Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu says that the challenges New Orleans faces, such as poverty and racism, are not unique to the city. The hurricane just brought national attention to the problems.
"Most of what we read in the press regarding the present state and future of New Orleans is negative," said Tulane President Scott Cowen as he opened the panel. "We are living a case study right now of rebuilding an urban city after the worst natural disaster this country has ever seen."
However, he added, there are also a lot of positive changes under way, and many opportunities. In fact, said Cowen, "Everything discussed here (at Global Conference) can be applied to the rebuilding of New Orleans."
Given those words, the panel of experts addressed what was going right in New Orleans and what still needs attention. Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu tackled two primary myths about the area's damage. First, he said, Hurricane Katrina did not cause most of the city's devastation. On the contrary, most of the damage resulted when the levees broke. Had those levees been built strong enough to handle a hurricane above a category 3, the city would have been spared a great amount of destruction.
Second, Landrieu said, the issues New Orleans is currently dealing with are not unique to the city. What Americans saw on the ground -- poverty, racism, urban sprawl -- is happening across the country. The hurricane just brought national scrutiny to problems the public typically ignores, but which are in dire need of addressing.
John Kallenborn of JPMorgan Chase Bank explained that $40 billion has been put back into the New Orleans economy from insurance settlements; per capita income is up from 2006; unemployment is the lowest it has been, at 3.8 percent; and 80 percent of businesses are doing the same as before Katrina, 6.9 percent are doing better, and 6.4 percent are doing worse. "Surprisingly," said Kallenborn, "business is pretty good."
But more areas than not continue to need help -- including the levees, the Delta wetlands and a comprehensive approach to housing, education and jobs. However, the most vital problem -- and the most crucial component to solving the problems -- remains federal involvement, and state and local government alignment.
Current levee standards can only handle a category 3 hurricane, and Louisiana must invest in development and infrastructure that protect against the worst-case scenario. The panelists noted that the engineering exists to solve the levee challenges, but that no city can realistically be expected to finance construction of such a massive state-of-the-art levee system. As for wetlands protection, Landrieu said that an area the size of a football field is lost to the gulf every 30 minutes. He estimated that it will cost approximately $35 billion to secure and protect the deteriorating wetlands, which protect the river, the city and the region.
The panelists agreed that determining priorities -- jobs, housing, schools or infrastructure -- was complexl they are, after all, inextricably linked. While one might expect that a recovery master plan exists, the reality is somewhat more dismal. Only one of three phases has been completed, and it covers just the first five years post-Katrina. Moreover, it was prepared by someone who reports to the mayor's office. No long-term plan exists that has the buy-in at all levels.
Panelists insisted that the federal government must intervene to address all these issues and provide a master plan comparable in size and magnitude to the New Deal or Marshall Plan. According to Andrew Young, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and current chairman of GoodWorks International, it is not just the future of New Orleans at stake, but the future of the Mississippi Valley, which ultimately serves the entire nation.
All panelists expressed optimism about the future of New Orleans. Sean Cummings of Ekistics Inc., charged with developing a strip of land on the city's waterfront, detailed a number of opportunities for private-public partnerships to enhance and contribute to the restoration of the area′s cultural vibrancy, including culinary colleges, opera houses, museums and other developments.
The panelists also stated that race did not play a role in the post-Katrina disaster; the destruction hit white neighborhoods just as heavily as it did African American neighborhoods. Making the tragedy a "race issue," they asserted, has detracted from what is most important. But it does offer the opportunity to discuss the implications of making issues race-based, rather than political or economic.
The biggest opportunity of all will be for the 2008 presidential candidates, they noted. "Not one candidate has mentioned a plan for the reconstruction of New Orleans," said Ambassador Young, who predicted that the candidate who offers a long-term vision for the Mississippi Valley will be elected president. And he recommended that other states take time now to address their own issues of poverty, racism, health care and disaster-preparedness, all of which were pre-Katrina issues in New Orleans. Do it now, he said, to be better prepared during whatever catastrophes may come.
Global Conference 2013
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, philanthropist Bill Gates and Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless discuss advancing prosperity in Africa.
