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Vimeo video: Harry Shearer on confronting Brian Williams about the levee disaster. Big TV news: About sharing emotions, not facts.
Editor B: Four Years Post-Katrina
[edited to add]
New York Times: In New Orleans, Recovery Is Not Enough
In New Orleans, Recovery Is Not Enough
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
New York Times
August 31, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - Houses still sit empty, residents are still scattered and streets still echo with the sounds of hammers and power saws. But on the fourth anniversary of the hurricane that redefined its future, New Orleans is no longer talking about mere recovery.
Yes, people are returning: the number of households receiving mail is now more than three-fourths of the pre-Katrina figures, according to the latest estimates, up from fewer than half three years ago. Projects stalled by red tape and the bad credit market, like the Lafitte public housing complex, are finally getting back on track.
But reverting to the city that existed here before the flood is not the goal. For a city that justly if sometimes self-consciously relishes its own nostalgia, there was much about pre-Katrina New Orleans, from the unstable floodwalls to the stagnant economy, that was best left behind. Employment had not grown for the six years before the storm. The population had been shrinking since the 1960s. In 2005, there were only two Fortune 500 companies with headquarters here - now there is only one, Entergy, a power company.
So instead of returning to a decaying economic structure, New Orleans is talking about revitalization, a buzzword behind the new energy in the city, carried by an intensity and idealism that would have bordered on indecent in the old, charmingly carefree New Orleans.
It is there among the legion of young nonprofit workers crowding the bars of the Bywater at night, drawn to what one described as her generation’s civil rights struggle. They envision the city as a national example for innovative schools, smart urban planning and a housing stock built to the highest environmental standards.
And it is there among the swaggering entrepreneurs, who have set up small branding firms, music licensors and green energy companies in the downtown warehouses. Over drinks at a downtown boutique hotel, they seem largely untroubled by the reluctance of Fortune 500 companies to bring their headquarters here. This is not a town for old-line corporate thinking. This is a town for pioneers, risk-takers, they say.
But this energy is not enough, on its own, for a new, flourishing, functioning New Orleans. A large-scale rejuvenation of the city’s economy needs a large-scale commitment, with the city’s leadership on board. And the tens of billions of government dollars flowing into the city for the next few years give it a rare, but not unlimited, chance to make that kind of commitment.
“This infusion of cash really creates a churn in the economy that otherwise would not be there,” said Greg Rigamer, a demographer and founder of GCR & Associates. “We’re early enough in the process to take advantage of it, and far enough along that we could lose the opportunity.”
Some point to the return of tourism as a promising economic sign. The leisure and hospitality industry, the city’s largest nongovernment employer and revenue generator, was among the very first to come back after Hurricane Katrina, and considering that tourism is hurting everywhere these days, it is relatively robust. There are sweaty throngs in the French Quarter, even in August, usually an off month. The 1,027th restaurant just opened in town, and the Brennan’s restaurant chain said it had its best June and July in 20 years.
But in spite of all this optimism, there are still fundamental problems that have not been addressed. Many neighborhoods seem barely touched since the flooding four years ago. Empty stores still stare out along commercial strips in Arabi and New Orleans East. Much of the Lower Ninth Ward, with its concrete slabs and grassy lots, still looks like an oversize graveyard.
The Gentilly neighborhood at first seems to have bounced back, but a closer look shows how many houses are vacant. According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, New Orleans has roughly the same number of abandoned or vacant residences as recession-ravaged Detroit, a city more than twice as large as New Orleans.
The city’s unemployment rate is 7.4 percent, compared with 9.4 percent nationally, but many of the jobs are in reconstruction. Some worry that, economically, the city is just falling back onto its old ways.
“Our economy was based heavily on low-wage tourism jobs,” said Allison Plyer, the data center’s deputy director. “It still is. The main impediment was an undereducated work force. And that hasn’t changed so much.”
The city’s political leadership remains torn by factionalism, and few people look to it for visionary or inspirational ideas.
Plans for a public-private partnership for economic development were suspended this month by Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who cited a lack of diversity in the venture’s proposed membership, among other reasons. His opponents, including Arnold Fielkow, the president of the City Council, said the move was retaliation for the Council’s rejection of the mayor’s plan to move City Hall to the vacant Chevron building downtown.
Mr. Fielkow may try to succeed Mr. Nagin, who is barred from running again by term limits, and there already seems to be an outsize expectation about the race next spring, which might as well be a referendum on the identity of the city itself.
There are existing plans for major economic development: from a rejuvenated port to an ambitious (and controversial) medical district to a sports complex or theme park. All of these are largely in the discussion stage, and all of them face serious shortfalls of money, political support, or both.
For now, Mr. Fielkow said, the city has focused on improving the fundamental barriers to economic development. A radical re-engineering in administration of city schools, once a major drag on the city’s reputation, has indeed brought about improvement in the eyes of many New Orleanians.
On the other hand, the city’s claims of success in fighting crime, while backed by statistics, are diluted somewhat by the fact that New Orleans still has the highest murder rate per capita in the country, a huge impediment to luring back business.
But perhaps the largest barrier to major private investment is the uncertainty that hangs over every facet of life in the city: the future of the New Orleans economy depends on what happens when the waters rise again.
The Army Corps of Engineers has a Hurricane and Storm Risk Reduction System scheduled to be ready in 2011, and important projects, like a mammoth storm surge barrier, are well under way. But increasingly, many are concerned that the disappearance of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands can make even the strongest levee system inadequate.
None of this reassures investors.
“It’s going to take another hurricane to hit the area to demonstrate the levees will hold,” said Loren C. Scott, an emeritus professor of economics at Louisiana State University, “in order to sell that as a good deal.”
Editor B: Four Years Post-Katrina
[edited to add]
New York Times: In New Orleans, Recovery Is Not Enough
In New Orleans, Recovery Is Not Enough
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
New York Times
August 31, 2009
NEW ORLEANS - Houses still sit empty, residents are still scattered and streets still echo with the sounds of hammers and power saws. But on the fourth anniversary of the hurricane that redefined its future, New Orleans is no longer talking about mere recovery.
Yes, people are returning: the number of households receiving mail is now more than three-fourths of the pre-Katrina figures, according to the latest estimates, up from fewer than half three years ago. Projects stalled by red tape and the bad credit market, like the Lafitte public housing complex, are finally getting back on track.
But reverting to the city that existed here before the flood is not the goal. For a city that justly if sometimes self-consciously relishes its own nostalgia, there was much about pre-Katrina New Orleans, from the unstable floodwalls to the stagnant economy, that was best left behind. Employment had not grown for the six years before the storm. The population had been shrinking since the 1960s. In 2005, there were only two Fortune 500 companies with headquarters here - now there is only one, Entergy, a power company.
So instead of returning to a decaying economic structure, New Orleans is talking about revitalization, a buzzword behind the new energy in the city, carried by an intensity and idealism that would have bordered on indecent in the old, charmingly carefree New Orleans.
It is there among the legion of young nonprofit workers crowding the bars of the Bywater at night, drawn to what one described as her generation’s civil rights struggle. They envision the city as a national example for innovative schools, smart urban planning and a housing stock built to the highest environmental standards.
And it is there among the swaggering entrepreneurs, who have set up small branding firms, music licensors and green energy companies in the downtown warehouses. Over drinks at a downtown boutique hotel, they seem largely untroubled by the reluctance of Fortune 500 companies to bring their headquarters here. This is not a town for old-line corporate thinking. This is a town for pioneers, risk-takers, they say.
But this energy is not enough, on its own, for a new, flourishing, functioning New Orleans. A large-scale rejuvenation of the city’s economy needs a large-scale commitment, with the city’s leadership on board. And the tens of billions of government dollars flowing into the city for the next few years give it a rare, but not unlimited, chance to make that kind of commitment.
“This infusion of cash really creates a churn in the economy that otherwise would not be there,” said Greg Rigamer, a demographer and founder of GCR & Associates. “We’re early enough in the process to take advantage of it, and far enough along that we could lose the opportunity.”
Some point to the return of tourism as a promising economic sign. The leisure and hospitality industry, the city’s largest nongovernment employer and revenue generator, was among the very first to come back after Hurricane Katrina, and considering that tourism is hurting everywhere these days, it is relatively robust. There are sweaty throngs in the French Quarter, even in August, usually an off month. The 1,027th restaurant just opened in town, and the Brennan’s restaurant chain said it had its best June and July in 20 years.
But in spite of all this optimism, there are still fundamental problems that have not been addressed. Many neighborhoods seem barely touched since the flooding four years ago. Empty stores still stare out along commercial strips in Arabi and New Orleans East. Much of the Lower Ninth Ward, with its concrete slabs and grassy lots, still looks like an oversize graveyard.
The Gentilly neighborhood at first seems to have bounced back, but a closer look shows how many houses are vacant. According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, New Orleans has roughly the same number of abandoned or vacant residences as recession-ravaged Detroit, a city more than twice as large as New Orleans.
The city’s unemployment rate is 7.4 percent, compared with 9.4 percent nationally, but many of the jobs are in reconstruction. Some worry that, economically, the city is just falling back onto its old ways.
“Our economy was based heavily on low-wage tourism jobs,” said Allison Plyer, the data center’s deputy director. “It still is. The main impediment was an undereducated work force. And that hasn’t changed so much.”
The city’s political leadership remains torn by factionalism, and few people look to it for visionary or inspirational ideas.
Plans for a public-private partnership for economic development were suspended this month by Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who cited a lack of diversity in the venture’s proposed membership, among other reasons. His opponents, including Arnold Fielkow, the president of the City Council, said the move was retaliation for the Council’s rejection of the mayor’s plan to move City Hall to the vacant Chevron building downtown.
Mr. Fielkow may try to succeed Mr. Nagin, who is barred from running again by term limits, and there already seems to be an outsize expectation about the race next spring, which might as well be a referendum on the identity of the city itself.
There are existing plans for major economic development: from a rejuvenated port to an ambitious (and controversial) medical district to a sports complex or theme park. All of these are largely in the discussion stage, and all of them face serious shortfalls of money, political support, or both.
For now, Mr. Fielkow said, the city has focused on improving the fundamental barriers to economic development. A radical re-engineering in administration of city schools, once a major drag on the city’s reputation, has indeed brought about improvement in the eyes of many New Orleanians.
On the other hand, the city’s claims of success in fighting crime, while backed by statistics, are diluted somewhat by the fact that New Orleans still has the highest murder rate per capita in the country, a huge impediment to luring back business.
But perhaps the largest barrier to major private investment is the uncertainty that hangs over every facet of life in the city: the future of the New Orleans economy depends on what happens when the waters rise again.
The Army Corps of Engineers has a Hurricane and Storm Risk Reduction System scheduled to be ready in 2011, and important projects, like a mammoth storm surge barrier, are well under way. But increasingly, many are concerned that the disappearance of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands can make even the strongest levee system inadequate.
None of this reassures investors.
“It’s going to take another hurricane to hit the area to demonstrate the levees will hold,” said Loren C. Scott, an emeritus professor of economics at Louisiana State University, “in order to sell that as a good deal.”