The Rules Of Disaster Relief On New Orleans’s Main Streets

Countless community economic development initiatives took place in New Orleans within a decade of Hurricane Katrina making landfall in August of 2005. Many foundation and charity funded organizations restored storm-damaged storefronts in high-income neighborhoods on high ground, where tourists, investors, and even city planners expected streetcars, shotguns, and short-term rentals to return. Few prioritized dilapidated commercial properties in neighborhoods disregarded (at the time) by visitors and locals alike, who associated such historic places as Treme with crime and culture, not commerce and community resilience. Façade Renew, a building retrofit and commercial revitalization program developed and administered by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) between 2010 and 2018, brought relief to six storied Main Streets serving minority communities despite disinvestment. However, in the process, the disaster relief program also brought low-margin buildings beyond the control of local landmark regulations within reach of the city’s police powers and under the control of Mitch Landrieu’s data-driven, market-oriented policing of New Orleans’ disaster recovery.

Aidoo, F.S.,  “The Rules of Disaster Relief on New Orleans’s Main Streets,” Metropole (Urban History Association), August 27, 2020,  https://themetropole.blog/2020/08/27/.