All I Can Say is “Hey…”
…”you voted for him.” 
Experts excoriate recovery leaders
Nagin, council are failing N.O., they say
Without a citywide rebuilding plan or a central agency in charge of redevelopment, New Orleans is likely to squander its opportunity to make a strong recovery as billions of dollars head toward the Gulf Coast, according to top officials with the Urban Land Institute.
As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina fast approaches, New Orleans lacks leadership from Mayor Ray Nagin and the City Council, said John McIlwain, the senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute.
…’You still have a chance’
“It’s virtually a city without a city administration and it’s worse than ever,” McIlwain said. “New Orleans needs Huey Long. You need a politician, a leader that is willing to make tough decisions and articulate to the people why these decisions are made, which means everyone is not going to be happy.”
Squander, squalor…status quo. It’s not Bush and it’s not the Jooz and it’s not institutionalized racism or that we all hate poor people or that Americans aren’t generous to a fault.
It’s stupidity, duplicity, complicity, avarice and incompetence. On an unimaginable scale.
…In an e-mail asking for his response to McIlwain’s criticism of his administration, Nagin replied: “No comment.”
Oh, I’ll bet. There were some enlightening comments on the NOLA.com forums after this article came out, a couple of which really resonate…
As far as the people speaking, it seems clear to me that Nagin was re-elected mainly by folks who no longer live here and have little or no intention of returning. Nagin might be the first politician in history to have been elected out of spite. And that makes me mad. We, who are here and making an effort, are stuck with the result of that election, while those in Houston and Atlanta who gave us this result are enjoying the more competent governments in those areas.
And…
[I read that article, too]…achris, and literally wanted to cry. Nagin & Company have one, just one, golden opportunity to make great things happen for New Orleans. But with no well-defined, cohesive plan in place and a mayor who is, for all intents, MIA, it’s difficult to remain optimistic.
All eyes are on New Orleans now, have been since Katrina. Folks from every part of the world contributed to her recovery. Each day that Mayor Nagin isn’t perceived as doing all within his power to guide the city in a positive direction, he further erodes the confidence of not only his constituents but the global community. Why would people from anywhere choose to invest big bucks in New Orleans when they rightfully believe their hurricane relief contributions and tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet???
I haven’t read this report anywhere but locally. I don’t think a national spotlight is something MSM is willing to shine on this cesspool right now, because it would silence some of those “federal government ain’t done enough” refrains. God forbid we should hold a black city administration responsible for the welfare of it’s people…ever.
Humanity...or the Lack Thereof | tree hugging sister | 
August 3, 2006 1:22 pm
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Nagin was pretty popular among all the people I talked with in that cess pool of a city. They considered him a reformer who was removing corruption from the city.
The people deserve the government they allow to rule them. The only real tragedy is that they’re using our money to do it.
John McIlwain is an idiot.
Example: “New Orleans needs Huey Long.”
Huey Long was the most corrupt politician in Louisiana history and is the man most responsible for Louisiana politics bad reputation. The Morials and Barthelemy’s were rank amateurs compared to the Kingfish.
Time to get past the City, State, and Federal governments sniping at each other. It is entirely everyone’s fault.
I’m aginst Nagin having a plan, because I’m against any Federal dollars rebuilding the parts of the city that contributed to its shithole repuation. Let people float loans to rebuild, let the Feds give them low-interest loans, but put the people themselves on the hook for the rebuild – the last thing that city needs is a handout.