"A former suburb of lawns with rows of houses, this area in the 9th Ward is a ghost town of overgrown slabs where houses once stood and vacant houses stripped to bare studs. With one the highes murder and suicide rates in the US, residents are reeling from the lack of sociial services and desperately needed support from the insurance industry and the government. Shortly after taking this photo, I was told by the National Guard not to return without a handgun."

-- John Rizzo, Photographer