Tikkun Magazine, November/December 2005

PUBLISHER'S PAGE

What is the Vision for New Orleans?

by George Vradenburg

The images of devastation and desperation coming out of the Greater New Orleans region grab the heart. Many reports will analyze the causes of Katrina: the causes of the hurricane (systemic global warming or cyclical weather patterns?), the breakdown of the levees (inadequately maintained due to war spending or badly constructed?) and the blame for the slow response (a mayor and governor that didn't execute their emergency plans or national leadership out of touch with local suffering?).

But in the aftermath of Katrina, the front-and-center issue is how much the nation should dedicate to rebuild the New Orleans area. Greater New Orleans has an opportunity few major cities will ever have: to execute its vision for a better future during a moment when the entire country is ready to support the effort. But that opportunity has a short and narrow window: Greater New Orleans must articulate what it wants in a manner that engages the American people. It must do that very quickly and without losing the sympathy of the rest of the country. And it must avoid short-term choices that compromise its vision.

Stakeholders in the future of New Orleans must come together in an inclusive and comprehensive process to decide on their future. This is a job to be led by those who live, work, and play in Greater New Orleans, but it must be done with a vision that excites the imagination of the nation and also with a deep respect for the views of those whose support is needed. This visioning process must involve all of the stakeholders of Greater New Orleans, not just the business and lobbying interests representing the moneyed class.

Other regions of this country have engaged in citizen-centered efforts that have created local visions reflecting a broad consensus of business and civic perspectives. Utah is the leading example, but Greater Chicago has done it too, and California and Florida are currently engaged in state-wide visioning efforts.

The challenge in Greater New Orleans is made more difficult by the fact that no one knows who among the evacuees will return, and thus who the future citizens of Greater New Orleans will be. Will businesses and professionals return in the absence of consumers and clients? Will low-income residents return to their homes or find greater opportunity in the communities to which they have been evacuated? Of course, engaging citizen stakeholders in an inclusive planning process can encourage their return.

And the challenge is also exaggerated by the sheer magnitude of the project: trying to create a vision of what Greater New Orleans is to become while also addressing the immediate needs associated with "restarting" the city—the renovation of the housing stock, the repair and possible enhancement of the levee/pumping/canal system, and the restoration of basic services and infrastructure (such as sewers, water, power, electricity/gas, and communications). Yet, engaging all stakeholders on those immediate issues can create hope for the longer-term future of the region.

These greater-than-normal challenges are offset by the opportunities to build a distinctive, well-branded community passionately committed to the fresh and modern, with a greater sense of social justice and equity and funded by resources of unprecedented magnitude from the rest of the country.

However, the availability of those national resources will depend very much on the willingness of the American people to bear the burden of supporting Greater New Orleans. And that in turn will depend on the ability of Greater New Orleans to articulate to the rest of the country a vision of its future that connects to the hopes and dreams of all Americans: a vision of social justice, inclusion, and opportunity; a plan for economic development that contributes to national prosperity; and an effort to sustain a local culture that makes Greater New Orleans a valued and distinctive thread in the larger national fabric of American communities.

Greater New Orleans is asking all Americans to sacrifice for years in order to rebuild this region. In doing so, Greater New Orleans is asking us to become stakeholders in its future. Americans will be reluctant to do everything Greater New Orleans asks unless there is an inclusive process for deciding on that future that the American people trust, one that provides the American people an opportunity to contribute to the vision for a new Greater New Orleans Region. The American people are poised to help. Now is the time to invite them to participate.

Without a process that includes the larger American community, Greater New Orleans may soon lose access to the resources it needs to rebuild.

George Vradenburg is co-publisher of TIKKUN.

Source Citation

Vradenburg, George. 2005. What is the vision for New Orleans? Tikkun 20(6):8.