Bush Trumpets Recovery in New Orleans

William Douglas
McClatchy Newspapers
Aug. 30, 2007 12:00 AM

NEW ORLEANS – President Bush marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating cut through the Gulf Coast region on Wednesday, proclaiming that “better days are ahead” for New Orleans and promising that his administration is still engaged in recovery efforts.

Bush and his wife, Laura, observed a moment of silence at 9:38 a.m., the moment the levees broke here, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology, the first school to reopen in the city’s heavily damaged Lower 9th Ward.

Afterward, the president described New Orleans as rebounding after the 2005 Category 3 hurricane that killed 1,695 people, displaced 770,000, and caused at least $96 billion in damage to homes, businesses and government property in the Gulf Coast.

“My attitude is this: New Orleans, better days are ahead,” Bush told a group of education officials, students and community leaders. “It’s sometimes hard for people to see progress when you live in a community all the time. And it’s easy to think about what it was like when we first came here after the hurricane, and what it’s like today. And this town is coming back.”

The trip to New Orleans was Bush’s 15th since the hurricane. The White House was the target of withering criticism of its initially slow response to the storm’s aftermath.

During last year’s anniversary ceremonies, Bush accepted responsibility for his administration’s handling of Katrina. On Wednesday, he said that the federal government hadn’t abandoned the region and noted that it has made available or disbursed about $96 billion of the $114 billion promised for rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas.

Despite Bush’s optimistic assessment, evidence abounded that the recovery has a long way to go in New Orleans.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0830Bush-Katrina0830.html

Bush Shares Gumbo with Brees, Nagin

 Meal at Dooky Chase’s welcomes president to town

Wednesday, August 29, 2007By David Hammer

President Bush began his overnight stay in New Orleans for the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina surrounded by good food, eye-popping artwork and an eclectic mix of the political and cultural leaders of a still-disaster-weary city.

“We’ve got social entrepreneurs in our midst, artists in our midst, all of whom have dedicated their lives to the renewal of New Orleans,” Bush said as he sat inches from Leah Chase, 84, the larger-than-life owner of and chef at Dooky Chase’s restaurant in Treme. “And we’re so honored to be in this restaurant. I know you would want me to say that the food here is about as good as any place here in New Orleans. I will say it.”

Bush didn’t say much in his evening appearance, saving his comments about hurricane recovery for today’s anniversary events at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology. But the sheer variety of guests sharing the large table with him and his wife Laura seemed to signal a lively conversation would ensue behind closed doors.

<!– if (parseFloat(navigator.appVersion) == 0) { document.write(”); } –>At the table, Bush was flanked by Norman Francis, chairman of Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s Louisiana Recovery Authority, and the Rev. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. On the other side of Luter was LRA member Kim Boyle and next to her, Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

The group also included developer Joe Canizaro, musician Irvin Mayfield, chef John Besh, Children’s Museum director Julia Bland, indicted U.S. Rep. Bill Jefferson, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, Blanco and her husband Raymond “Coach” Blanco, outgoing Bush political adviser Karl Rove, Bush’s recovery chief Donald Powell, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, business owner Tommy Andrade, Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, Americorps volunteer Jared Jahan, Business Council of New Orleans Chairman Jay Lapeyre, Smilie’s Restaurant owner Augustin Lopez, the Rev. Vien The Nguyen of Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church and Becky Zaheri, president and founder of the neighborhood cleanup organization Katrina Krewe.

Chase welcomed the group for a meal of jambalaya, stewed okra and gumbo z’herbes, an all-greens gumbo that is a tradition at Chase’s Holy Thursday dinners. The restaurant has served a few private engagements recently, but is finally ready to reopen in a few weeks, said Chase’s granddaughter, Myla Reese. But Chase has kept involved in culinary events, the Urban League and other cultural development since the storm.

The 66-year-old restaurant is known for its large collection of African-American art, none of which was touched when looters ravaged the establishment immediately after Katrina. Ironically, one of the smaller pieces is of a pensive Huey P. Long, the former Louisiana governor and U.S. senator seen as a symbol of the state’s reputation for graft and corruption, which is often cited as a reason to limit the flow of federal aid to Louisiana since the storm.

The usually punctual Bush ran a bit late after flying from Reno, Nev. Upon arriving at Louis Armstrong International Airport, Bush met with Allison Stouse, a volunteer at the Louisiana Children’s Museum and founder of the Faubourg St. Roch Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to sustaining nine blocks in the St. Roch neighborhood. Bush gave her his Volunteer Service Award, part of his USA Freedom Corps initiative to expand volunteer service.

Bush rode in the Marine One helicopter from the airport to a parking lot near the Industrial Canal accompanied by Laura Bush, Blanco, Nagin, Powell and Rove.

. . . . . . .

David Hammer can be reached at dhammer@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3322.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1188367335232970.xml&coll=1

Spectacles or Vision?

Two recently announced projects for downtown New Orleans stand out as the first truly creative attempts to foster the city’s resurrection. The first, an extravagant proposal for a new New Orleans National Jazz Center and park by Morphosis, is the most significant work of architecture proposed in the city since the Superdome. The second, a six-mile-long park and mixed-use development along the Mississippi, designed by TEN Arquitectos, Hargreaves Associates and Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, would undo decades of misguided building on the riverfront.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/arts/design/28jazz.html?8dpc

New Orleans: Business is Great, People are Terrific, Life is Wonderful

New Orleans: A Startup Laboratory

Entrepreneurs are finding fertile ground for new ventures

they think will help bring the devastated city back to life

by John Tozzi In a fifth-floor penthouse office in the central business district, developers craft an online trading system to let companies sell their accounts receivable at a discount for cash. A few blocks away, a programmer builds a tool to send patients’ medical data to doctors’ smart phones in real time. On the other side of town, workers assemble a sleek modular home from aluminum framing and interlocking panels—no nails or screws required. At the end of the day, they might all head for a hip new nightclub near the waterfront.

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