In First State Of City Speech Since Katrina, Nagin Says New Orleans Is Recovering, Struggling

Wednesday, May 30th 2007, 9:49 pm

By: News On 6

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said Wednesday that New Orleans is a city on the mend, despite broken promises from the state and federal governments.

``New Orleans is coming back, whether you like it or not,'' Nagin said to applause from the crowd of city workers and community members gathered at the National World War II Museum. ``And you might as well deal with it.''

Nagin called on President Bush and Gov. Kathleen Blanco to do more to help speed the city's recovery from the August 2005 storm. He said Bush has failed to move federal aid to ``the people who need it the most,'' and said he should forgive millions of dollars in disaster loans that the city took out after the storm to help it to continue operating.

He also called on Blanco to use a budget surplus to help the city.

``Use the $3 billion budget surplus to ensure a strong future for our state and for all our citizens,'' Nagin said. ``Because as New Orleans recovers, and as south Louisiana recovers, so does Louisiana.''

Nagin referred to the city's challenges, including a storm-depleted police force dealing with a rise in violent crime and a health care system in ``crisis,'' but he also touted what he deemed successes, from the cleanup of the French Quarter to the return of more than half the city's pre-Katrina population of 455,000.

He compared his city to a patient written off as dying who eventually recovered.

``We have stabilized. We are implementing plans for our future, and we are strong enough for the next phase of recovery _the transformation to the new New Orleans,'' Nagin said.

The speech comes just two days before the start of a new hurricane season, and against the backdrop of a city still fighting to recover from a storm 21 months ago.

Swaths of some neighborhoods remain in shambles, with houses empty and many small businesses ailing or shuttered. Police still work out of trailers.

As of mid-month, the city said it had received just $163 million in federal rebuilding aid, a fraction of the $1 billion or more it says it will need just to restore what Katrina damaged and with little earmarked for permanent infrastructure work.

Nagin asked residents _ those in the city and still displaced _ to not lose heart. He said he, too, has dealt with feelings of frustration and despair and with rebuilding challenges such as a new roof leaking that very morning.

``Don't give up. Don't give up on us,'' he said against cheers and applause. ``We will be back. The city of New Orleans will be back.''