FEATURE
A year after Nagin, frustration mounts over continuing delays in post-Katrina projects
by Ariella Cohen
The Lens / 05.09.2011
As Mayor Landrieu marks a first year in office, his capital projects team is still troubleshooting design problems on more than half of the 113 federally funded recovery projects it selected from the much longer list passed on by his predecessor at City Hall.
This leaves many neighborhoods still waiting for facilities as basic as libraries and clinics. Some parts of Joe Brown Park, for instance, the largest recreation area in eastern New Orleans, don’t even have working restrooms nearly two years after FEMA signed off on replacements. Indeed, the project hasn’t been put out to bid and there is no anticipated completion date beyond a generalized expectation that all park renovation will be done by the end of next year.
Instead of indoor bathrooms, park users rely on portable toilets that on a recent Monday stank of urine. “No sanitizer. No tissue. You gotta go at your own risk,” said Noel Crump, a retired respiratory therapist who lives in the Lake Bullard subdivision and plays dominos in the park...
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