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APA Report: Rebuilding Effort Needs More Planners

NEW ORLEANS-A report by the American Planning Association says the city's planning operations must be expanded, in part because they were inadequate to begin with and have been cut by two-thirds since the flooding.

By Brian K. Miller | Updated on November 18, 2005

NEW ORLEANS-A report by the American Planning Association evaluating New Orleans’s planning capacity concludes that the city’s planning operations must be expanded to ensure rebuilding is done systematically and equitably and makes the city safer. A well qualified six-member assessment team came to its conclusion after reviewing background materials, surveying damaged neighborhoods, and interviewing government officials and community leaders.

“The city’s planning function before the hurricane was significantly less than what’s necessary for a city of this size,” says Fernando Costa, AICP, the team leader, in a prepared statement. “Now with budgetary constraints and layoffs, the planning capacity is not adequate to manage the functions required for rebuilding the city.”

Before Katrina, the city’s planning commission had a staff of 24, which the assessment team says is inadequate for a city of New Orleans’ size and complexity. Now, after the disaster and resulting municipal budget cuts, the staff has been reduced to eight positions, according to the report, which was based on a trip to New Orleans in late October and released this week.

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