Something Like Paris

P

aris. When you stare long enough at this ancient apartment building you think you are in Paris. France, not Texas. Well, I do anyway. You might not. If you’ve wandered around the streets of Paris going into neighborhoods that aren’t on the tourist must see list, you’ll see buildings like this one.

In The French Quarter this building is sort of a landmark. This is where people meet when they are looking for each other. I suppose being located across from the Quarter’s only grocery store helps. It’s very crowded but it’s a full grocery store. Once it was an A&P, now it’s called Rouses.

Unfortunately, A couple of years ago this building was renovated. It still looks like itself but smoothed over. I think it lost it’s charm. Luckily, I’ve managed to make two pretty good pictures.

Disruption changes a lot of things and mostly not for the better. Things get worse. Let’s just look at one issue. Shopping. Along comes Amazon, a bookseller. First, they destroyed most booksellers, even some of the big corporate ones.

Jeff Bezos had a better idea. Let’s sell everything. And, they did. Now, just about every local business has been destroyed. In the past entire communities were hollowed out by Wal Mart locating at the edge of town. Small businesses were decimated.

In an irony of ironies, now Wal Mart is in a death struggle with Amazon.

Amazon disrupted everything. It’s easy to use, gets most deliveries right and on time, and you don’t have to leave your home or business. But, how is it good for the place where you live?

It’s not.

At the very least your city has more traffic than every before. When we first returned to New Orleans we lived by the train tracks. There was a manufacturing plant just beyond the tracks. They closed. Amazon shipping moved in. From about 8 am until about 10 am just try making a left or right turn near them. At night, the long haul semis arrive to unload all the palletized goods. They run, snort and blow all night.

How is that disruption good for the neighborhood? How is it good for me? Sheesh, they don’t even get their packages earlier. In fact, their packages arrive later as the drivers get closer to the warehouse at the end of their shifts.

Then, there’s my photographic career.

Don’t get me started on that.

One more thing. The farm. Stores are either 12 or 25 miles away. Do you think that we won’t use Amazon? Of course, we could go to Washington DC. We could buy anything there. Maybe a politician.