05:06 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 5, 2006

WWLTV.com

Residents from each of the city’s 73 neighborhoods will have input into the rebuilding of their areas as part of a master plan expected to be ready by the end of this year, city leaders said Wednesday.

Mayor Ray Nagin and the city council set semi-firm deadlines for a planning process that will take into consideration rebuilding plans of all 73 neighborhoods along with a plan for the city’s overall infrastructure.

Nagin emphasized that he and the committee would not tell residents where they could rebuild, but instead the plan is to find out which areas are not likely to come back in earnest and how the city can fight the blight in those areas.

In addition, the city will decide where to place schools, fire stations, police and other infrastructure depending on how things develop in certain areas.

“For the average person, this will provide clarity on how neighborhoods will come back and encourage them to be involved in this process,” said Nagin. “You help us craft exactly where you want to see your neighborhood in the future.  Where you see schools, where you see parks.”

The city-wide planning process will be funded by private donations, including $3.5 million from the Rockefeller Foundation.  That money will be used to hire local and national planners to work with individual neighborhoods.

Groups that are finished with planning, like much of Gentilly, will not have to re-start the process. 

“The thing I like about today is it gives us additional resources to help with overall master planning,” said City Council President Oliver Thomas.

This process will yield 73 different neighborhood plans and a city-wide infrastructure plan, which will be combined to form an overall Orleans Parish blueprint.