Rebuilding plan draws divisions

Several people see the situation as a racial issue.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
NEW ORLEANS -- How New Orleanians felt about the newly unveiled plan to rebuild their city seemed to come down to one thing Wednesday: what neighborhood they lived in.
Dionne Survelt, whose family lost more than 10 properties in the Lower 9th Ward, called it "a joke."
Jimmy Bower, a Lakeview resident whose home was destroyed in the flood, said it was weak, leaving the whole city in limbo for too long.
But Magazine Street shopkeeper Rob Savoy, who got by unscathed, said he was excited by the idea of more green space and a possible light rail line. And Shelly Bienvenu, whose Uptown house was largely unaffected by the storm, felt the proposal gives city planners the opportunity to fix past mistakes.
"I hate to see the city shrink, but I think that's the way it has to be," Bienvenu, 50, said. "They got it wrong before. They have a chance to get it right. We just need a lot of money."
About the plan
The Bring Back New Orleans Commission's plan calls for a four-month moratorium on all renovation to damaged properties. During that period, residents of badly damaged areas will need to prove that enough people will return to their neighborhoods in order for the city to allow rebuilding to go forward.
Those who don't successfully make their case will most likely have to sell their properties to a city redevelopment authority.
"We want to keep what belongs to us, what we worked for, not give it to the government," said Survelt, 48, who was raised in the Lower 9th Ward but now lives in California. "It's a joke."
The debate over which city neighborhoods should be reinhabited has been a divisive question since Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast in August.
Many see it as a racial issue: The city is 70 percent black, and more blacks than whites were flooded out of their homes. To not allow those areas to rebuild, some say, is an effort to change the racial makeup of the city.
But Lakeview, much of which was destroyed by raging waters from Lake Pontchartrain, is largely white. And, resident Jill Miester said, it is a solid part of the city's tax base, serving as a home to middle-class and affluent residents. Why, she asked, should the neighborhood have to prove anything?
"We're definitely going to rebuild here. This was my husband's grandfather's house. It's 60 years old. It's part of history," said Miester, a lifelong New Orleanian and mother of three. "We have to stay here. We don't want to live anywhere else but New Orleans."
Emotional issue
The mere mention of not rebuilding, of eminent domain, sparks strong emotions here. Even Savoy, who said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the reworking of the city, noted that "I don't know how I'd feel if I had to pony up and prove my neighborhood was valid."
Bienvenu's companion Wednesday at an Uptown coffee shop, Cesar Martino, had both his home and business damaged by floodwaters. Work to rebuild them is almost complete, he said.
Martino, 62, thinks the plan to rebuild can work.
If neighborhoods are determined to be unredeemable, he said, people need to be compensated financially for their losses and then encouraged to move to other parts of the city.
"You have to look at the bigger picture," Martino said. "If we don't all pull together, we're going to lose our city. This is not a race problem. This is not a class problem. It's a New Orleans problem."