Posted on 09/09/2005 9:44:32 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 9 - The New Orleans business establishment-in-exile has set up a beachhead in a government annex here, across the street from the state Capitol. From here, organizations like the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau have begun to plot the rebirth of the city.
In the cramped offices and hallways of this building, called the Capitol Annex, and continuing into the evening at bars and restaurants around Baton Rouge, New Orleans's business leaders and power brokers are concocting big plans, the most important being reopening the French Quarter within 90 days.
Also under discussion are plans to stage a scaled-down Mardi Gras at the end of February and to lobby for one of the 2008 presidential nominating conventions and perhaps the next available Super Bowl.
So far, those conversations have been taking place largely without the participation of one central player: the city. "They're still in emergency mode and not yet thinking strategically," said J. Stephen Perry, the chief executive of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We're thinking strategically."
The hurdles are formidable when so much of the city is still flooded and some are predicting it could be six months to a year before New Orleans is once again habitable. But the power brokers are not deterred.
--Snip--
Mr. Perry said, "What people miss, watching the TV and all, is that the core of the city - the French Quarter, the warehouse district and the central business district - is dry." Power should be restored to the central city within three weeks, he said, and the water and sewer systems will be functional not long after that. Some parts of the city are already getting power.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Mardi Gras in 2006? I'd bet we'll se it in New Orleans.
Heh heh.
Blanco is running this I will bet. Nagin is in Dallas meeting with others.
There is going to be a battle of NO. Blanco/Landrieu versus Nagin
Who is going to control the billions coming in.
[...organizations like the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau have begun to plot the rebirth of the city.]
If it involves rebuilding BELOW sea level again, then f*** them. They can rebuild it with their own money, and not a cent from the Federal budget (which is our tax money).
You got that right.
Of course they do. After all, our tax dollars are going to pay for it. And the next time. And the next time. And the next time, etc...
I'm sure the N.O. police department will be thrilled & the smell will be wonderful. /sarcasm It will take longer than two years to clean that nasty, freak infested city and that was before the Hurricane, IMO.
If the Landrieu crime family gets it's claws on the money, the people may see half.
Landrieu's will be the one's to benefit from this. She was so gleeful the day after the storm saying they were going to get more money than they could begin to imagine and SHE was going to personally see to it. It was on WWLTV at a news conference they held. She wasn;t worried about people, just talking about money.
Hasn't anyone learned anything?
I sure hope there are lots of strings attached and committees to monitor where the money is going to go, before they touch it. Just like President Bush does for tax money going to foreigners. That's why so little has gotten to Africa, for instance.
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