The New Plan for New Orleans

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New Orleans after the storm. [Eugene Dude.Rider /Flickr]

Later this afternoon Mayor Ray Nagin’s Bring Back New Orleans Commission will release its first plans for a new version of the Crescent City. Last night The Times-Picayune was leaked some of the down and dirty details of the proposal, which perhaps raises more questions than it answers. For instance, there will be a four month moratorium on rebuilding in the hardest hit areas. Residents of those neighborhoods will have to meet as communities and put forward their own plans, and make a case for the future viability of their own neighborhood.

Tomorrow President Bush is going down to New Orleans to meet with the Commission. So tonight, as plans take shape, we’re checking back in with the city and the residents who have already gone back, who have committed themselves to rebuilding one way or another, and are now in the process of figuring out the whens, wheres, and most importantly, hows.

Jon Donley

Editor, nola.com

Open Source guest, Nola.com show

Fred Luter

Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church

Commissioner, Bring New Orleans Back

Aidan Gill

Barber at Aidan Gill for Men and Community Organizer based in New Orleans

Full List of Open Source New Orleans Shows

Nola.com show, 9/7/05

To Rebuild or Not to Rebuild?, 9/14/05

Beware the Developers, 9/22/05

Rebuilding the Mississippi Coast, 10/19/05

Katrina Refugees, Live from the Astrodome, 9/19/05 (web feature)

Columns by Guest Blogger, Jim Fitzmorris

What You Need to Know about New Orleans Politics, 9/16/05

Grandma vs. The Technocrat, 9/16/05

New Orleans Loses Its Accent, 9/18/05

Update, 1/13

The Commission’s Urban Planning Final Report (pdf), a glossy and fascinating 69-page document, is now online. Check out page seven for an overlay map of what the New Orleans flooding would have meant had it happened in D.C, page ten for a look at the extent of the diaspora, and page 37 onward for “How do we rebuild neighborhoods? (point three: “Consolidate neighborhoods with insufficient population to support equitable and efficient service delivery”).