Hurricane Rita: If Rita indeed moves southward, hence lowering the price of crude oil, why is southern Louisiana on for a mandatory evacuation? Is this paranoia, only somewhat justified, or would even a bit of rain place tremendous strain on our recovering levee system? Waiting until Friday to return is frustrating, but not a problem in the large scheme of time. However, federal and local officials had better not use this stay-away order to delay our re-entry. This is another great reminder of the transience of Great Human Plans, yet a monkey wrench / scapegoat / what have you in the path of rebuilding.

Mayor Ray Nagin suspended plans to let Uptowners return later this week and asked Algiers residents, who were allowed to come back to their homes Monday, to evacuate. And St. Bernard halted re-entry plans altogether and imposed a mandatory evacuation beginning today at 4 a.m.

Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, whose district includes Algiers and the French Quarter, urged residents to stay where they are until Rita’s path becomes clearer. She estimated that about a third of Algiers’ 60,000 residents returned Monday, the first day that Nagin opened up the city for re-entry.

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Small Business In New Orleans: Posted on the nola.com Uptown forums, a way for our city’s small businesses to work over the internet with existing websites? If you’re a small business owner, please check it out and report back.

Small business is the heart and soul of New Orleans. The city can’t survive without the countless number of small business operators who bring the flavor and diversity to the shops of the city. We have established a displaced business directory (free) where NOLA and NOLA metro businesses can list their current address and operating status at allneworleans.com – this information will assist employees, customers, clients, vendors in re: where to contact a displaced business. If you have a website, your link is posted so you can do business over the Internet until store fronts are restored. Submit your information here.

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Soul Food: A reported 25% of restaurants, especially mom-and-pop places, will not return to the New Orleans area following rebuilding. This is not surprising; in fact, I think it’s quite a conservative estimate, given the number of small food businesses that operated out of MidCity, Gentilly and New Orleans East, the most flood-affected parts of New Orleans.

Stop your whimpering, Texas, it’s a TS/Cat1. Louisianans take leisurely strolls and watch football in that sort of weather.

Reactions on Rita from various folks –

• txyankee: “It’s just a sprinkle for you folks.”
• D: “Why does god hate you? Are you sure Maitri doesn’t mean something different like Wrath Of God?”
• Neil Finn sings: “Everywhere you go, take the weather with you.”

More as Hurricane Rita develops.

Update: NO mayor Nagin caved to federal pressure that disapproves of the early re-entry schedule, especially given TS/Hurricane Rita’s entry into the Gulf of Mexico. He wants returned residents to evacuate again and ones in the wings to hold off. I see a pattern forming from Rita and it looks like a scapegoat.

Uptown Re-Entry Delay?: Mayor Ray Nagin and the federal head of Katrina recovery, Thad Allen, will meet this afternoon to reconsider re-entry into the 70115 and 70118 zip codes. Too late, people are already going in. It comes down to the quality of tap water and Tropical Storm Rita’s plans.

“We will reassess how we have done in reopening so far and the status of our water, sewerage, electricity and hospitals” across parts of the city left relatively unscathed by Hurricane Katrina, [the city’s director of homeland security, Col. Terry] Ebbert said, adding that the projected direction of Tropical Storm Rita, presently in the Atlantic Ocean, also would be a factor in determining whether to reopen Uptown.

[Thad Allen] on Saturday questioned Nagin’s proposed timeline, calling it “extremely ambitious” and “extremely problematic.” Tap water remains unfit for drinking and bathing in most parts of the city, and Rita posed another potential threat, he said.

City officials continued to recommend that residents visit the city during daytime hours only and not stay overnight, Ebbert said. An 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew remains in effect.

The city presently is populated with government and relief workers, journalists and some residents. “They obviously had vehicles to get in here,” [Ebbert] said. “We will continue to institute a mandatory evacuation.

Unless Rita makes a hard right towards our part of the Gulf Coast in the wee hours of Thursday, she’s projected to head for Mexico Galveston. Meanwhile, officials, get your stories straight and realize that residents are returning to stay regardless of your momentary optimism.

Hope this doesn’t delay going back home to 70130 for a little while.

After a long hiatus, I watched CNN again yesterday, this time on mute (aah, the simple pleasure of following the teletype and not the affectations of the newsdesk). Their “Focus On 70114” mentioned that not many people are taking advantage of being able to return to Algiers. Of course, the reporter was standing right in front of the Crescent City Connection as cars whizzed by back and forth across the bridge.

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Vaccination Overload: Contrary to popular belief, it is not required that you have yourself protected from hepatitis to cholera before going back into NO. Unless you are immune-compromised, suffer from other health problems, or are to undertake a very involved clean-up effort, officials ask you to avoid getting the shots at all. Do get a tetanus shot, if you haven’t received one within the last ten years or can’t remember.

[State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry] said that concerns that outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and typhus could occur are completely unfounded since none of those diseases existed in large numbers in the Greater New Orleans area before the storm. Guidry blamed the fear of outbreaks on rumors and erroneous reports from some media sources, and said many residents are straining the health care system by requesting unnecessary vaccinations for Hepatitis A and B and tetanus … Those requests are taxing the supply of vaccinations needed for first responders and others at-risk individuals.

…there is little to no danger of residents contracting those disease in the course of normal clean-up activities.

The sounds of Uncle Tupelo, Banco De Gaia, Tracy Chapman, Wolfgang Mozart, XTC, Sonny Boy Williamson, Iggy Pop and many others come out of my laptop. Life in New Orleans is like being married to music. Here is a look at what musicians have done in the face of Katrina and a discussion on the future of New Orleans music.

Lincoln Center Hurricane Relief Benefit: “Emotions ran high” at last night’s star-studded Lincoln Center Higher Ground hurricane relief benefit concert (good job, Wynton Marsalis!). I’m sure the music was inspiring, but am intrigued by some of the following statements.

Danny Glover – “When the hurricane struck, it did not turn the region into a Third World country … it revealed one.” (A trite, but true, assessment of New Orleans. Now that you’ve said it, are things going to change and how?).

Elvis Costello – a Brit reacts to certain Americans balking at the high cost of post-Katrina rebuilding – “I just hope we keep in our minds that an effort like this can never be too expensive.” (I’m glad I bought your last album, Elvis.)

Irvin Mayfield – “[This rendition of Just A Closer Walk with Thee is dedicated] to my father, who is still missing.” I’m fairly certain that OffBeat reported the Mayfield family as intact, but this is not the case. Irvin Mayfield is jazz trumpeter, US Senate-appointed cultural ambassador for the City of New Orleans and a member of the hot, hot duo, Los Hombres Calientes. That such a man is reduced to looking for his father after a natural disaster is nothing short of shocking. Please hope for his family.

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19th-Century Sousaphone Stolen From New Orleans Evacuee In Houston: Today’s Houston Chronicle reports on the theft of Emile Francis’ minivan from near a Houston Red Cross office on Tuesday, September 13th. In the vehicle was his sousaphone which he took the pains to save from his flooding home. The local police have reported his van as stolen.

Louisiana license plate number: NDC 880 … The unique horn is a solid brass Cerveny sousaphone with four rotary valves. It was made sometime in the 1890s … is packed in a soft, black case.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of the van or sousaphone, please contact Houston police or the article’s author.

Mr. Francis continues to live with the great attitude that “happy is the man whose hobby is his occupation.” Amen.

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Q-Burns’ Message Not So Abstract: My friend, the talented Orlando-based DJ Q-Burns Abstract Message (Michael Donaldson), sends a note of hope for New Orleans. Out of goodwill and activism, not only has he placed my recommended get-the-Katrina-word-out links on his site, but also mailed me some cool, new mixes to cheer me up. What a guy! Michael lived in Louisiana for 15 years before moving to Florida and plans to host a benefit gig for Katrina victims – can’t wait to help out!

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OffBeat Magazine & The Future Of New Orleans Music: New Orleans’s own online music resource, OffBeat, hosts a forum thread on the future of the city’s music scene. The object is to fuel discussion on “what effect will Katrina have on our local record labels, nightclubs and our burgeoning film industry. Can it survive?”

If you’re a music lover and wish to see the city of New Orleans shine again in this regard, please join the forum and make a few useful suggestions, should you have any. Music is our city’s salvation, and we don’t want to see it usurped by an opportunistic few.