New Orleans: It's War

"New Orleans is a war on so many levels, but there is no level where ordinary citizens are winning. The war pits low-income residents against developers and politicians who don't care how New Orleans is rebuilt, just that it happens. Yesterday, Mayor Nagins' commission revealed key elements of a rebuilding plan that is drawing fire because it recommends that the city should focus on only rebuilding some areas and not others. The 'others' would be the parts of the city where mostly black and low-income residents lived. A plan like this, which relies on market forces to rebuild the city, dooms the future of New Orleans' neediest residents."

"When Bush buzzes through the city this time, he will find the ground war a little closer to home. Citizens, especially in flooded areas and among the formally African-American majority, are battling the contradictory voices of a host of committees advising the mayor, the governor and anyone pretending to listen—yet we are losing there as well. Most remarkably, the Mayor's commission to 'bring back New Orleans' is the force behind the controversial rebuilding plan. The commission is headed by big-time local developer Joe Canizaro, who is also a Bush 'pioneer' contributor. It was Canizaro who engaged the Urban Land Institute to advise the mayor's commission on how to rebuild the city. The plan basically argues against a citywide effort, instead recommending graduated stages of rebuilding, which would mean writing off huge neighborhoods and not allowing them to be rebuilt."