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Nagin: "WTC still a hole in the ground..."


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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/24/...in1933092.shtml

New Orleans Mayor Takes Swipe At NYC

Nagin Cites Failure To Rebuild Ground Zero While Defending Katrina Clean-Up

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"You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."

Mayor Ray Nagin

(CBS) Confronted by accusations that he’s taking too long to clean up his city after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin defended himself by remarking on New York City’s failure to rebuild Ground Zero.

Nagin made the remarks in an interview conducted by CBS News National Correspondent Byron Pitts which will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. EDT.

On a tour of the decimated Ninth Ward, Nagin tells Pitts the city has removed most of the debris from public property and it’s mainly private land that’s still affected – areas that can’t be cleaned without the owners' permission. But when Pitts points to flood-damaged cars in the street and a house washed partially into the street, the mayor shoots back. "That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."

Nagin is confident New Orleans will be whole again and will even be able to withstand another hurricane of Katrina strength, pointing out that taller and stronger levees are being built. It will take time.

"We’re into a five-to-seven-year build cycle … . At the end of the day, I see the city being totally rebuilt. I see us eliminating blight, still being culturally unique," Nagin says.

One example of new development Nagin points to is a 68-story Trump Towers condominium complex, a project that makes some critics wary that New Orleans will lose the heritage that made it unique.

"I think you are looking at basically a town that will be a playground for the rich for the next 40 years," Leonard Moore, a professor of African-American history at Louisiana State University, tells Pitts. "I look at the post-Katrina piece as a game of musical chairs….Once the music gets turned off, the white folks have a place to sit down, a place to sleep, a place for their children to go to school. We’re going back to a trailer."

Nagin says he is looking out for the poor, mostly black, residents who are dispersed all over the country, some of whom are waiting to return to the city.

"What I do have a problem with is some entrenched interests that are looking and salivating over certain sections of the city," Nagin says.

The mayor says these interests want him to keep those poor people from coming back so they can get rich developing the land.

"I don’t think that’s right," Nagin says.

But before any rebuilding can take place, the clean-up and restoration of the city’s infrastructure must be complete and it will be Mayor Nagin, recently re-elected, who leads the efforts.

"Should things have happened quicker? Yes. But everyone has their own style of leadership, and right now our political leader, our political father is Ray Nagin," says Oliver Thomas, New Orleans City Council president.

"So for the next four years, we’re going to sink or swim with him," Thomas tells Pitts.

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Nagins says "we have the public areas cleared." The reporter points ut that cars are still overturned etc on the road. Nagin goes off on NYC. The financing/approval for a memorial and rebuilding the tower will take years. Rebuilding homes should not take that long.

As far as people wanting to sell their property to large developers, it is their property, they should be able to do as they wish.

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Nagins says "we have the public areas cleared." The reporter points ut that cars are still overturned etc on the road. Nagin goes off on NYC. The financing/approval for a memorial and rebuilding the tower will take years. Rebuilding homes should not take that long.

As far as people wanting to sell their property to large developers, it is their property, they should be able to do as they wish.

DKW, there are no cars over-turned for crying out loud in any semi-normal neighborhood. I live about 1 mile from Lakeview as well and am saying that....btw, Lakeview was the white 9th Ward that got 100% destroyed yet surprise, surprise...nobody really talks about it.

If you go to the 9th Ward, then maybe you could find some on the side of the road but it is very few and far between.

This may come as a shock to some but New Orleans IMO is doing quite well yet reading CNN and other media outlets, you would think I live without electricity and other essentials.

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Slink, what's Metairie/Kenner like these days? When I went back for Mardi Gras, the main roads (Vets/West Met/Williams) were fairly clear of trash, but side streets still had tons of debris.

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Metairie is really very ordinary right now. All the places on Veterans are back to normal and Kenner seems to have recovered somewhat quickly. Cars under I-10 have for the most part been picked up.

Some houses in Old Metairie right in front of Metairie CC are still hurting because the elder owners have yet to return but outside of that, some houses have been demolished while others are either fully cleaned or getting back to normal.

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Bottom line is that Nagins remarks about 9/11 cleanup to defend himself, regardless if the accusations about him were not justified, was very classless on his part. But, this is the guy most New Orleans want as mayor.

I think his remark shows once again that when the pressure is on, he cracks.

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Bottom line is that Nagins remarks about 9/11 cleanup to defend himself, regardless if the accusations about him were not justified, was very classless on his part. But, this is the guy most New Orleans want as mayor.

I think his remark shows once again that when the pressure is on, he cracks.

I don't know. If some smartass reporter from the NY media wanted to bash my reconstruction efforts, I would have given him a whiff of grapeshot, too.

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Bottom line is that Nagins remarks about 9/11 cleanup to defend himself, regardless if the accusations about him were not justified, was very classless on his part. But, this is the guy most New Orleans want as mayor.

I think his remark shows once again that when the pressure is on, he cracks.

I don't know. If some smartass reporter from the NY media wanted to bash my reconstruction efforts, I would have given him a whiff of grapeshot, too.

I don't blame him for defending himself. He has already apologized and clarified what he meant, which I see his point. But his example was a poor choice of words. Guess what I am trying to say is that he isn't too quick on his feet when he needs to be.

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