Your description of NO East before Katrina isn’t correct. Your imagination is in overdrive.
My description is absolutely correct. I worked for a firm that was trying to work out the demolition and re-building of the Lake Forest Plaza mall *before* the hurricane. I saw the demographic studies that the project paid for and the very frank comments of the investors who repeatedly backed out of the deal (the project was going to remove the old mall and build clusters of outdoor strip shops on the corners of the property, moving the parking to the center of the property).
The place had turned into a Section 8 apartment ghetto, an extension of the public housing projects. Nobody was interested in putting serious money into the area, Katrina just nailed down the coffin lid. In place of a modern retail development with lots of shops, New Orleans East got a Walgreens and (because of the home repairs that were ongoing) a Lowes and Home Depot.
Even today, NOLA.com articles about economic development elsewhere in the area are peppered with "How come this isn't happening in The East?" comments. There has been improvement since Katrina because some of the apartments were bulldozed, but still the developers avoid the area.
I grew up there, I saw it change. It's a shame - once it was among the safest, most modern parts of the city. The good times there ended thirty years ago.