New Orleans Is Still Grappling With the Basics of Rebuilding - New York Times

New Orleans Is Still Grappling With the Basics of Rebuilding - New York Times:

In rebuilding, timing and proportion are everything. Unlike New York officials, who seized their moment of national sympathy to nail down $20 billion in specific appropriations from Congress after Sept. 11, Louisiana delegates asked for a hefty $200 billion. After that amount was shot down, there was little clarity in the state’s request, and two-thirds of the $60 billion approved by Congress for the Gulf Coast has not been spent.

“Louisiana lost its credibility by asking for everything,” said Walter Isaacson, the former chairman of CNN, who serves as vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, a new state entity appointed by the governor to coordinate the reconstruction effort. “Now it is our job to say, we have some reasonable priorities for spending and we are going to be sensible and frugal about it.”

Whoops.

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