Residents of New Orleans losing patience with Obama

By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post / October 15, 2009

Many feel abandoned by government

On Flood Street in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Subrina McCrary visited a neighbor’s house damaged by Hurricane Katrina. As a presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama had used the city’s plight as a rallying cry for change.

WASHINGTON - Even before Air Force One touches down in New Orleans this afternoon, President Obama is discovering the burdens of rebuilding a city that feels abandoned by the federal government.

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, swaths of New Orleans remain devastated from the winds and floods that tore through the city.

More than 65,000 homes remain abandoned. There is no public hospital. The levees that keep back the Gulf are still vulnerable.

Residents remain furious about former President George W. Bush’s handling of the crisis and its aftermath, but their patience with Obama is evaporating rapidly.

“The people that I talk to are frustrated with the setbacks that they have had to endure, are frustrated with the nature of the bureaucracy that allows decisions to be unmade for long periods of time,’’ said Sheila Crowley, the president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The frustration, Crowley said, is a reflection of “the pent-up need . . . for a sense of serious attention from the federal government.’’

Obama has repeatedly sent Cabinet secretaries into New Orleans, often armed with cash to jumpstart stalled projects. White House officials say they have cut red tape and loosened $1.5 billion in assistance that was stuck in the federal pipeline. They say more than 3,500 people have been transitioned to permanent housing.

But civic leaders grumble that the president’s five-hour visit to the hurricane- and flood-damaged area - his first since taking office - is not sufficient to communicate his concern.

“A town hall event and a mystery stop? That’s it?’’ the Times-Picayune editorialized last week before the trip was finalized and a school tour added.

“The White House plan for President Barack Obama’s first post-election visit to New Orleans seems to be lacking in substance and fun.’’

Criticism is also aimed at the president by residents of Mississippi and southwest Louisiana, where storm-weary residents wonder aloud why New Orleans is the only stop on Obama’s schedule before a quick hop to San Francisco for a DNC fund-raiser.

The White House calls the criticism unfounded, noting that as a candidate and senator, Obama visited the Gulf repeatedly.

“The president has been to New Orleans five times since Katrina, and has done most of the things people are saying they want him to do,’’ said spokesman Nick Shapiro.

“What he hasn’t done is hold a public event where he can hear directly from the people.’’

As a candidate, Obama used the city’s plight as a rallying cry for change, repeatedly citing what he said was an inadequate response to the needs of the people there by the Bush administration.

“I promise you that when I’m in the White House, I will commit myself every day to keeping up Washington’s end of the bargain,’’ Obama said at Tulane University in February last year. “This will be a priority of my presidency.’’

But like Bush, whose presidency was marred by the federal response to Katrina and its aftermath, Obama is faced with the politically sensitive challenge of helping citizens in the New Orleans area and the other Gulf residents recover while managing an economic downturn that affects the entire country.

The collapse of the housing market in New Orleans is mirrored by a similar crash across the rest of the country. The disappearance of jobs in the city following the hurricane has been eclipsed by a nationwide employment crisis.

“The issue here is what happens after his trip,’’ said Amy Liu, the deputy director of the metropolitan policy program at the Brookings Institution.

“What does the administration do from now until the five-year anniversary of the storm? It’s a landmark date. It’s a natural reflection point to say, ‘boy, did all those public investments put New Orleans on the path to recovery?’ ’’



source: boston.com