On an uncharacteristically cool Thursday in May, construction crews at the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch avenues are hustling to finish work on the New Orleans Food Co-op, a purple, pink and orange beacon of recovery that sits in a neighborhood speckled with Hurricane Katrina X's.
In less than a month, the old Universal Furniture store will be functioning as a full-service grocery, stocked with fresh produce, bread, eggs and other necessities that have been hard to come by in the Marigny since August 2005.
For Marigny residents such as Charles Smith, who doesn't have a car, the grocery will be a godsend. Smith has to pay a neighbor $10 to bring him to the grocery every week to get perishables like meat and vegetables, but he says that won't be necessary once the co-op opens.
Smith isn't the only New Orleanian currently without convenient access to a grocery.
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