and our bodies.

The lower or southern pier from above is the Military Ocean Terminal, which was recommended for closure in 1995 but is still open in some sort of quasi-official way.

"Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, NJ [MOTBY] is a unique strategic asset. No other port on the east or gulf coasts, commercial or military, can duplicate its combination of advantages in the support of power projection from the continental United States without the disruption of commercial port activities. This was amply demonstrated during the Gulf war and operations in Somalia and Haiti. Dozens of units shipped through MOTBY as well as outsized cargo such as M1A2 tanks from as far as Fort Hood, TX." Global Security

In the image of the above military terminal, you can see a ship of some kind sitting in the enormous dry dock at the end of the pier. The ship is dwarfed by the size of the dock.

This whole area, built on landfill, is an EPA Superfund site. It’s contaminated with hazardous waste. There are at least two 800 gallon tanks of the stuff still buried in the ground.

South of those two main piers is an enormous facility for fuel storage, transport, and refining. Previously operated by Exxon, this area located on East 22nd Street is also one big superfund site. Toxic wastes, again. This place really looks the part, and more than likely will never be cleaned up due to the costs involved.

New Jersey is known as The Garden State. We used to call this a tank farm. Note the lack of any of the security apparatus that you find around prisons or military bases. No gate towers or limited access. Certainly there must be a fence?

In this view of the region you can see Upper New York Bay as well as lower Manhattan. Above the boat traffic on the bay, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island welcome ships to New York.

Here you can see the entire Island of Manhattan to the northeast, and make out Central Park. The island directly south of the New Jersey port is Staten Island, by far the least populated and most remote of the five boroughs of New York City.

It’s big, but it’s just a mall. Bloomington, Minnesota is home to the Mall of America.

Douglas Coupland wrote that a mall doesn’t exist on the outside. This is how people can bear to have such an ugly monstrosity as part of their daily life. It’s invisible from the outside.

Think about how large the Mall of America is. You’ve probably heard of it. There are movies and TV shows about it. People travel here from all over the world to stay in a hotel and shop in the hundreds of chain stores, sometimes while attending conferences. They live, work, and play in the mall. It’s an arcology, a completely artificial environment. A mall space. Retail space.

When I volunteered at events on the National Mall in Washington DC, sometimes I would work the information booth. People would come up to us and ask where the National Mall was, exactly. The answer would surprise them and usually begin a confused dialog.

"You’re standing on it. This is the mall right here. This big space."

"So, uh, there are no stores?"

No, only some of the most spectacular museums ever assembled. Art, history, technology, aerospace, all free to the public.

Another question we’d get is "where’s the M-metro station?"

Retail space is leased by the square foot. It’s often ranked using sales per square foot. Square feet of space, of distance. The Mall of America has 2.5 million square feet of leasable retail space, all of which must be watched at all times. It’s apparently quite a challenge.

This space, this tremendous area, only exists inside the mall, made possible by the mall. Before they built the mall there was zero space. Looking from above it looks like would be somewhat difficult to walk to the mall, or bike to the mall. This is a public space you must drive to, take a bus to.

Now think about how large the airport is. Airports are also a place that only exist on the inside for most people. Inside the terminal, the jetway, the aircraft. Inside the overpriced little restaurant. Inside the security checkpoint. Is this space, the airport space, bigger or smaller than the Mall of America? By how much?

Compare the two. Is the airport any bigger relative to the Mall of America you anticipated? Sure, it’s all that space the planes need to take off. Of course.

They measure runways in thousands of feet.