“There has been nothing to signal a transformation in the sea of blight and abandonment that still defines much of” New Orleans, The New York Times reported on April 1, one year after municipal officials unveiled the city’s rebuilding plan. Created by Edward Blakely, who led the successful recovery of Oakland, California, after that city suffered both an earthquake and fires during the 1990s, the New Orleans plan targeted 17 recovery zones. “On their one-year anniversary, the designated ‘zones’ have hardly budged,” the Times wrote. As residents seek explanations, they are blaming Blakely—who they criticize for spending too much time at his other job, in Australia, teaching urban planning—Mayor Ray Nagin, who is said to be barely visible, and the federal government, which has been slow to release promised funds for rebuilding. Thus, while demolition of damaged structures has been ongoing, little is rising to replace them. A more serious problem is that the city has begun bulldozing a group of undamaged public housing complexes at a time when residents desperately need affordable options. Blakely, for his part, points to the successes so far, which he admits are “still light stuff. I think people were expecting they’d wake up one morning and it would be nirvana. But little things are happening, cleanups, fixups, and so on.” But as the Times noted, “Growing frustration points up what has been a recurring theme in New Orleans’s sketchy, on-again, off-again recovery from Hurricane Katrina: grandiose official promises, apparently made to lift the public’s morale, that soon prove unrealistic.”

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