Nagin on 9/11

Mayor C. Ray Nagin has taken a lot of heat in the past week for his comments about the pace of recovery in New York. Our readers outside the New York area will be interested in a piece that ran on WABC7 News last night. They interviewed a number of small business owners who were struggling to survive 5 years after 9/11. This included restaurant owners, as well as the famed Chinatown. These business owners were frustrated by the speed of recovery aand said that unless revitalisation of the World Trade Center site happens soon, they will not survive.

So, Nagin was right. There has been a lot of bickering about the WTC site, and it is taking too long for people who have downtown businesses. But, I think he missed the key learning. Just because they haven't rebuilt Manhattan's business district doesn't mean that New Orleans has the same amount of time. The speed of rebuilding in New York should not be an excuse to delay further, it must be a reason to speed progress.

If rebuilding of New Orleans infrastructure does not begin soon, in 5 years we'll be lucky if there are businesses to complain about the pace of recovery.