Whose Recovery Is It?

By Cathy Booth Thomas

The President's handlers steered him away from hard-hit areas in New Orleans, just as they had during his previous visits to the stricken city. So George W. Bush last week proclaimed himself pleased with the city's progress after his motorcade drove past the largely undamaged 19th century mansions of St. Charles Street. His friends and fund raisers in town insist that the President "gets it," as shipyard owner Boysie Bollinger says. They have kept up the heat on the White House by hammering home the theme that Katrina didn't doom the city; poor levee construction by the Federal Government did. Still, although Bush repeated his promise to help rebuild New Orleans, he didn't specifically promise levees that could withstand Category 5 storms or help on a bill to buy out flooded homes.

On paper for now, a new New Orleans is taking shape. Some of its canals would be filled in to serve as parks. The red-light district once known as Storyville would be revived as a jazz center near the French Quarter. There would be charter schools instead of slum schools, a streamlined city government and, most important, rebuilt levees. But that "audacious" action plan laid out last week by Mayor Ray Nagin's 17-member Bring New Orleans Back Commission has met with a storm of controversy, not just from residents of the poor Ninth Ward but also from wealthier and whiter areas like Lakeview. Homeowners are infuriated by a recommendation to halt rebuilding--indeed, to stop issuing permits--for four months, until May 20, in the worst-hit neighborhoods. Joe Canizaro, the millionaire developer in charge of the urban-planning effort, believes the delay will prevent a scattershot revival. The argument goes that, with nearly half the city's pre-Katrina population not expected to return, if people rebuild in largely abandoned areas, they couldn't expect much in the way of services from a cash-strapped city.

That argument doesn't cut it with folks like Freddy Yoder, who is determined to rebuild his house with or without government help. "Gimme a break," the Lakeview resident growled at the commission's presentation. "We don't need a rail system. We're in the mud. If you can't give us direction, get the hell out of our way." The most troubling aspect for homeowners: the threatened use of eminent domain to clear the most heavily damaged areas for developers. "I'm going to fight--whatever it takes," warned Harvey Bender of the Ninth Ward. "It's going to be baby Iraq for Joe Canizaro."