New Orleans Plan Calls For Smart Growth

"State hurricane recovery leaders unveiled a long-term plan that calls for high-speed transportation, concentrated development in established cities and towns and better regional government planning.

Louisiana Speaks, a long-term community planning arm of the governor's Louisiana Recovery Authority, used case studies from other cities, the plans of other state and federal government agencies, polls of southern Louisiana residents and professional planners to produce the plan.

"It is a road map to Louisiana's future," Donna Fraiche, a member of the LRA board, said Wednesday.

The $4 million plan, almost entirely financed by private investors, calls on the Legislature to give the Office of State Planning more powers and more money after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

It seeks to persuade parishes to start thinking regionally while persuading residents to give up some individual property rights so fewer homes will be built in flood plains and encouraging developers to focus their efforts in already-established areas."