New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin sworn in for second term

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was recently sworn in for a second term as he took the oath of office in the Morial Convention Center, the same convention center where thousands took refuge from Hurricane Katrina nine months ago.

"Today is a new beginning for New Orleans, another beginning for New Orleans," Nagin, 49, said during a speech. "I stand before you tried, tested and having weathered the worst of storms."

His inauguration, the first day of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, comes less than two weeks after he defeated Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in the polls (Jet, June 5).

"How can we do an inauguration on the same day as hurricane season? Lord, have mercy," Nagin joked.

Nagin still remains optimistic even though he faces one of the most difficult reconstruction projects in U.S. history, fraught with hard choices about how best to rebuild a low-lying city with enormous tracts of uninhabitable housing and fewer than half its pre-Katrina population of 455,000.

Part of his optimism is due to the city's new revitalizing plan recently unveiled during a news conference in New Orleans. The plan will include a refurbished Hyatt Regency Hotel, demolition of City Hail and the establishment of a 20-acre performance arts park that is to be anchored by a new National Jazz Center.

The plan, which is the first major redevelopment bid brought public since Katrina, is being spearheaded by Strategic Hotels & Resorts, a Chicago-based company that owns the Hyatt. Plans were created by prize-winning architect Thorn Mayne and his firm Morphosis.

"It's the complete rebirth and renewal of the Hyatt-Superdome area," Nagin said.

Costs for the center and the park are estimated at $716 million and are expected to generate more than $6 billion in economic benefits over 20 years. The project is also expected to create more than 6,500 permanent jobs.

Developers hope to have financing in place within a year with construction taking an estimated three years.