You're right, Polly, NO was utterly unique. Not a city on earth like it. Lots of cities have stupid venal corrupt city governments. Houston's isn't that great as far as that goes, this mayor is running things pretty well, but that last one, ohmygawd... he made Nagin look smart.
I too grieve for the secondlines, the smell of gumbo, the sense of history and the ghosts of the past that were sort of around you all the time. I've only been there once, but I imagine you can't really understand the city if you've only been there at Carnival.