(above) new homes built by Habitat for Humanity
Juan Williams of FOX News has written an op-ed piece, "Even Katrina Has a Silver Lining," to show that New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, is making a solid comeback. Among other things, he points out:
1. ... the storm “gave New Orleanians an unprecedented opportunity to remake a city that wasn’t working.”
2. A Pew Research Center poll’s finding show 69 percent of Americans say a lot (14 percent) or some (55percent) progress has been made in getting New Orleans and the Gulf Coast back on track.
3. “The real makeover may be in the new spirit of reform and enhanced self-reliance in the city,” according to the Brookings [Institution] survey. Among the positive developments listed in the think tank’s report is that the New Orleans metropolitan area now has 90 percent of its people back home and 85 percent of its jobs back in place even as the nation goes through recession. The authors found more arts groups, better health care, reforms to the criminal justice system, more monitoring of police and even an improved master plan for city development. The new plan does away with walled off poor and dangerous neighborhoods that made a walk beyond the French Quarter a matter of taking your life in your hands.
