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Rebuilding New Orleans

Planning Process OK, Speakers Say;
Continued public participation urged as document is revised

March 8, 2007
New Orleans Times Picayune
By Bruce Eggler--Staff writer
Excerpt

More than 200 people turned out Wednesday night for the New Orleans City Planning Commission's second public hearing on the citywide recovery plan released several weeks ago as part of the Unified New Orleans Plan process, but only a relative handful offered substantive comments on the nearly 600-page document's merits or deficiencies.

Most of the dozens of speakers indicated they were more concerned about continuing the high level of public participation they said went into the drafting of the citywide plan and 13 district plans also prepared by the UNOP team of planners.

Other speakers said their key concern was seeing that the plan moves through the City Hall bureaucracy as rapidly as possible and is not derailed by criticisms such as a strong attack issued this week by the Bureau of Governmental Research.

Asked about the Bureau of Governmental Research's criticism of the citywide plan, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said, "...We're going to take their criticism and see if we can incorporate it going forward."

Recovery Director Ed Blakely also issued a response to BGR's comments: "While the UNOP plan was not designed to provide an absolute blueprint for all of the actions necessary to complete our recovery, it does provide useful data based on a process driven by the people." He said he and his staff "have already begun working with the Planning Commission to craft a recovery plan with a budget and timeline. We are developing a clear path for the recovery of the great city of New Orleans, and the UNOP plan is a critical part of this process...We applaud the Bureau of Governmental Research for its analysis and we welcome their constructive comments."

© 2007 The Times-Picayune. All rights reserved.

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