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Rebuilding New Orleans

Plan Is a Message, Not the Final Word
'...without a well-reasoned argument there would be no more funding. UNOP is that argument'

March 8, 2007
New Orleans Times Picayune
Point of View--Guest Editorial
By Robert B. Olshansky and Lewis D. Hopkins
Excerpt

In response to the UNOP commmentary from the Bureau of Governmental Research, a private, non-profit, independent research organization, urban and regional-planning Professors Robert B. Olshansky and Lewis D. Hopkins wrote a guest editorial for the New Orleans Times Picayune that was published on March 12, 2007. An excerpt follows:

...The Bureau of Governmental Research said this week that the Unified New Orleans Plan has problems that "are so fundamental that they cannot be addressed through minor adjustments." It asks for "an overhaul of the planning document." It says that this particular plan needs to "get it right" before moving on. We respectfully disagree.

The UNOP is not an endpoint. How could it be? Uncertainties abound: The repair money from FEMA hasn't arrived to fix the streets and infrastructure, vital low-income workers don't have any place to live, schools are still a mess, and only a few people have received Road Home grants. But the plan is more than a blueprint. It's a way to communicate what New Orleans needs to some very important audiences, and it does that very well.

First, the federal government has been waiting patiently for Orleans Parish to produce the draft recovery plan that all the other affected parishes have long since completed. This is more than just a bureaucratic requirement. Congress took nine months to approve $10.4 billion to rebuild Louisiana. Everyone knew it was not enough money, but without a well-reasoned argument there would be no more funding. UNOP is that argument. And the new Congress is ready to receive it.

Second, the plan provides guidance for the actions of the city's Office of Recovery Management, and the district plans provide guidance for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. The Office of Recovery Management has already begun its work of developing action strategies based on principles in the plan, as it should. Adopting UNOP will reinforce the credibility of the plan for the Office of Recovery Management, NORA and investors who together will rebuild New Orleans.

Should some revisions be made in order to improve the clarity of the document? Certainly. Should the City Planning Commission add staff and take over important planning tasks? Absolutely. Should everyone wait for city planning to completely rewrite the UNOP citywide plan before moving forward? Absolutely not.

After a great disaster, a balance must be struck between moving quickly and deliberating. In New Orleans, in March 2007, it is time to come down on the side of speed.

© 2007 The Times-Picayune. All rights reserved.

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