THIS WEEK MARKS two years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans & the Gulf Coast. Newspapers, TV, and every media outlet in America are marking the "anniversary" with stories and pictures on the devastation and the slow progress of the rebuilding.

Last month the Boss asked me to find out what's going on with New Orleans & the Gulf Coast. Who better to get the real story, than your Cub reporter for Las Vegas? I took a flight, rented a car, and looked around to see if I could tell why everyone is so outraged about the lack of rebuilding after two years.

Although much of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi was devastated, the 12 miles between Biloxi and Gulfport, was 'Ground Zero' for the hurricane, and now it's the area getting all the attention. The residents believe that if they can get this area back, the entire region will improve.

The Big Bet, how things change, this is the right wing, conservative, Bible Belt part of the country, Right? What do these people think will save them? CASINOS, what???? You got to be kidding me. In the days after Katrina the Mississippi government changed the laws regulating casinos. It allowed them to build on shore, and gave them priority in the rebuilding.

Many people on the Gulf Coast think the casinos will bring tourists, they will lose money, thereby employing more people, and so on. Gambling was a big sin 30 years ago, and now it's the savior of mankind. This is very foolish. I gamble when I'm depressed, and this is a very depressing place. So much of the money going to the casinos will come from the local population who can least afford it.

Many owners of beachfront property took the insurance money and built new homes or bought new businesses five miles inland. It's almost all-vacant land from Biloxi and Gulfport. To reap the most from their vacant land, property owners are waiting for someone else to rebuild first. If they get lucky, casinos or high-rise condo builders will buy their vacant land for big money. Only three things have come back to the Gulf Coast, The Waffle House, Casinos, and Mosquitoes.

The cities of Biloxi and Gulfport, Harrison County, and the state Mississippi have not done their job. These state and local governments have the responsibility for clean up and repair of the streets and highways, and yet they can't clean up the debris or repair the street signs after two years. Lastly, The Gulf Coast is NO Miami Beach, Atlantic City or Las Vegas, and it will never be, no amount of casinos will ever change that. But cleaning up the trash would be a good start.

A tale of two cities, they both share a certain mind set, but New Orleans is much different than the Gulf Coast.

I really love New Orleans. NO city in America, not even Las Vegas, lets you drink openly on the streets. It's filled with small clubs with live music or some craziness pouring out to the sidewalks, day and night. Unlike Vegas, booze and entertainment are very cheap and plentiful.

New Orleans is fun, but why do you think so many people prefer Vegas? The Las Vegas Strip is clean, well kept, and everything is new and beautiful. Not so for Bourbon Street—stroll around and you get that unmistakable odor of stale beer and fresh urine.

You can make the argument that New Orleans and Bourbon Street is the equivalent to Las Vegas and The Strip. Unlike The Strip, Bourbon Street is in disrepair, and this has nothing to do with Katrina. The streets and sidewalks are like a third world country, in fact they reminded me of Tijuana Mexico, cracked and broken. The street signs are missing and stoplights are hanging. Many of the buildings are in need of repair and two coats of paint.

It seems New Orleans is not interested in being a competitor, or has the philosophy of Las Vegas, LA, NYC, or any contemporary tourist city in America. It's just there, and if you want to enjoy your visit, you must take New Orleans as it is.

This may explain why the 9th Ward and other areas of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina are far from being repaired and rebuilt. It's hard to believe living in the abundance of Las Vegas that anyplace in America could be this poor. We think 30-year-old buildings should be imploded and replaced. These areas have buildings over 100 years old, and no one wants to tear them down, because they can't afford the rebuild. In many areas of New Orleans there are no 7/11's, Wal-Marts, Shopping Malls, or even modern grocery stores. Forget the 21st century, the 20th century is nowhere to be found.

Many in Las Vegas question if the north end of The Strip is economically viable for new construction, and our Mayor finds it hard to get investment on Fremont Street. With all this poverty, who is going to invest the billions of dollars it will take to bring back the 9th Ward and other areas of New Orleans?

Let me be optimistic about all of this, the human sprit to rebuild is alive and well in New Orleans. But it's one home at a time and individuals are making the difference. I lived through the 1971 earthquake in LA, and after two years you could hardly tell anything happened. New Orleans looks nothing like the rebuilding effort that was made by state and local governments after the earthquakes in LA and San Francisco.

As I said, New Orleans is in a Galaxy far, far away…