Can New Orleans Do Better?

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If Nagin sometimes comes across as impatient or irascible, or his agenda as hurried or business-centric, his allies say, it's because New Orleans' fiscal problems--which he has said will result in layoffs of possibly 3,000 municipal workers--are so pressing. In a letter to Blanco, Nagin recently laid out his vision for a new, more prosperous New Orleans. It includes creating charter schools, loosening restrictions on the city's ability to levy taxes and passing state-income-tax exemptions for manufacturers who set up plants to process some of the 23 million tons of raw materials--such as rubber, steel and coffee beans--that move through New Orleans ports each year. Nagin is also talking up initiatives like a biomedical corridor to lure firms that will leverage the research done at local hospitals and universities.

"If I get too ahead of things sometimes," he says, "it's because to attract people back here, we have to offer them a vision for the city as soon as possible. They need to see we're serious about making this one of the most livable cities in the world, where the old monopolies won't be allowed anymore." It's certainly a bold vision, even if his detractors call it a dream. Either way, Nagin has four months to convince the Crescent City that a businessman can make it a reality.