In acknowledgement of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, BCLC Executive Director Stephen Jordan said the following:

“For the past five years, the Gulf Coast, and by extension, the entire United States, has been laboring to get out from under the shadow of Katrina. The storm marked a turning point in the way the country views disaster response. The business community stepped up in an unprecedented way.

“Corporate citizens contributed well over $1.5 billion to support the region’s recovery, investing in everything from schools and hospitals to cultural improvements and environmental remediation. We have seen signs of vast progress.

“The responses to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike were dramatically different, and Louisiana was actually one of the states least affected by last year’s economic hard times. However, as the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill still linger, we know that much more needs to be done to continue to promote the sustainable development of the region.

“This is why BCLC and the U.S. Chamber have joined together with local chambers throughout the region to promote investment in environmental R&D and exploration technology, job creation and small business capacity building, and other strategies to ensure that what happened after Katrina never happens again with such devastating impact. The fact that disasters happen won’t change, but our ability to cope with them can.

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During today’s forum in New Orleans on Next Steps for Gulf Coast Recovery and Resiliency we were treated to a bus tour of the city. The itinerary involved three important signs that this city continues to move toward long-term Katrina recovery and to build back better.

Broadmoor Neighborhood

LaToya Cantrell, president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, narrated the history of this New Orleans neighborhood — “social ills” including blight, slum lords, and drugs — as well as its future, which hinges on a community-driven revitalization plan with focus on giving residents a reason to return.

According to Cantrell, at one time post-Katrina, Broadmoor was pegged as a “green dot neighborhood” — a neighborhood that would be demolished unless it could prove that 50% of its residents would return, signifying that it’s a “vital” neighborhood. Today, with 2,400 properties within its 151 blocks, 85% percent of properties are rebuilt and lived in or are under renovation.

Photos: Left – a flood-destroyed Broadmoor home that’s not yet been renovated; right – a sign detailing the planned renonvation of the library, a focal point of Broadmoor’s community revitalization plan. 

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This past weekend many people turned their attention to the Gulf Coast, where recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina still take place daily.

While signs of progress are everywhere, according to one Associated Press article, only about 75% of the pre-Katrina population has returned to New Orleans, the city that was 80% underwater at this time four years ago. In the immensely-affected, mostly low-income Lower 9th Ward, less than 20% of the pre-Katrina population has returned.

One New Orleans-based company is still helping out with community renewal and recovery. On Friday, I spoke with Patty Riddlebarger, director of corporate social responsibility for Entergy Corporation.

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Tomorrow is the 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and three recent posts acknowlege that there is plenty to celebrate, as the communities devastated by that storm continue their process of recovery and renewal.

For starters, this morning BCLC published a guest post by Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc. (GNO), a business and economic development organizations in New Orleans. Hecht’s post, “Setting the Table: Economic Development in Post-Katrina New Orleans,” shares recent successes which GNO and other local officials believe will help move forward economically the greater New Orleans area.

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By Michael Hecht, President and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc.

Working in New York City in the years after 9/11, I learned a basic lesson about economic development. The attacks left the city in financial ruin, $4 billion in the red. Yet, four years later, NYC was experiencing its biggest building boom in decades. Why? Because of specific public policies that then encouraged private investment. Watching this, I learned: the most efficient thing economic developers can do is to “set the table”- and then let the markets work.

This is why I am so excited about the outcome of the recent Louisiana legislative session. While it was a tumultuous few weeks, when the smoke cleared, pro-business, pro-community bills did remarkably well, bills that now set the table for a potential feast of wealth creation for the Greater New Orleans community.

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There was a time when you never read stories, much less press releases about disasters that happened years ago.  Most people have vague recollections of strong hurricanes that hit the United States, or earthquakes they saw on the news.  But you rarely see recent stories about how those communities are doing now, or if businesses are reopening in those places. 

It is an encouraging sign to see a recent FEMA press release on the economic recovery of Hancock County, Mississippi. 

Hancock County was one of the areas devastated by Katrina four years ago and is still in the process of getting back on its feet economically.  But in Hancock County, the chamber of commerce, local government, FEMA, and the business community are working together to bring about a full and sustainable recovery. 

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