Quotable Ashley

Is he ever not quotable?

I've been in Europe for 2 weeks. People ask "What's it like there?" I reply: "You ever seen Hiroshima? Well, Japan rebuilt Hiroshima."

I don’t think Ashley believes Hiroshima was rebuilt in one year, but his analogy is applicable almost one year after our disaster. While the people, through civic organizations, have been hard at work coming up with a rebuilding plan for their neighborhoods and sharing information and ideas with one another, the city and state are just getting on board:

All 73 New Orleans neighborhoods will finally get a chance to produce their own recovery plan by the end of the year, under an agreement announced Wednesday by Mayor Ray Nagin, City Council members and state officials, ending months of political wrangling that confused residents and put future grant requests at risk.

Yes, that says “by the end of the year.”

This is a positive step, but a delayed step. If official plans won’t be presented until the end of the year, then funds to implement the plans won’t come until after that.

So, while many residents started rebuilding as soon as they could get back in 2005, the city and state are looking to begin some time in 2007. I hope they can catch up.