2 © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) National Civic Review • DOI: 10.1002/ncr.181 • Fall 2007 We did something new at the annual All-America City Awards in 2007. We held a series of “innovation forums” for delegates from the finalist communities. These were small sessions with two or three presenters on a variety of subjects. In a session dubbed “Disaster Preparedness Is a Shared Responsibility” one of the presenters was Joe Goldman, vice president of AmericaSpeaks, who had an interesting story to tell. “About nine months after Hurricane Katrina, the state basi- cally forced all the local decision makers to create what they call the Unified New Orleans Plan,” explained Goldman. “The idea was that the only way this city is going to recover is if we all stop fighting, and get everyone on the same page. The mayor, the city council, the planning commission all signed on board, but in a very half-hearted way because none of them thought it was going to work. They all thought the public would backlash against it, and they didn’t want to put any of their own political capital into this thing.” It is difficult to imagine a more challenging environment in which to organize a massive public deliberation process. More than 70 percent of the city’s housing was wiped out, and by the fall of 2006 only half the city’s population had returned. So the sessions were “held” not just in New Orleans but also in twen- ty other communities where large numbers of Orleanians wound up after the flood. Laptop computers and video equipment were used to knit together this far-flung community. “What we did was set up a bunch of large-scale community- wide public meetings, which we called community congresses, as well as neighborhood-level meetings, in order to really get the community to deal with the tough choices and come up with one solution—to give the politicians and leaders a real constituency to advance a plan forward together,” said Goldman. One of the principle challenges was to recreate the demo- graphic mix that was New Orleans before September 2005. “By age, by race, by gender, by income—you name it, we sought to match those demographics,” explained Goldman. “This is in the context of people still living in trailers. People being angry and thinking about how they were going to live next week, much less longer-term recovery.” You can read more about this remarkable process in an article written by AmericaSpeaks President Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer in this issue of the National Civic Review. Another article, con- tributed by Harold DeRienzo, compares the challenges facing New Orleans to another tough challenge: community “rebuild- ing” efforts in the South Bronx of New York City. An article by Kathryn A. Foster describes a new research project to explore the question of why some city regions are more “resilient” and better able to bounce back from hardship than others. Goldman described the consensus that emerged from the community congresses as a “Kum Ba Yah moment” that may or may not last. A few weeks after his presentation (which was in June 2007), the city council publicly endorsed the Unified New Orleans Plan, paving the way for the release of $117 mil- lion in federal funds held by the Louisiana Recovery Authority. It may not last forever, but it was—at long last—a start. Michael McGrath Editor Note from the Editor

Note from the editor

Download PDF Report

Upload
michael-mcgrath
View
217
Download
2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

We did something new at the annual All-America City Awardsin 2007. We held a series of “innovation forums” for delegatesfrom the finalist communities. These were small sessions withtwo or three presenters on a variety of subjects. In a sessiondubbed “Disaster Preparedness Is a Shared Responsibility”one of the presenters was Joe Goldman, vice president ofAmericaSpeaks, who had an interesting story to tell.

“About nine months after Hurricane Katrina, the state basi-cally forced all the local decision makers to create what theycall the Unified New Orleans Plan,” explained Goldman. “Theidea was that the only way this city is going to recover is if weall stop fighting, and get everyone on the same page. Themayor, the city council, the planning commission all signedon board, but in a very half-hearted way because none of themthought it was going to work. They all thought the publicwould backlash against it, and they didn’t want to put any oftheir own political capital into this thing.”

It is difficult to imagine a more challenging environment inwhich to organize a massive public deliberation process. Morethan 70 percent of the city’s housing was wiped out, and by thefall of 2006 only half the city’s population had returned. So thesessions were “held” not just in New Orleans but also in twen-ty other communities where large numbers of Orleanians woundup after the flood. Laptop computers and video equipment wereused to knit together this far-flung community.

“What we did was set up a bunch of large-scale community-wide public meetings, which we called community congress-es, as well as neighborhood-level meetings, in order to reallyget the community to deal with the tough choices and come

up with one solution—to give the politicians and leaders a realconstituency to advance a plan forward together,” saidGoldman.

One of the principle challenges was to recreate the demo-graphic mix that was New Orleans before September 2005.“By age, by race, by gender, by income—you name it, wesought to match those demographics,” explained Goldman.“This is in the context of people still living in trailers. Peoplebeing angry and thinking about how they were going to livenext week, much less longer-term recovery.”

You can read more about this remarkable process in an articlewritten by AmericaSpeaks President Carolyn J. Lukensmeyerin this issue of the National Civic Review. Another article, con-tributed by Harold DeRienzo, compares the challenges facingNew Orleans to another tough challenge: community “rebuild-ing” efforts in the South Bronx of New York City. An article byKathryn A. Foster describes a new research project to explorethe question of why some city regions are more “resilient” andbetter able to bounce back from hardship than others.

Goldman described the consensus that emerged from thecommunity congresses as a “Kum Ba Yah moment” that mayor may not last. A few weeks after his presentation (which wasin June 2007), the city council publicly endorsed the UnifiedNew Orleans Plan, paving the way for the release of $117 mil-lion in federal funds held by the Louisiana Recovery Authority.It may not last forever, but it was—at long last—a start.

Michael McGrathEditor

Note from the Editor