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NEW ORLEANS ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE IS NOT ALL IT SEEMS AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA

THE CITY NEW RESILIENCY STRATEGY


(Source: History)
(Source: Wikipedia)
USPA NEWS - New Orleans marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall by remembering what was lost and rejoicing in what remains. In the lead-up to the anniversary, urban planners, politicians and community leaders at panels do discuss the storm...
New Orleans marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall by remembering what was lost and rejoicing in what remains. In the lead-up to the anniversary, urban planners, politicians and community leaders at panels do discuss the storm, its aftermath and how it will impact the future of the city. Workshippers at interfaith services across the region mourned the more than 1,500 people who died in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina, most of them casualties of the flooding caused by New Orleans levees that failed after the storm blew on August 29, 2005.
The Mayor Mitch Landrieu unveiled the city's new "resiliency" strategy, gathering together efforts as disparate as rebuilding the coast and improving transportation under a heading that had become one of the mayor's favorite watchwords. Jeffrey Hebert, who became the city's first chief resiliency officer last year, said the strategy will serve as a framework for the remainder of Landrieu's second term, which ends in May 2018. The hope is that furture mayors also will adopt it going forward. "Resiliency" is a term without a clear definition, even for those promoting the plan.
Landrieu and others were clear on what it does not mean, however. The plan does not garantee the city will not face disaster again. It is about building infrastructure that will allow the city to better weather another storm, creating institutions that are able to respond quickly and ensuring that residents have the economic wherewithal, plans and ressources to recover in its aftermath.

The plan also prominently commits the city to the New Orleans Urban Water plan, an multibillion-dollar proposal aimed at improving drainage through "green" building techniques. The city also will look into developing "micro-grids" to power specific areas of the city or certain buildings during a power outage or a disaster.
The plan also repackages many initiatives the city already is undertaking, recasting them as part of a larger strategy. The resiliency plan includes NOLA for life, the administration's program aimed at reducing murders ; Welcome Table New Orleans, Landrieu's racial reconciliation effort ; and the Network for Economic opportunity, which encompasses the city's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise policies, workforce training and other programs aimed at helping job-seekers.....

Source : The New Orleans Advocate
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