Mayor announces plan to reopen New Orleans (AP) Updated: 2005-09-16 20:45
In a few days, residents will begin moving back into this city one ZIP code
at a time, speeding the revival of the economy in places like the French Quarter
— the bawdy enclave that suffered relatively minor damage in the hurricane but
is still without electricity.
A scene reminiscent of a war-torn city
overseas, a truck is perched upon building debris from a fire in New
Orleans on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005. Collapsing buildings is just one
problem facing the mass of workers attempting to bring New Orleans back to
life. [AP] |
Mayor C. Ray Nagin announced plans Thursday to reopen some of New Orleans'
most vibrant and least flood-ravaged neighborhoods over the next week and a
half, including the French Quarter. The move could bring back more than 180,000
of the city's original half-million residents.
"The city of New Orleans ... will start to breathe again," Nagin said. "We
will have life. We will have commerce. We will have people getting into their
normal modes of operations and the normal rhythm of the city."
The announcement came as President Bush proposed a sweeping plan for the
federal government to pick up most of the costs of rebuilding New Orleans and
the rest of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast — estimated at $200 billion or
more.
"There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans,
and this great city will rise again," the president said from the French
Quarter's Jackson Square.
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