The Future of New Orleans?
An interview with mayoral candidate JAMES PERRY
2009-08-31
By Eric Easter

Editor’s Note:
As part of our coverage commemorating  the anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, EbonyJet.com interviewed James Perry, Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, and a leading candidate for Mayor of New Orleans as the term of current Mayor Ray Nagin ends.

Why now? Why is Mayor of New Orleans your calling?

The main issue is that the recovery is moving at a snail’s pace, and on some it seems not at all. There is great frustration on that issue. We need a full change in direction to move forward. And the majority of the people who have decided to run are people helped to get us at the point where we are now.

I felt I was uniquely qualified for the job. The city is at a turning point,  and the  next mayor is biggest factor in whether New Orleans is seen as a city that is  safe and enjoyable , or  one that is destitute and can’t provide for its residents.

Has the post-Katrina shift in demographics changed your approach to how you campaign or to whom. If it were say, six years ago before the storm, would you be campaigning in the same areas in the same way and to the same people?

The demographics have come pretty close to what New Orleans was pre-Katrina. At least on a percentage basis, we’re pretty close to the same in terms of black residents and white residents. The really big difference is that politics before Katrina was run by political machines and we’ve seen the fall of many of those machines.

For instance, Rep. Bill Jefferson and his brother Mose Jefferson ran a political machine called the Progressive Democrats. And with their convictions that machine is now defunct. The fact is that when you look at the record of elections post-storm, the winners have been candidates outside of the machine. I’m a grass roots candidate working with people in the communities, so I have an ability to organize at the grassroots level where it really matters.

So the growing Hispanic community has not presented itself as a strong political force?

There’s a transition happening. A lot of Latinos came in to help in the rebuilding effort, but ultimately most are still registering to vote and becoming a part of the community. I’m very supportive of that community, but I’m not sure it’s changed the political landscape yet.

If you had to put a percentage of how far New Orleans is into what might be a full recovery, what would that be?

There are a number of ways to look at . First,  based on population, before the storm we had about 450,000 residents. Now that’s about 300,000. So if you say were at 2/3rd our normal population, we’re at 66% recovery.

Another way is to look at housing and how many units have been redeveloped.  There are maybe 40-50% of units that have been redeveloped. But let’s say we’re at 50%.

It’s hard to really say where we are in that manner, but I would consider either of those grades to be failing.

The grade that is really indicative of failure is levee performance. If you recall, the storm did not actually hit us, it missed New Orleans. The issue was our capacity to hold back the water and after four years the levees are at the same strength that they were pre-storm. They’re only as good as they were when Katrina hit.

So,  I’d have to give us a Big Fat “Zero” on that one. We’re in Hurricane season right now. What’s the point of attracting new residents and building new housing of if we can’t survive another major hurricane that would destroy all of that progress?

So that said, what does a “fully recovered” New Orleans look like? What needs to be true for New Orleans to be back on track?

There are a few things.

First - world class levees.  “100 Year” levees, meant to withstand the biggest, strongest storms. One reason we’re so susceptible is the huge amount of coastal erosion caused partly by the digging for oil off our coastlines. The coastlines need to be rebuilt. We lose a football field worth of land every 30 minutes from erosion. Ideally the land would be strong enough to hold off hurricanes.

Second, everything now is geared around the tourism industry. But most of the jobs that come form the industry are lower income jobs. We need a more diverse economic model.

Third, the education system would be performing very well.

The last two things would be that the housing stock would be rebuilt, and we will have attracted not only the 150,000 missing residents but be at the city’s peak of 600,000 residents.

You mentioned education. A number of major publications post-storm have touted the restoration and success of the New Orleans school system – mainly charter schools – since the recovery efforts. How much of that is reality?

There is a process by which all schools in New Orleans are evaluated. There is an advocacy group that does those evaluations and I had an opportunity to meet with them recently. When it comes to charter schools they were getting ratings scores in the mid 50s pre-storm and now that’s in the 60s. Non-charter schools were rated in the 40s, and are  now in the 50s. Both have had significant increases.

That said, here’s the problem:
I knew of the ratings prior to meeting with this group but I had assumed the rising scores were on a scale of 100.
Actually, those scores are based on a scale of 200!

In other words, they’ve moved from horrible failure to just slightly horrible failure. So I’m very cautious about saying they’re better. Still, there has been incremental progress.

In the midst of recovery, how important are large tourist events like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Mardi Gras, Essence Music Fest. Are they a boon or a distraction?

As I mentioned, we have to diversify our economy, but you need the success of your main economic driver to support that diversification. For resident to make a way, that driver has to be successful. Events like the Jazz Festival drive a huge amount of tourism dollars into the city’s coffers. You cannot underestimate the importance of that.

From a strictly psychological impact, something we do very well is that we put on a good party. To see the city put on a good party again gives the people of the city hope and the impression we are making some good strides. People are thirsty for success stories.

Those events are a once-a-year shot in the arm. We want to communicate you can come all the time and enjoy yourself. The events go far in helping to communicate that.

Is convention business matching the leisure tourism industry?

Convention business is doing just okay. Both conventions and vacations relate to the national economy. When it’s more robust, people spend more money. We’re in a recession – hopefully coming out of it – but people are less likely to spend on vacation and conferences in a recession. We’re holding our own but we can so much better when the economy is on the rebound.

We know of the larger infrastructure and population issues, but what are the burning local, on the ground, neighborhood issues that are on voters’ minds in New Orleans?

The biggest issue is the very high murder rate. We have to reduce the murder rate. People are afraid and feel unsafe in their own city.  Just recently, ten feet in front of my headquarters, there was a shootout. Rounds of bullets fired from a semi-automatic weapon. Kids were playing in the street and we were there in the office.  It’s amazing that no one was hit with that amount of bullets. Again it was only ten feet away from my headquarters, which happens to be just seven blocks from the police department. That scares people.

A real concern is that most of the time with these murders, the victims are young black males and the folks who commit it are the same.

Secondly, the condition of the streets and basic infrastructure are tough issues and people remain frustrated about that, but it takes a back seat to levee infrastructure.

Why is this election so important?

Because the New Orleans election has national implications, it impacts the psyche of the American public. If we can’t save one of our greatest American cities, how can we be successful in carrying out wars abroad? Handling financial recovery? How can we fix these monumental issues?

As the president attempts to make good on his promises to the country, it would be impossible to do so without addressing the needs of New Orleans. For that we need strong leadership in the mayor’s office. Leadership to usher us into a full recovery to partner with the Federal government and the business community to give people the New Orleans they deserve.