Can New Orleans Do Better?

Long before Hurrican Katrina exposed the racial and economic canyons of New Orleans for all the nation to see, Mayor Ray Nagin swept into office with high hopes of bridging those gaps. So how is it that now, in the wake of Katrina's devastation and dislocation, the Big Easy seems more polarized than ever about Nagin himself? To his fervent supporters, New Orleans' up-by-his-bootstraps millionaire turned city-hall reformer is just the right man for the job of rebuilding New Orleans, "the only guy who can assure accountability and transparency," says Tim Williamson, head of the Idea Village, a leading New Orleans business-development group. Earlier this month, Nagin got a standing ovation from some 2,000 local entrepreneurs after pledging that they would get their fair share of the billions of dollars in federal reconstruction contracts about to pour in. "This is a once-in-a-400-year opportunity," he roared inside a downtown hotel ballroom. "You're in a position to create wealth for your children and your children's children. And after you make all that money, give back. The days of haves and have-nots are over!"

To his many critics, however, Nagin, 49, is a mercurial political neophyte incapable of creating the consensus building necessary for such a giant undertaking. He seemed distracted and impatient last week at the first public meeting of his Bring New Orleans Back Commission. Just days earlier, without consulting the commission, he had announced a controversial proposal to allow casino gambling in several large downtown hotels--only to see the idea panned by everyone from Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to chambermaids. And his opponents certainly haven't forgotten his performance in the first, darkest days after Katrina, when Nagin admonished sluggish federal officials to "get off your asses" but then indulged what turned out to be unfounded rumors of rampant murder and rape and wildly exaggerated estimates of up to 10,000 deaths. (The final number turned out to be just over 1,000.)

Even as the last of some 250 billion gallons of fetid floodwater were finally being pumped out of New Orleans, the rising tide of debate over the city's upright but erratic mayor showed no signs of abating. "We shouldn't have to choose between corruption and incompetence on something this important," says veteran political consultant C.B. Forgotston, once a Nagin backer. "If Nagin remains in charge, the city simply will never get rebuilt." The debate over his performance is hardly academic. In February, Nagin faces a re-election contest that will help determine the trajectory of New Orleans' revival. If Nagin can't convince enough of his displaced supporters that they should return home (he estimates that New Orleans' population could eventually be halved, to about 250,000), the city's recovery--and Nagin's political future--may well be in jeopardy.