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Home Front: Politix
Mayor Nagin's State of New Orleans Address: Gimme
2007-05-31
Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said New Orleans is on the road to recovery but called on the administrations of both the president and governor to help the city rebuild and bring back its residents. Nagin, in prepared remarks Wednesday evening, said President Bush promised "to do whatever it takes to heal New Orleans. Because the funding has not reached the affected areas and the people, that promise is unfulfilled."

Nagin called on Bush to forgive millions of dollars in disaster loans the city took out after Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, to help it continue to operate. He also called on Gov. Kathleen Blanco to tap into the state's surplus to help the city and other parts of the state still struggling to recover from Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which struck a month later.

"Use the $3 billion surplus to ensure a strong future for our state," Nagin urged state lawmakers. "As New Orleans recovers, so does Louisiana."

The speech comes just two days before the start of a new hurricane season, and against the backdrop of a city still fighting to recover from a storm 21 months ago. While more than half the city's pre-Katrina population is back, according to one recent estimate, swaths of some neighborhoods remain in shambles, with houses empty and many small businesses ailing or shuttered.

Violent crime, including a rash of recent killings that has brought the city's murder total for the year to at least 78, is a worry. And progress so far has been largely driven by private efforts, as local, state and federal officials have traded blame over the slow pace of rebuilding. As of mid-month, the city said it had received just $163 million in federal rebuilding aid, a fraction of the $1 billion or more it says it will need just to restore what Katrina damaged and with little earmarked for permanent infrastructure work.

Nagin named a recovery director in December, and the director, Ed Blakely, unveiled a targeted $1.1 billion rebuilding plan in March. But funding for that plan is tenuous, with at least one-third of the money in doubt as the state considers using it to help bail out a homeowner aid program.
Posted by:Pappy

#11   Because the funding has not reached the affected areas and the people, that promise is unfulfilled
Nagin needs to take the money out of his pockets and stop blaming Bush.
The money given compared to the amount of restructure and redevelopment is disgusting.
Posted by: Jan   2007-05-31 16:58  

#10  "Mayor Nagin's State of New Orleans Address: Gimme"
I didn't know Mayor Al-Nagin spoke fluent Paleo...
Posted by: USN. Ret.   2007-05-31 15:34  

#9  Let the Mississipi move its mouth over to the Atchafalaya like it wants to, and build a new port/city there- New New Orleans. They will get 2 or 3 hundred years out of it before subsidence and siltation repeat the whole process.
Posted by: Grunter   2007-05-31 12:55  

#8  If white folks there in New Orleans hate Ray Nagin's guts so much, why did they reelect him to office? My guess is, they figured if someone else was put in and the same things didn't happen, they wouldn't be able to bitch and moan like they're doing now. The so call "hate who you know, is better than hating who you don't" feeling of satisfaction.
Posted by: smn   2007-05-31 11:21  

#7  5) Nature really doesn't want a big population concentration here - she's going to flush the toilet every so often just to keep the stench down.

......5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - gawoooooooshhhhhh!
Posted by: Besoeker   2007-05-31 10:50  

#6  The damn place is a natural swamp and really is not safe or welcoming to human habitation. Beyond that, the insurance companies took a huge hit. First & last for most of them. If you haven't noticed, they have almost unamimously declined to write any further coverage for all the Southern coast areas, Florida, and much of the East coast. This goes for most major writers and the re-insurance underwriters. This really prevents a lot of commerce going forward and substantially depresses the land values in the affected regions. States themselves can be the underwriters, but this quickly turns to a debacle. Witness California. The insurers did this after the last So. Cal quake. No more coverage.You could buy it but you couldn't afford it. State came in with their coverage. Result: worse coverage & higher premiums than the privates. So most folks in Cal go without quake coverage now. Just cross your fingers.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970   2007-05-31 10:20  

#5  Lots of obstacles to rebuilding here.
1) Bureaucratic inefficiencies (redundancy alert) in granting permits and performing inspections - MANY required for the simplest tasks.
2) Difficulty in obtaining financing - government programs mired in corruption and red tape; private funds hard to get because insurance is very hard to get, and development/flood protection plans uncertain.
3) Difficult to obtain tradesmen - plumbers, electricians, etc. - to do the work, especially the small jobs for individuals rebuilding their own homes one piece at a time. Finding laborers is easy (especially if you speak Spanish) but licensed AND skilled people are in short supply.
4) Criminals keep stealing the pipes and wires as fast as you get them put in. Sell it for metal value at scrap yards so they can buy their malt liquor. You spend $1000 (and weeks/months of waiting) to get a room wired or plumbed, then some bastard rips out the wire ($50 parts, $950 labor) and sells it for $5 scrap. I'd save him the work and give him the $5 just to not rip it out (or give him 50 cents worth of copper-sheathed base metal at 2000 fps if I catch him.)
5) Nature really doesn't want a big population concentration here - she's going to flush the toilet every so often just to keep the stench down.
Posted by: Glenmore   2007-05-31 09:27  

#4  It took decades and generations to build the city. It's not going to be rebuilt overnight, in a year, in two years.....
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-05-31 08:42  

#3  Visited New Orleans a couple of months ago. Residents lay a lot of blame for slow rebuilding on Nagin. They say whenever he opens his mouth, a different plan comes out. For example, he won't restore services to a area (water, power, police, fire, etc.) until a certain percentage of people move back in. Of course, no one wants to move back until services are restored.

We went on a tour of the major disaster areas, and there is a lot of rebuilding going on. Most of the houses have been gutted to the bare studs. They then have to pass a structural safety inspection, and they test the framework for water content. Only after they pass both can the internal rebuild start. Lots of people are trying to rebuild themselves, working nights or weekends. That's going to take a very long time, but they'll be back. Nagin won't.
Posted by: Steve   2007-05-31 07:34  

#2  People will return if they think there is a hopeful future. If they aren't returning, ...
Posted by: Whiskey Mike   2007-05-31 05:48  

#1  progress so far has been largely driven by private efforts

Damn, I look stunification coldly in the eyeball.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-05-31 00:13  

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