The Ranger Online

Issue date: 5/18/06 Section: J School Travels

Media Credit: Charles Cima Toppled trees lie on a house in the Lakeview neighborhood that was flooded from a breach in the levee of the 17th Street Canal.

Damaged houses and vehicles strewn across streets are the newest tourist attraction in New Orleans.

With many of the neighborhood streets burdened with debris and without power and streetlights, Gray Line New Orleans Tours has begun a "Hurricane Katrina - America's Worst Catastrophe" tour.

"They are going to do it regardless of whether we do it or not," Julie Pearce, marketing director of the tour company, said in a telephone interview Tuesday about the curiosity of tourists visiting Katrina-damaged areas.

Pearce says it will keep visitors safe and neighborhoods clear of traffic.

The company began the tour Jan. 4 expecting to need only one 24-passenger bus.

Demand for the tour was so high the company added another two buses to the tour, Pearce said.

The Katrina tour runs at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The success of the tour has enabled the company to call a couple of former employees back and extend the tours through February, Pearce said.

The three-hour trip itinerary includes the Superdome, convention center, subdivision neighborhoods such as Gentilly and breached levees on 17th Street and London Avenue Canal, Pearce said.

The only stop the bus makes is at Russel's Marina Grill at West End Park.

The company's Web site www.graylineneworleans.com publicizes the attraction as a blockbuster tour.

Cost of the tour is $35 for adults and $28 for children.

Ticket holders have an option of donating $3 from their ticket to one of four nonprofit organizations.

Some critics believe the tour is a crass way to make money.

Leroy Gathe of East New Orleans just returned a month ago to his flood-ravaged home.

Gathe said tours such as the one Gray Line is offering don't affect him or facilitate the dire needs of the many New Orleanians whose lives are in upheaval.

"In the United States, everything is about money," he said. "This is not helping New Orleans. It's a business interest in building up money. As a person I have to accept this."

Others see positive aspects of the tour.

In his fourth trip back to the Big Easy, 65 year-old Cedric Lastic believes the city needs the tour to show the outside world how residents are coping in the aftermath.

"I'm glad people are thinking about us," Lastic said. "I think it's a good thing for the city."

Lastic's house was severely damaged from flooding, and he has been commuting from Houston. Although his house was insured, he said he has had difficulty collecting money from the company to make repairs.

Even through the disappointments, Lastic has a vision of a renewed New Orleans and welcomes the new tourism. "People have to see the devastation and spread the word of what they see," he said.

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