I recently met Milena Merrill in person. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it should. Milena is the Northshore NOLA.com blog coordinator and master of EVERYTHING she touches, a remarkable woman. She shared her Katrina story with me, and as usual, my chin just dropped. But, her “it is what it is” attitude and her love of the Northshore is what impressed me the most. I told her how much I love it here and was worried there would be some resentment with my “come live here – it is great” messages. Bottom line she said, people are going to come here anyways and we might as well work to make it great!

Then there was Cindy Harris, from the $1.89 (may have that amount wrong) dry cleaning business. I asked her how business was. With a smile on her face, she replied that is was finally picking up. “That is a beautiful thing” quickly came from my mouth. I told her that with more people moving to the Northshore, business will only get better. Her reply was something to the everyday comment I get about it becoming too crowded here. I told her to read my blog and she did. I wanted her to know that Newbies can make the difference here and should be welcomed.

Getting back to Milena, we discussed the growth issues of the Northshore. We both agreed we should welcome growth AS LONG AS IT IS PLANNED CORRECTLY!!! I lived in El Paso 5 years ago and my kids attended a school built for 700 and it had 1400 students. New houses were being built faster than you could say “burrito” and the new school being planned was already past capacity before the foundation was being poured. Poor planning can ruin a town’s dreams. Yes, “if you build it or not, they will come.” Please do it right! It would be nice to be able to pull out of my subdivision off 190 without concocting a strategy about how much traffic there will be at a certain time of day.

I am not dropping my positive attitude towards the Northshore, not for one second. I just want it to be better in the future. Just because you can build somehwere, doesn’t mean you should – got it! I’m still waiting for a Trader Joe’s, IKEA, Crate & Barrel & either ULTA or Sephora to come here!!! Did I mention that I love my new home?

cross posted at NOLA.com