Noteworthy in Nola

Or at least is coming down. The day of the aforementioned Habitat project I’d wanted to stop by and get a few photos as they did the work.

We’d stopped to see Travis, and not realizing they were that close to finishing, we’d gone up the block to be looky-loos. We’d just parked when he called. At my urging, and against Charlie’s better judgement, I wandered around the outside of the fence taking photos while he went to go pick Travis up.

To be fair, I didn’t think there was much to be concerned about. There were hard-hatted workers all over the place, after all, and it was the middle of the day, so off I went. And really, it was the perfect time- after work was under way but before it was all over.

Here’s the corner from the other set of photos:

No mo projects indeed.

The windows and doors had all been removed and there were random piles of debris everywhere. Despite that, ripped and broken curtains and shades blew in the breeze. A massive hose pumped water on the bricks that were just coming down.

As I made my way from the side that was already knocked down to those not yet touched, a curious warning tape was wrapped around everything.

I wondered if that tape was supposed to have some magical powers to keep the asbestos in. It must have- there were no other safeguards anywhere, after all. I sort of wanted to bury my nose and mouth in my shirt, but figured that’d be silly, right?

So I came around the corner and a middle aged worker came over and pointed at the camera. “Where’s that gonna be published?” he asked.

“Nowhere,” I said. “Well, my blog, likely.”

He wasn’t impressed. “You really shouldn’t be here, white lady with an expensive camera like that. They was just shooting up the street a couple minutes ago, you know.”

That seemed a touch hyperbolic to me, like the ghost of shootouts past or something.

I pointed to the building behind him, wrapped in tape. “Aren’t you worried about the asbestos? None of you guys are wearing masks. Aren’t contaminated buildings usually tented to contain it?”

“Nah, we already got the asbestos out,” he said. “We had those masks on then.”

“Like…what? Respirators?”

“Nah, those cloth things. We got a big box of ‘em,” he said.

Which meant, I guess, that my impulse to put my nose in my shirt was about as good as what they’d actually gotten for protection.

I could’ve asked a hundred questions at that point- if it’s gone, why is the tape still there? Is the asbestos in all those piles being blown around on the wind? Do you have a good lawyer?- but just then Charlie and Travis arrived and I decided maybe it was time to leave after all.

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