Is Breaking Up New Orleans The Only Way To Save It?

"Nineteen months after the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is on its fourth official rebuilding plan, and homeowners in the Big Easy have written off the process. The current planning program is viewed as neither good nor bad. It's simply irrelevant.

Nevertheless, you can see pockets of resilience. Hard-hit Broadmoor's active neighborhood association has formed partnerships with corporations and non-profits. Two-thirds of this sector's homes have been rebuilt. As early as October 2005, while Mayor Ray Nagin fiddled, the 5,000-plus parishioners of Mary Queen of Vietnam Church in New Orleans East were well organized and rebuilding.

These pockets of productivity are notable in that people succeeded with little if any involvement from the central government. To my colleague Peter Gordon of the University of Southern California and me, this sends an important message: Rather than try to fix a doomed political process, neighborhoods should be allowed to secede from the city."