Protecting a New Generation of Poisoned Kids After Katrina
An eclectic mix of people moved into New Orleans' most lead-tainted neighborhoods after the 2005 hurricane. Now parents and volunteers are cleaning up yards, schools, parks.
New OrleansKataya Davidson was 26 years old when she hopped a freight train to New Orleans and took a job demolishing hurricane-damaged houses and buildings. Davidson, who'd left home in Washington State at age 14, had lost track of how many times she'd traversed the continent by rail.
This time, in 2007, she decided to stay put. She says that given her nomadic past, post-Katrina New Orleans was one of the "only places in America" where she could readily find work and housing.
Two years later, as a new mother, she was trading renovations for rent at a friend's bungalow in St. Claude, a neighborhood in the Upper Ninth Ward. As she sanded off layers of old paint, dust spun around her.
On a
