New Architecture
As Gulf Prepares to Rebuild, Tensions Mount Over Control
With Federal Dollars on Way, Washington Ponders Czar And Locals Seek Autonomy
New Orleans's Ancient Scars
By JACKIE CALMES, ANN CARRNS and JEFF D. OPDYKE
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 15, 2005; Page A1
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In Washington, officials from both parties are concluding the reconstruction job is so immense that it demands an entirely new government entity, perhaps similar to the Depression-era Tennessee Valley Authority. Top presidential adviser Karl Rove and other administration officials have begun soliciting names for the new organization's czar. Former General Electric Co. chief Jack Welch has been mentioned as a possible candidate, as have former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, though those two have detractors within the White House.
(snip)
Hovering over the battle is a central, perhaps intractable problem. Long before Katrina arrived, New Orleans was a broken city, burdened by poverty, crime, racial divisions, a lethargic economy, substandard schools and public services, and a clearly inadequate flood-control system. Nearly every faction fighting for influence agrees that restoring the prehurricane status quo to New Orleans is untenable... Yet many of the lowest-lying areas most vulnerable to flooding were home to thousands of poor and mostly African-American residents. Some environmentalists and flood-control experts argue that those areas would best be used as marshy buffers against future floods. But that would mean preventing some of New Orleans's poorest residents from ever returning to their neighborhoods.
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But with the city now virtually empty, some influential local business leaders and environmentalists say it might be better to let nature win in some areas. That would almost certainly mean sacrificing some poorer neighborhoods as part of a new flood-control system... One idea, he says, would be to transform some of the low-lying residential areas in the city into water "retention areas" of about 5,000 acres each that would gather water during heavy rainfalls or major storms, providing relief to the city's pumps. Transforming poor, black neighborhoods into retaining ponds wouldn't be easy politically, Dr. Gagliano acknowledges. "We want to come up with a plan that will allow people to be in the region and stay linked to their heritage, but we want their families to be safe," he says.
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Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, a Republican from hard-hit Mississippi, is weighing an alliance with liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who last week proposed a Gulf Coast Regional Redevelopment Authority with at least $150 billion to invest in rebuilding the region's infrastructure. Mr. Kennedy sees a permanent entity, but the government's dominance would give way to public-private partnerships after a couple of years, says his spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter. One source of tension: President Bush's closest ally in the region is Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the former head of the national Republican Party. Gov. Barbour "is going to have a big say in this," an administration official says. Neither he nor Sen. Cochran is likely to allow Mississippi to be shortchanged while New Orleans, a city where Democrats dominate, receives much of the federal largesse.
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Historically, federally funded flood-control projects are proposed and funded through a painfully slow system, often taking years or decades of study and planning. Congressional authorization for a major expansion of the New Orleans levees occurred in 1965, the year that Hurricane Betsy swamped the city. But funding for some major components of the work wasn't actually appropriated until 20 years later... The Orleans Levee District is particularly powerful. Six members of its eight-seat board are appointed by the governor, and historically the posts have been used to reward political supporters... Three months before Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, the board gathered on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain to celebrate the dedication of a Mardi Gras Fountain, featuring electronically timed spurts and multicolored lights. The fountain and an adjoining plaza were built at a cost of more than $2 million, partly using tax revenue that the board collects for levee maintenance, according to financial statements filed with the state of Louisiana.
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One of Mayor Nagin's biggest concerns is that money to rebuild New Orleans is likely to flow through the state and levee boards. There has long been tension between the city and state. Mr. Nagin points to the tens of millions of dollars Louisiana received from Harrah's Entertainment Inc. when the Las Vegas gambling concern won the right to build a casino in downtown New Orleans in the 1990s. That money, he said, "built state buildings in Baton Rouge," instead of being pumped back into New Orleans. Moreover, while New Orleans contributes between one-quarter and one-third of the state's revenue, "the state uses that New Orleans money elsewhere."
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--Christopher Cooper, Betsy McKay, Michael Corkery, Steven Gray and Shawn Young contributed to this article.
Write to Jackie Calmes at jackie.calmes@wsj.com, Ann Carrns at ann.carrns@wsj.com and Jeff D. Opdyke at jeff.opdyke@wsj.com
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112675048334841437,00.html (subscription)
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