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Close-up photo of post-Katrina graffiti on the bathroom door at Flora Cafe in the Bywater…

Blue wooden door painted with white panels bearing handwritten graffiti: "DEMAND Rent Stabilization," "RENT CONTROL NOW," and "ADVERTISE PRE-K RENTS," with smaller added comments like "we miss Jeremy" and "long live private property."

Close-up photo of post-Katrina graffiti on the bathroom door at Flora Cafe in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. Messages include: DEMAND RENT STABILIZATION and RENT CONTROL NOW in smaller print others have added "Fuck Yes" and "Yes!!" and (we miss Jeremy). Some anonymous free market advocate has added "long live private property." The message ADVERTISE PRE-K RENTS refers to a tactic used by some evicted tenants. They spray-paint the amount of the (low, pre-Katrina) rent on the front of the building so the new tenants and everyone else in the neighborhood realize that the landlord is price-gouging. Rents in the Bywater were inflated by gentrefication prior to Katrina, but since the hurricane those high rates have doubled and tripled because of the scarcity of rental property.

Original title

Item 14473

Citation

“Close-up photo of post-Katrina graffiti on the bathroom door at Flora Cafe in the Bywater…,” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed November 3, 2026, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/14473.

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