Life in New Orleans One Year Later

Host:

Warren Olney

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It's a year to the day since Katrina came ashore in New Orleans, and President Bush returned with promises for the future. We hear what it's like now in a city stripped of half its population. Are there enough jobs, schools and businesses for a full recovery?

Mayor Ray Nagin wants half of New Orleans to come back home, and today President Bush got a look at what they would find when they got there. A year after Katrina, there's no central plan, and some neighborhoods are as full of debris as they were when the waters receded. Today, Nagin said that things "would have been different" if "rich people were struggling in New Orleans." Will disaster be a catalyst for reconciling issues of race and class? We hear about the desperate lack of affordable housing as 73 separate neighborhoods try to decide what to do. What about jobs, schools and businesses to keep the economy going?

Guests:

Michael Abramowitz: Staff Writer, Washington Post
James O'Byrne: Editor of the 'Living' Section, Times-Picayune
Una Anderson: Executive Director, New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative
Viola Francois Washington: Director, Welfare Rights Organization
Steve Ritea: Education Writer, Times Picayune
Jay Lapeyre: Chairman, New Orleans Business Council
Ruth Frierson: Chairwoman, Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans

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