A year after Katrina, the federal money for rebuilding is just starting to arrive, while the city's mayor has failed to lead the reconstruction.
"The White House response to Katrina may have been a 'failure of initiative,' as the committee probing the catastrophe concluded, but City Hall has also lacked leadership. Mayor Ray Nagin, to date, has been unable to meet the perfectly reasonable requirement that New Orleans come up with a recovery plan before the feds start throwing money at it. A planning process that was to have been completed in May has only just begun."
"Much has been made of the Disneyland effect, whereby New Orleans comes back as a lifeless museum memorializing the culture that it killed off by failing to rein in the forces of gentrification. The older riverfront neighborhoods -- the French Quarter, the Garden District, Marigny and Uptown -- become a playground for the rich in a city without housing for the working poor who once served them.
But there's another scenario that's both more noxious and more likely: not Disneyland, but Shantytown. Given continued mismanagement up and down the political flow chart, the economic revival of the city at the mouth of the continent's mightiest waterway could start hardy, only to peter out"
FULL STORY: For New Orleans, a boom or the end?

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

San Antonio and Austin are Fusing Into one Massive Megaregion
The region spanning the two central Texas cities is growing fast, posing challenges for local infrastructure and water supplies.

Since Zion's Shuttles Went Electric “The Smog is Gone”
Visitors to Zion National Park can enjoy the canyon via the nation’s first fully electric park shuttle system.

Trump Distributing DOT Safety Funds at 1/10 Rate of Biden
Funds for Safe Streets and other transportation safety and equity programs are being held up by administrative reviews and conflicts with the Trump administration’s priorities.

German Cities Subsidize Taxis for Women Amid Wave of Violence
Free or low-cost taxi rides can help women navigate cities more safely, but critics say the programs don't address the root causes of violence against women.
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