City plans new course in wake of hurricane

AS officials put together a blueprint for New Orleans’ rebirth, a commission appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin is expected to recommend that residents be given the power to decide what shape their neighbourhoods should take.

The Bring New Orleans Back Commission hopes to form a clearer picture of what areas would be rebuilt by the end of the year.

Its recommendations, which could become part of the master rebuilding plan, will likely draw fire from urban planners, who say many sections of the city are not safe from future flooding after the devastation caused by last year’s Hurricane Katrina.

Building levees capable of withstanding a Category 3 storm and creating a government-funded reconstruction corporation to buy out land and properties are pivotal to the commission’s rebuilding plans.

Doug Meffert, co-chairman of the sustainability subcommittee, said it also will be essential that homeowners can be bought out at fair market value.

“If we are not able to buy out people, it will be difficult to redesign the city,” Mr Meffert said.

He said New Orleans would end up with “spotty development and angry residents” if the future of the city’s devastated areas are left up to market forces.

Some audacious ideas being considered are re-creating a long-gone jazz district and building a network of bike paths and commuter rail lines.

Recommendations will also call for tax incentives to lure new businesses.

Another idea is to use tax credits to re-create Storyville, the red-light district that operated for 20 years until it was shut down in 1917. It was later razed.

The idea is not to bring back the sex trade, but rather reclaim its musical legacy. Many jazz pioneers - Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and Manuel Perez among them - played in the district’s bordellos.