December 2, 2006 (Baton Rouge, LA) – David M. White, name partner of White & Associates, P.C., served as facilitator in Community Congress II, an historic initiative to empower members of the Hurricane Katrina diaspora. Nearly three thousand displaced residents took active roles in the participatory democracy event.
White, an Adjunct Professor with the Fordham University School of Law, was selected to assist Katrina evacuees in their bid to shape the Crescent City rebuilding effort. In collaboration with Washington, D.C.-based non-profit AmericaSpeaks, experienced facilitators from across the nation and around the world gathered at five sites throughout the Southeastern United States. Input from Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Dallas and Houston was provided to New Orleans civic and governmental leaders via satellite simulcast. The event was broadcast live throughout Louisiana courtesy of the Public Broadcasting System.
More than 200,000 homes and businesses in the greater New Orleans area were damaged or destroyed during the September 2005 hurricane and subsequent breach of the levee system. The city, the nation’s only urban center below sea level, is bordered by Lake Pontchartrain. An estimated 480 billion gallons of water flooded low-lying areas, leaving some structures submerged beneath as much as 10 feet of water.
“It is difficult to grasp the magnitude of loss until you observe these conditions first-hand,” White commented. “The Unified New Orleans Plan is a bottom-up process that respects the interests of all New Orleanians by giving them a voice in the recovery efforts. This measure of self-determination will foster consensus and create buy-in for those determined to return home one day.”
City and state leaders including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Recovery Authority Chair Dr. Norman Francis praised Community Congress II as the lynchpin between governmental needs assessments and resident preference. Feedback obtained this weekend will figure prominently in the recovery plan, currently projected to span five to ten years.
A central tension to be resolved involves the allocation of finite resources. Although $12 billion has been earmarked for New Orleans, the sum is inadequate to address the totality of need. “The goal is to distribute funds equitably, not equally,” LDA Chairman Francis stated. In recognition of that fact, session facilitators and participants grappled with tough issues including the construction of affordable housing and health care facilities, public education and police and fire services.
“The resiliency of these people is the spirit of New Orleans itself,” White noted. “Empowering activities such as Community Congress II will drive the engine of redevelopment.” |