One Man Reconstruction

By Patrick Berkshire

It was March 13 and I was walking down a lonely residential street in the Sugar Hill Neighborhood of Gentilly, New Orleans with a fellow student. We were there to take surveys concerning the conditions for people who were still living in the ubiquitous FEMA trailers. It was a warm afternoon and there was a sweet smell in the air - some mix of humidity and vegetation. However, what was most notable was the silence.

Sugar Hill is large neighborhood with more than 100 single family homes and two apartment buildings, with a university adjacent to it, yet I heard very little. While walking I passed one gutted house after another, with a few trailers here and there, but turning onto Annette Street I met someone who would convince me that Sugar Hill would certainly be coming back.

I saw a small group of students who were helping to gut one of the houses. Some of the students were standing around a man who was smiling and talking enthusiastically. I approached to see if they knew anyone in the neighborhood who would be interested in taking one of the surveys. As I neared, the man who had been standing in the center of the volunteers stepped forward and gave me an enthusiastic greeting.

The man was Tony Dalgo.

He was a man of average height, with a bald head, glasses and rough hands. The man stated that not only did he live on Annette in one of the trailers, but that this was his street, his neighborhood and these were his neighbors. He had lived in New Orleans for 36 years and one way or another he was going to rebuild his home.

Tony agreed to be interviewed for the survey and in the course of the conversation I learned much about him. He was married, had two children, and was a handy-man by trade. He was not only personally repairing his own home. He was also actively helping his neighbors with their repairs. He was even running around the neighborhood mowing his neighbor’s lawns. Even more interesting was that he was acting as the neighborhood “bull dog” reporting suspicious activity. He even filmed an arson taking place and turned the materials over to the police.

It turned out that he was heavily involved in the Gentilly Sugar Hill Neighborhood Association. He felt that it was his responsibility as an association member to do all he could to help rejuvenate the neighborhood. He was devoted and quite energetic. He might have been only one man, but if each neighborhood had a similar man there would be quite a bit of hope for at least some of New Orleans suburbs. Or in the words of Tony, “All we need is the Road Home money and some more time, but even without the money we’ll make it happen, we’ll bring our homes back”.