The city's new recovery czar announced key appointments Monday to a 17-person office that will help guide New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

With staff set to oversee areas like planning, resettlement and finding rebuilding money, and with czar Ed Blakely at his side, Mayor Ray Nagin sounded a more optimistic note Monday than he did last week, when in an interview with The Associated Press, he said residents are getting impatient with the pace of recovery and that the recovery from the 2005 storm, expected to take at least a decade, "is not for everybody."

On Monday, Nagin said the recovery appears "on track" and poised for an "incredible acceleration," if financial resources begin flowing to the city more freely.

Blakely said he hopes to have a plan in place by June and a housing program ready for September. A goal will be to target key projects in neighborhoods across the city, to help spur confidence -- and investments -- there, he said.

The city said 66 people applied for jobs in the office, whose original budget was about $500,000 for five positions. City spokesman James Ross said private foundations provided funding for nine of the remaining positions; the state also has provided two staff, and the New Orleans Police Department, one, he said.

The key appointments announced Monday are: Jessie Smallwood, deputy director; Eartha Nance, manager of infrastructure and planning; Dubravka Gilic, manager of strategic planning; Alvin Harrison, manager of population resettlement; and Jeffrey Thomas, manager of resources development.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)