Mayor Nagin predicts a larger New Orleans

[TSmith]

At a meeting with the New Orleans city council today, Mayor Nagin predicted 500,000 residents within one year, and leveling off at 600,000 eventually. All this in a city with a pre-Katrina population of 484,000 residents. New Orleans was already one of the top five most densely populated cities in the country.

He made these predictions, pointing to a robust economy begging for workers in every industry... most importantly, construction.

Ok, this confuses me. A few weeks ago, he predicted a smaller city of around 300,000 residents. Now this. What's he thinking? I'm guessing he's getting his info from someone who has some expertise in this area. Who knows.

[NCB]

600,000 in population is certainly possible. The economy is going to boom, jobs will be everywhere, and if the levee's are built up to cat 5 standards, people could be flocking into New Orleans.

But, 500,000 people in 1 year? I cant see that happening.

[tombarnes]

I wouldn't believe much of anything from Nagin's mouth at this point. While there will certainly be new economic activity due to post-Katrina reconstruction, I think it's too early to prognosticate upon population statistics. New Orleans need new businesses. What will lure them there? A plan is needed. Is Nagin the man to lead? Somehow, I think a strong leader is needed to pull New Orleans from the edge. Who could fill this need? Thoughts anyone?

[TSmith]

Well Tom, let's hope that former Senator John Breaux can be the leader that we all need.

[Hankster]

I wouldn't believe much of anything from Nagin's mouth at this point. While there will certainly be new economic activity due to post-Katrina reconstruction, I think it's too early to prognosticate upon population statistics. New Orleans need new businesses. What will lure them there? A plan is needed. Is Nagin the man to lead? Somehow, I think a strong leader is needed to pull New Orleans from the edge. Who could fill this need? Thoughts anyone?

Based on his woeful performance both before and after the Katrina tragedy, Nagrin is clearly NOT the man for the job. New Orleans needs a fresh, new face to led it to its rebirth. Yes, there is so much potential there, and New Orleans could become a bigger, better city than ever before. But some old political crony will fail miserably at it. It will take someone with a vision, with great energy, and great leadership abilities to lead it to greatness. Not being from your area, i have no idea who that man would be. I would suggest finding someone from the business arena who has shown strong leadership abilities, and has led his business to stong growth and success. I also think now would be a good time the basically "clean house" in New Orleans, and put together a brand new team to lead the city.

[TSmith]

Based on his woeful performance both before and after the Katrina tragedy, Nagrin is clearly NOT the man for the job. New Orleans needs a fresh, new face to led it to its rebirth. Yes, there is so much potential there, and New Orleans could become a bigger, better city than ever before. But some old political crony will fail miserably at it. It will take someone with a vision, with great energy, and great leadership abilities to lead it to greatness. Not being from your area, i have no idea who that man would be. I would suggest finding someone from the business arena who has shown strong leadership abilities, and has led his business to stong growth and success. I also think now would be a good time the basically "clean house" in New Orleans, and put together a brand new team to lead the city.

You know, you pretty much described Ray Nagin to a tee. He's not a political crony. He was a businessman who came out of nowhere to win the election. I believe the reason that so many people nationwide view him in a negative light is because he is no politician. Political correctness is not one of his fortes.

But believe me when I say this... having lived here all my life... I've seen many political dirtbags run this city. He really was turning this city around pre-Katrina. As he always says, "Google me". He is a businessman and he may lack tact from time to time. Also, the 600+ deaths in the city during Katrina, while horrible, is WAY below estimates formulated in the years prior to this disaster. For all the grief he recieves, the fact that we only lost 600+ people in Orleans Parish is nothing short of a modern-day miracle.

[alon504]

We'll see...we still have work to do, but, the population is increasing every day in a pretty dramatic fashion. It's up to our government, business, and civic leaders to lead us down the correct path in the next few years. And we have to have Category 5 protection...which, I'm confident we will get in due time.

[kayman]

I hope New Orleans can pull itself out of the hole. I believe Nagin is the man that has the vision to help rebuilt New Orleans.

[NCB]

I believe Nagin is the man that has the vision to help rebuilt New Orleans.

I think Nagin could do a great job in helping New Orleans to rebuild.

The main thing we need now, is Cat 5 protection levees. Because no one is going to come back or move here if another Katrina disaster could easily happen again. Once we get the money we need, the levees we need, and the right people for the job, New Orleans could better than ever before.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

What will lure them there?

Cheap housing homes there are very cheap

[alon504]

Cheap housing homes there are very cheap

I don't think we'll have any cheap housing in New Orleans. Maybe in the far out suburbs, but, the average price of a home in Uptown has increased from $500,000 to almost $700,000 since Katrina. Housing is in high demand right now.

[I-275westcoastflorida]

Well now yea cause so many homes are damaged and destroyed and isnt some of the city still flooded? But the prices i looked up were in New Orleans City Limits but could of been pre-katrina but they were brand new and started at $125,000 for a fairly decent house. Is uptown the highest elevated areas? Cause that could be why.

[alon504]

Well now yea cause so many homes are damaged and destroyed and isnt some of the city still flooded? But the prices i looked up were in New Orleans City Limits but could of been pre-katrina but they were brand new and started at $125,000 for a fairly decent house. Is uptown the highest elevated areas? Cause that could be why.

It's a little higher, but, over half of Uptown went under water. Uptown is home to about 200,000 of New Orleans' pre-Katrina population of 475,000.

[EbonyGardens]

Is the city going to rebuild Uptown first or continue working on fixing up the hardest-hit areas, i.e. 9th Ward. Because if over half of Uptown went underwater, then I think that should be cleaned up first and then shift focus to other areas. I think N.O. can surpass its 496,638 population from 2000 if stronger levees are built, and the right people are put in place to take it to newer heights.

[upstate29650]

At a meeting with the New Orleans city council today, Mayor Nagin predicted 500,000 residents within one year, and leveling off at 600,000 eventually. All this in a city with a pre-Katrina population of 484,000 residents. New Orleans was already one of the top five most densely populated cities in the country.

He made these predictions, pointing to a robust economy begging for workers in every industry... most importantly, construction.

Ok, this confuses me. A few weeks ago, he predicted a smaller city of around 300,000 residents. Now this. What's he thinking? I'm guessing he's getting his info from someone who has some expertise in this area. Who knows.

Nagin is an idiot who has no clue what he's doing. This flip flop is further proof.

[NCB]

Is the city going to rebuild Uptown first or continue working on fixing up the hardest-hit areas, i.e. 9th Ward. Because if over half of Uptown went underwater, then I think that should be cleaned up first and then shift focus to other areas. I think N.O. can surpass its 496,638 population from 2000 if stronger levees are built, and the right people are put in place to take it to newer heights.

The city's main focus seems to be getting the inhabitable areas completely restored first, and the city is doing a great job with this. The areas that did not flood very heavily, that have or are near to having power restored, where debris have been picked up, etc. are the areas that are being focused on. FEMA trailers will be put in these areas first to get the people back, businesses are already opening back up in these areas, schools are opening, and long-term housing solutions will most likely be focused upon these areas first.

While areas like Lakeview and The Lower 9th Ward are still mostly un-inhabitable, power may not be restored to some areas for possibly another 6+ months, businesses are far from opening, schools are closed, and most of the houses are just piles of debris. Areas like this will definately be focused upon, but the main goal is getting people back to the areas that are getting back to normal quickly.

[EbonyGardens]

Makes sense, because then you would have more time to focus on the longer assignments.

[Hotlanta]

At a meeting with the New Orleans city council today, Mayor Nagin predicted 500,000 residents within one year, and leveling off at 600,000 eventually. All this in a city with a pre-Katrina population of 484,000 residents. New Orleans was already one of the top five most densely populated cities in the country.

He made these predictions, pointing to a robust economy begging for workers in every industry... most importantly, construction.

Ok, this confuses me. A few weeks ago, he predicted a smaller city of around 300,000 residents. Now this. What's he thinking? I'm guessing he's getting his info from someone who has some expertise in this area. Who knows.

How can this be possible? With all the negative news stories, I don't see why anyone would be flocking to NO. I like the area alot but I don't think people would want to move into a hurrican ravaged area.

[Cotuit]

We can't even get FEMA trailers in there for the people who haven't fled, and he's projecting a population higher than pre-Katrina within a year? I think that's asking a lot. Where are all these people supposed to live exactly? I can see a renaissance happening in NO and people wanting to live there, and I can see it perhaps having more people than before eventually, but that timetable seems a bit wacked.

It's not just housing that will be an issue, the levees need to be fixed before people will consider moving there. The city needs better transit than it ever had to support the population it had, never mind more people. These are projects that take years.

Everyone wants New Orleans to be reborn and flourish, but it's a lot to ask for people to move there who don't have a history in the region. Rebuilding, storm threats, crime, drugs, unemployment... These are problems that aren't just going to vanish overnight.

[NCB]

The thing is, that projection was pretty much Nagin's own guess an opinion. There is simply no way that at this time next year, New Orleans will have a population of over 500,000, unless Metairie and Kenner are annexed. Nagin comes out with these random population projections and estimates, some of which are dead on, and some of which are completely wrong. You just have to look at the numbers he throws out there carefully.

[TSmith]

I think this will play out as another statement by a mayor who lost his mind months ago, unfortunately.

[Cotuit]

The thing is, that projection was pretty much Nagin's own guess an opinion...

You just have to look at the numbers he throws out there carefully.

I generally have a pretty good opinion of Nagin, though as the negative news accounts mount it's hard to maintain that, and not being in New Orleans, my opinion (at least I feel) shouldn't really count for too much on the subject, but. He can't be throwing silly numbers like this out into the ether willy nilly. Population projections, as hard as they will be to forecast, are going to be very important to the rebuilding of NO. The city needs to know how many people will be living in there at any given time in the future to try to get a handle on how much tax revenue they may be able to bring in. They need to be able to give buisinesses realistic numbers so that they know what the workforce situation will be. Throwing out inflated numbers as a sort of civic pep-rally isn't going to do anything to help NO's situation and could hurt in the long run if businesses feel they can't trust the government's population projections.

And of course, we all know, it's not the size that matters when it comes to cities, it's the quality. NO may never recover above 300k, but that doesn't mean it will be a failed city if that's the case.

[tombarnes]

And of course, we all know, it's not the size that matters when it comes to cities, it's the quality. NO may never recover above 300k, but that doesn't mean it will be a failed city if that's the case.

I agree with you. New Orleans will be a smaller city, but will likely be an attractive place to live or visit. I doubt it will have the same character, but one can always hope.

[JPKneworleans]

The thing is, that projection was pretty much Nagin's own guess an opinion. There is simply no way that at this time next year, New Orleans will have a population of over 500,000, unless Metairie and Kenner are annexed. Nagin comes out with these random population projections and estimates, some of which are dead on, and some of which are completely wrong. You just have to look at the numbers he throws out there carefully.

Agreed. Nagin just can't get it together, which is very sad. I strongly supported him in the beginning. However, his off-the-cuff remarks (e.g., "chocolate city", "mexicans" comment) and his poorly thought-out plans (e.g., downtown casino district) are wearing very thin.