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.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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