Local inertia dooming recovery, report says

The lack of a comprehensive rebuilding plan and shortages of housing and labor are crippling New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina, while other communities in the Gulf Coast region are coping with a windfall of economic growth, according to a storm-impact study released today by independent researchers.

The first in a series of reports by the Rockefeller Institute of Government of the State University of New York and the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana is critical of leadership in New Orleans for failing to articulate a plan for the future.

"New Orleans has no plan at the moment, and the excruciatingly slow pace of the recovery bears witness to that," PAR President Jim Brandt said. "What seems to make the difference is the ability of local officials to take clear, decisive steps to get the planning process under way as well as provide an opportunity for as many members of the public to participate as possible."

from the Times Picayune

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