A PR Disaster: New Orleans

by admin ~ December 18, 2007

Today’s New York Times has a front page story about the demise of New Orleans - and a pretty good explanation of what’s going on there, “With Regrets, New Orleans is Left Behind.”

Being from Louisiana originally (Shreveport) with parents who currently live in the Big Easy, I see that the city is experiencing a vast communication failure and an identity crisis.  Both are encapsulated in two major areas:

1. The government can’t proceed because of competing interests.

2. They aren’t quite sure who they want to be - every socioeconomic group disagrees and this circles back to the politicians failure to execute and mixed media messages.

The truth is that no, I don’t think that New Orleans will ever be quite the same as it was pre-Katrina.  But that could be a good thing for a city that was on the brink of imminent internal combustion from the huge problems with crime, economy and pitiful school systems.  

What should the City of New Orleans be doing to bring people back and make a positive change?  It should publicize some of the good things happening there because reading headlines like the one in today’s Times is not going to bring back anyone or encourage the government to act:

- Schools - After Katrina, the entire school department was overhauled.  Dozens of charter schools were brought in and they started over, achieving tremendous results so far.

- Crime - Crime is a problem still in some areas, but nothing like what it used to be.  Perhaps the “fix the broken windows” strategy mentioned in Freakonomics would work in New Orleans.  Take the FEMA trailers out already, and for godssake please clean up the devestated areas.

- Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest - Being the city’s two most well-known “exports,” I went to both festivals in the last two years and they were better than ever before.  Mardi Gras was not the chaotic, sometimes frightening mob it usually is, but you could actually see the floats and catch something mister during what was still, for all intents and purposes, a huge party.

-  The French Quarter Still Exists - The question I most often get from people when I tell them I’m going to New Orleans is if the French Quarter is still around?  Yes, it barely had any damage and is now better than ever.

Hey NOLA, call me if you need me. I’ve got some ideas for you.