[altroots] The cultural workers speak

 
>
Rebuilding plans confront turf wars, political strife
>Racial tension mars initial discussions
>
>By Robert Travis Scott, Times-Picayune
>Capital bureau, Sunday, September 18, 2005
>BATON ROUGE - Twelve days after Hurricane Katrina, as the worst
of the storm's physical perils subsided, about 60 business people
and public officials from New Orleans gathered in Dallas with
Mayor Ray Nagin to discuss the future of the city.
>
>The room full of "type A" personalities, as one participant
described them, showered advice on the mayor. But it was New
Orleans-born trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, one of several
people participating by phone, who passionately made the point
that seemed to resonate most with the group: New Orleans must
rebuild its cultural, as well as its economic, strength.
>
>For a city suffering an almost total exodus of residents and
standing on the precipice of historic change in its population
size and demographic makeup, the challenge of Marsalis' message
struck deeply, according to people who attended the Dallas meeting
Sept. 10. One huge concern is the potential loss of a disproportionately
large number of African-Americans whose neighborhoods endured
some of the most damaging flood waters and whose low incomes
hinder their return. 
>
>Reaching agreement on how to rebuild New Orleans won't be easy.
Nagin's effort already has run up against a Louisiana political
environment rife with historical divisions and turf wars. The
city's initiative also will face a headstrong wave of federal
aid and free-market forces that will play a role in making or
breaking a new grand plan, whatever it turns out to be.
>
>"We can talk in the abstract about what a rebuilt New Orleans
would look like," said Jim Schwab, senior research associate
with the American Planning Association. "In the end that is not
going to matter nearly as much, I hope, as what the people of
the region themselves decide they want."
>
>And while critics from across the political spectrum darkly
warn about the dangers of "social engineering" as a strategy
for rebuilding the region, costs, safety issues and what insurance
companies are willing to underwrite may be the determining factor
in many decisions. 
>
>Urban planners who have studied the history of communities struck
by disaster recommend they begin by building a consensus about
what they want to preserve and create, Schwab said. But Katrina
makes that job especially difficult. 
>
>"Every time you've done it before, you still had people in the
community," Schwab said.
>
>In Dallas alone, as the mayor's group met, thousands of evacuated
citizens from New Orleans filled shelters and hotels, including
about 2,000 people being placed there in federally subsidized
housing. Nagin was in Dallas primarily to rent a place for his
family and to settle his children into school until they can
re-enroll in a New Orleans school.
>
>Marsalis and others participating in the Dallas meeting predicted
that if the diverse peoples of New Orleans do not return, its
distinctive neighborhoods, musical inspirations and culinary
traditions probably won't, either. 
>
>
>Confusion, hard feelings
>
>
>The Dallas meeting was an early lesson in the difficulties facing
those who seek a consensus on a plan for the future. It quickly
ignited a controversy and led to miscommunication and hard feelings
among some political leaders. 
>
>One of its organizers was Nagin's Regional Transportation Authority
chief, Jimmy Reiss, a white businessman who was quoted that week
in the Wall Street Journal saying that some people who want to
rebuild the city foresee a town with a new demographic of fewer
poor people. To some in the city, the story painted an impression
of an elitist cadre of white New Orleans leaders callous to the
plight of the city's poor.
>
>"It was an extremely unfortunate article," said Bill Hines,
a lawyer and leader of the economic development group Greater
New Orleans Inc. who attended the Dallas meeting.
>
>The story enraged a number of black state lawmakers and New
Orleans City Council members, including Council President Oliver
Thomas, state Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and Sen. Diana
Bajoie, both D-New Orleans, who confronted Nagin in a public
meeting Sept. 12 at the state Capitol. They expressed concern
that Nagin and the Dallas group of mostly white businessmen were
coordinating a recovery program assuming that a large portion
of poor African-Americans would be discouraged from returning
to the city.
>
>As the legislative hearing room gained the air of a formal inquiry,
Nagin responded sharply that he had no such intention and said
he had made that point clear at the Dallas gathering.
>
>"So don't worry about this city being hijacked by a small group
of people who are trying to take us backward," said Nagin, who
is black.
>
>Reiss, contacted at his home in Aspen, Colo., would not comment.
In a letter to The Times Picayune, he said, "there was no selfish
politics, no parochial goals" at the Dallas meeting. "We all
shared the same objective: Make New Orleans a prosperous city
that provided jobs and a high quality of life for all of its
citizens, and preserving the diverse cultural and ethnic heritage
that makes us special."
>
>Some of those who joined the Dallas meeting, which lasted several
hours, said it was positive and unified, and that Nagin persuasively
articulated his dream for a prosperous city. In addition to Marsalis,
there were other African-Americans who participated, including
Entergy New Orleans chief Dan Packer, who is the board chairman
of the Louis Armstrong International Airport, businessman David
White and state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, D-Marrero.
>
>Still, the event fed Nagin's reputation as an aloof leader indebted
to the white business establishment that helped elect him. Nagin
himself is a businessman with no prior experience in elected
office. Few have forgotten that Nagin, a Democrat, endorsed conservative
Republican Bobby Jindal in the 2003 governor's race over Kathleen
Blanco, the Democrat who won. His relations with Blanco - and
hence relations between New Orleans and state government - have
been cool ever since.
>
>He also has strained relations with council members and the
black legislative delegation from New Orleans, many of whom feel
shut out by his administration, especially in this time of crisis.
Those same people were unaware of the Dallas meeting until it
was over.
>
>"You don't need to fight these battles by yourself," Thomas
told Nagin at the Capitol hearing. 
>
>"You may have done it that way in the past," state Rep. Karen
Carter, D-New Orleans, told Nagin. "But you don't have to do
it that way in the future."
>
>Nagin explained that he had been dealing with urgent and stressful
conditions hampered by dysfunctional communication systems. He
made his mea culpa and announced he would appoint a racially
balanced task force dedicated to planning the city's revival.
He was adamant that New Orleanians, not state or federal officials,
will determine the new plan for New Orleans.
>
>
>Limited local leadership
>
>
>Bernie Pinsonat, a consultant with Southern Media & Opinion
Research in Baton Rouge, said the public perceives the Katrina
political landscape as devoid of outstanding leadership from
the president on down. 
>
>"Louisiana produced no Giuliani figures for the rest of the
country," Pinsonat said, referring to former New York Mayor Rudolph
Giuliani's much-lauded handling of the 2001 terrorist attacks
on his city.
>
>Leadership is critical to the recovery process, and Nagin seems
determined to emerge as the one setting the agenda for the future.

>
>But the city has long been limited in determining its own affairs
and revenue base. For example, state commissions own the Superdome
and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, and the Legislature
ultimately decides how much room tax New Orleans hotels will
charge to pay for the buildings. The state, represented by the
governor, is the primary negotiator in deals with the New Orleans
Saints. Local sales and property taxes are capped by state law.
>
>The city's public housing authority, which has temporarily moved
to Houston, is under the control of the federal Department of
Housing and Urban Development because of past financial problems.
Financing for future public housing projects will depend largely
on the impetus of the federal agency.
>
>Last week, the state Bond Commission, acting on a request that
preceded Katrina, approved a federally backed $49 million financing
package to continue a redevelopment program for three of the
city's major public housing developments, one of which was severely
flooded. It won't matter if people don't come back to occupy
the apartments; the federal financing is not based on occupancy.
>
>One senator on the commission questioned whether the panel was
moving too fast considering the many unknowns about New Orleans'
public housing scene. But the commission decided it was better
to have the money in the pipeline than to derail the projects
while waiting for a grand new plan for public housing. 
>
>The federal government has its own recovery agenda, announced
by Bush last week, and it plans to contribute billions of dollars.
There has been much talk about the possible appointment of a
federal tsar for the recovery effort. 
>
>Federal Emergency Management Agency money for the city will
pass through state agencies. It remains to be seen whether state
or federal authorities will interfere or attempt to dictate the
city's plan.
>
>The state at times has been possessive of the city's revenue.
For example, the state is the main tax collector for Harrah's
New Orleans Casino downtown. Blanco has refused to release millions
of dollars of Harrah's tax money that was supposed to be passed
on to the city, and pleas from city officials and lawmakers have
not convinced her to let it go.
>
>Blanco wrote President Bush this week requesting that federal
dollars cover 100 percent of the cost for Katrina recovery, and
lawmakers at the state Capitol last week were nearly universal
in their expectation that federal money would take care of New
Orleans, leaving state budgets to continue providing the same
services and projects elsewhere in Louisiana.
>
>Whitney National Bank President King Milling, who participated
in the Dallas meeting, said that despite all the obstacles, he
is hopeful consensus can be formed on a recovery plan.
>
>"We can create a better community in the long run with the same
sensibilities and culture," said Milling, who is white. 
>
>Late last week, Nagin spent considerable time building political
allies and staking out a national media presence to put a confident
face on the daunting recovery effort. Now out of crisis mode,
he can spend more time on the future. 
>
>"We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild the greatest
city in the world," Nagin said. "It's been a wild ride, and we're
getting ready to get on another wild ride."
>
>
>
D. Patton White

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