Piece Description

Point Cadet ? what many Mississippians called Biloxi's original neighborhood ? is gone. It thrived as a seafood capital in the 50's until global competition pummeled the industry. The 90's brought a slow recovery as it became the nation?s newest gambling mecca. Katrina hit the casino barges that lined the coast hard, deeply denting the state's tax base. Looking for economic salvation, Gov. Haley Barbour invited casinos inland to shelter them from the storm ? invited them into Point Cadet. Is it possible to encourage economic recovery while maintaining a unique culture and character that may be gone forever? Interviewing lifelong residents of one of the last coastal working class neighborhoods, we asked how their futures might unfold.