Mayor Ray Nagin announced a big investment on Thursday in the war against New Orleans blight, a plan worth millions.

During a ceremonial photo-op, Nagin signed his approval onto a cooperative endeavor agreement with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) in hopes of dramatically changing the Katrina-battered look the city has been trying to get away from for the last three years.

"This agreement targets blighted areas of the city and puts some real money behind it," said Nagin.

The plan puts $38 million in federal dollars into NORA's hands, with the purpose of battling blight and planning for the restoration of what once was.

"Such as studies for Methodist hospital out in the east, it's other studies for looking at mitigation of properties," said Joe Williams, NORA Executive Director.

Another major chunk of the money will be spent in court, helping the city to legally take ownership of deteriorating residential and commercial properties.

According to Williams, the city then plans on selling them to owners willing to fix them up. 

But the multi-million dollar agreement is still pending approval from the state of Louisiana.  Nagin, however, expects that will come within the next 30 days, and he says spending the money will come soon after.  Nagin says the investment should spur the kind of progress the people of New Orleans will notice.

"They're going to start to see in their neighborhoods more blight abatement, more nuisance property brought into code," said Nagin.

And on the streets of the New Orleans, officials say they're making progress, too.  But the road to newly paved roads will be a long one.

"We've completed 1,400 of the 17,000 sites that we were tasked to do," said Robert Mendoza, New Orleans Public Works Director.

And of the 400 Recovery Projects throughout the city, Nagin says his administration has completed 70.  The bulk of the remaining endeavors are expected to be complete over the next three years with the help of over a billion dollars.