Louisiana Recovery and Rebuilding Conference

APA Staff Reports

By Jim Schwab, AICP
APA Senior Research Associate

November 10, 2005

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor of Louisiana
Gov. Blanco keynoted the entire conference in a speech that focused on the opportunities facing Louisiana going forward. "Never before has there been such a disaster," she said. "Never before has there been such opportunity." People in Louisiana have the chance to "recreate neighborhoods in new and fresh ways while restoring our special culture." But there are challenges ahead, she added, such as the need to "restructure our troubled school system" and "rebuild to the standards of modern building codes." Later, she noted that Louisiana "never has had a statewide building code" but that she now wants one from the special session of the legislature that would establish minimum standards and allow local governments to "go beyond the minimum standards."

Gov. Blanco announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had agreed to triple the size of the Orleans Renewal Community to include an area of 50,000 residents, and she encouraged the Louisiana congressional delegation to help expand it further. She also stated that she had told the members of her new Louisiana Recovery Authority to "be bold and use new ideas," adding, "We need affordable housing."

Nonetheless, the most important issue, according to Blanco, is coastal protection. She called for rebuilding the levee system around New Orleans to withstand a Category 5 hurricane. But she added, "We have been fighting for moneys to restore the coastline. The land mass has protection to offer, and we are losing our coastline. That makes our urban centers more vulnerable." Blanco called for a coastal authority to oversee these efforts, noting, "We must secure our homes and businesses in order to rebuild. Thriving coastal wetlands are a buffer against future hurricane devastation." She noted that the wetlands lost to the recent storms equaled 10 years of ordinary erosion.

Click here for a transcript of Gov. Blanco's remarks.

Dr. Norman Francis
President, Xavier University, and Chair, Louisiana Recovery Authority
Dr. Francis noted sternly that "we made mistakes in how we did not plan." He observed that "those unique places" that Louisianans treasure were also "places of harm if we did not protect ourselves. We must protect ourselves better." Noting that New Orleans was not ideal for everyone, he added, "We did not provide quality of life for those who were economically disadvantaged," but "Katrina and Rita did not discriminate, so we are being brought together to plan for better cities."

Infrastructure Panel
The first of five topical panels spoke on Thursday morning, moderated by William Henry, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, who opened the session by describing the shortcomings of infrastructure maintenance in America and urging the nation to move beyond a "patch and pray mentality." The panel consisted of:

• Retired Gen. Robert B. Flowers
• Ren J Ziljstra, an engineer from the Netherlands
• Danny Taylor, manager of engineering for Entergy, Inc.
• Walter Brooks, executive director of the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission

The greatest attention from the audience likely went to Ziljstra because of the overarching significance of the levee system and the success of recent Dutch experience in this area. Homeowners and business owners alike are basing reinvestment decisions on the central decision concerning the intended strength of the new levees. In his presentation, Ziljstra emphasized that:

• Levees are long-term assets that require vision and a structural approach
• Investing in safety is not a one-time event but needs maintenance and sustained investments
• Nature can be a powerful partner

Ziljstra noted that, in the Netherlands, 70 percent of the people live below sea level, and 80 percent of the nation’s economic investment is below sea level. The main differences from Louisiana lie in greater population density and climate. But Holland suffered from a 1953 flooding disaster that took 1,800 lives but launched a planning initiative that has taken a half-century to implement. Ziljstra concluded, after sharing some more technical observations, by noting:

• Maintenance is essential
• Maintenance needs continual funding and attention
• The project requires dedicated authorities and earmarked funds

Walter Brooks
Walter Brooks began with a review of data on the economic and physical state of the New Orleans metropolitan area that amounted to a case for stronger regional planning. But he drew his greatest applause from the audience by making the case that a light rail line to the New Orleans airport would serve a secondary purpose by providing a mass hurricane evacuation system for thousands of poor New Orleanians who were stranded without cars.