Nagin and Riley caught on film

Elected for his second term by a large black majority plus conservative whites opposed to the Landrieu dynasty, Nagin entered office with the support of new players on the New Orleans scene.

In the city there are a few priorities that the mayor can influence:

1. Planning for land use. Where could and should we concentrate efforts to move forward with housing and supporting services? Plaquemines and St. Bernard will have to make their own choices, but the mayor can have enormous influence over New Orleans East and other low lying areas.
   
2. Debris removal including those abandoned cars and resuming regular twice a week garbage removal in the most populated areas.(Done, expensive, but done!)
3. Making criminal justice work for the city. The mayor controls the police but has a critical role in making sure police, DA and courts are funded and working smoothly.
4. Elevating utility issues. Fixing the leaking water pipes and damaged electric distribution.
   
5. Completing the emergency evacuation plan.
6. Fixing the sagging streets, starting with the most populated areas.
7. Enforcing building codes by providing inspectors.
   
8. Acting to end corruption in city government.
   

The February BNOB report was a great start. Now taking the action it called for is necessary. He should not drop a couple of his past initiatives. A giant beneficial change would be to sell the airport in Kenner for development and replacing it with a new mega facility in New Orleans East (but nobody trusts our leaders to consummate big deals like this without massive corruption). The Canal Street gaming and entertainment district would also be worthwhile. But what he can really do is ferret out corruption in all aspects of city government. Wasting FEMA money is corruption too.

After reinauguration in May as Nagin's second term begins people are shaking their heads and asking that we get on with the process of recovery. Nagin is conspicuous in his absence of leadership. He's been seen with Jessie Jackson on a regular basis (Bridge March, Chicago Fund Raiser, Essence Festival...).  Nagin's Administration is going through a big shakeup with more resignations including Greg Meffert. He wants to reorganize. Brenda Hatfield's CAO role seems diminished. Former opponents Boulet and Couhig have been working as volunteers on Nagins's staff. Couhig has worked on the Mayor's first 100 day plan. Boulet on attracting financing. Richard Ieyoub was tapped to kick start criminal justice.

August saw the Mayor calling the 911 WTC site in New York a "hole in the ground" as he asked New York Financiers to invest in New Orleans. OK he was responding to criticism of the slow pace of recovery in New Orleans  by using the five years it has taken New York to rebuild as an example of the difficulty in rebuilding.

Release of the One New Orleans status report in September 2006 is the first sign that the administration is regrouping and beginning to move forward. But subsequent inaction suggests this may just have been window dressing. One thing I find troubling is that the ciyofno website portal established under Greg Meffert has been allowed to languish. Many sections are out of date, information is unreliable. Crime stats were gone for a while and now back in an almost incomprehensible form. At least we can still pay our parking tickets online.

Endorsing an embattled William Jefferson for Congress in October, Nagin admitted that Jefferson was one of the few politicians who stood by him in the mayoral race and he needed to return the favor.

The photo above was taken at when the mayor and police chief formally received millions of dollars worth of crime fighting equipment including M4 rifles from the feds. The image is part of video wich shows Nagin lowering his rifle and just instantaneously pointing it at Riley. The impression that he is clowning around is apparently unintentional. The Times Picayune which published the picture had this to say:

A photo in some Metro sections Wednesday showed a laughing Mayor Ray Nagin pointing an M-4 rifle at Police Superintendent Warren Riley at a news conference to announce new crimefighting equipment purchased by the New Orleans Police Department.

A review of a video taken at the event shows that the camera captured a split second as the gun was being lowered that made it appear to be deliberately pointed at the chief. However, the mayor clearly did not deliberately point the gun at Riley.

Nagin was angry about the coverage and laid it all out in this WWL-TV interview.