As I am writing this, it is late September. In about a week I'llbe headed for New Orleans to attend the annual convention of theNational Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices. Thiswill be my first visit to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrinanearly destroyed it two years ago, and I will do my best to injectcash into the local economy. It's the least I can do for a city Ilove like few others.

New Orleans and I go way back. I first visited it 40 years agowhen I hitchhiked to the Crescent City during spring break of myfreshman year in college. Naturally, I was attracted by theprospect of Bourbon Street and the fact that Louisiana's legaldrinking age was 18 at the time. Pretty quickly, however, I sawthere was a lot more to the city, including enchantingarchitecture; an extraordinary history; a culture steeped inliterature and jazz, which I continue to enjoy; and a diverse yetharmonious citizenry. I returned to the city the following springbreak. After I married, it was one of the first places I wanted toshow to, and share with, my wife–who, if anything, loves the towneven more than I do.
One of the best things about my job is that it has enabled me toreturn to New Orleans more times than I can remember, and I havehad some great times there with people in the insurance business.One was Frank Arceri, a local independent agent for whom I onceedited an article on insuring Mardi Gras parades. He offered to putme in one of the truck parades he covered, and a few years later, Iaccepted-having no idea how much money I would end up putting outfor the “throws” that my wife and I spent hours slinging to whatseemed like a million manic people lining the streets. (It wasworth every penny, Frank.) Another was Warren Hope, a CPCU Societyexec who ran a poetry journal on the side with his daughter. When Igot my designation, he noticed I worked for a magazine and sodrafted me for the Society's publications committee. One of my mostmemorable meals in New Orleans was with Warren in a restaurant onRoyal Street. Another was with Jerry and Angie Tegan, both nowretired from The Agency Specialty Product Network. They had put mein touch with Frank.
When I go to New Orleans this time, it will be as a participant inan industry that has fallen out of favor in the city. Thereputation of the insurance business has taken a huge hit in NewOrleans and along the Gulf Coast. Some of it is deserved. Someinsurers, like State Farm and Allstate, at times have playedhardball with claimants, when it would have been in their bestlong-term interests to do otherwise. On the whole, however, theinsurance business has served the city better than the state, localand federal governments whose representatives are often quick tocriticize it.
All the negative news aside, the insurance industry is helping torebuild New Orleans. Since Katrina hit, it has pumped $11 billioninto Louisiana, with much of it going to the Crescent City. Whileyou can read article after article about how insurers have failedNew Orleans, you also can find examples of how the industry has hadan effect that goes beyond mere dollars and cents.
One was alluded to in an article published last month in the WallStreet Journal that discussed how the dedicated staff of NewOrleans' overachieving art museum has persevered in the wake ofKatrina. It was contributed by Tom L. Freudenheim, a former artmuseum director himself who has served as the assistant secretaryfor museums at the Smithsonian Institution.
“These museum stalwarts soldier on,” Freudenheim wrote, “becausethey understand that the art museum can bring added value to theinjured lives of New Orleanians–wound-salving that may be morecritical for locals than for tourists.”
The article makes clear that the staff has relied more than alittle on insurance. For instance, Katrina's winds disassembled a45-foot-tall outdoor sculpture of steel tubes and cables created byKenneth Snelson, “but after a $100,000 insurance-covered repair jobthe Snelson is back in place,” Freudenheim reported.
Insurance also was critical to the museum's preservation rightafter Katrina. A small group of employees managed to reach themuseum, while FEMA and the National Guard were still trying to gettheir act together, to make sure the art stayed safe–and in themuseum. “Subsequently, the museum's insurer, AXA, paid for retiredNew York City police officers to occupy the building for severalmonths,” according to Freudenheim.
“I've always found an art museum visit to be the ideal escape fromwhatever oppressive realities might be confronting me,” Freudenheimwrote. “Kudos to this museum for maintaining that illusion!”
My wife and I visited the New Orleans museum about 10 years ago,when a display of jewel-bedecked Faberg? Easter eggs, created forRussia's last two czars, was on exhibit. After reading the WallStreet Journal article, we decided we'd return to the museum onthis trip–after getting our beignets at Caf? Du Monde, ofcourse.
As I look around, I'll think of the dedicated, hard-working staffthat has held this important community institution together duringthe city's darkest hour. I'll also think of the insurance peoplewho backed them up. Kudos to them too.