Neighbors or friends or strangers in need, came to help. And people who today still spend their time every day helping others, rolling up their sleeves, doing the hard work of changing this country without the need for credit or glory. Dont get their name in the papers, dont see their day in the sun. They do it because its right. Live the basic values that define this country, a value that we have been reminded of in these past 10 years as we come back from a crisis to change this city had an economic crisis that spread throughout the nation, the basic notion that i am my brothers keeper and my sisters keeper and we look out for each other and we are all in this together. That is the story of new orleans at also the story of america, city that for almost 300 years has been the gateway to american soil. Where the jazz makes you cry, the funerals make you dance [laughter] the volume makes you believe all ayou makeshings b you believe all kinds of things. It has brought together people colors. You remind our nation that for all of our differences, we are all in the same boat. We all share a similar destiny. If we stay focused on that, purpose, if we remember our responsibility to ourselves but also a responsibility and obligation to one another, we will not just rebuild this city, we will rebuild this country. We will make sure not just these young men that every child in america has a structure and support and love and the kind of nurturing they need to succeed. City andeave behind a a nation that is worthy of generations to come. That is what you have gotten started. Now we have to finish the job. Thank you. God bless you. God bless america. Tonight on cspan, a townhome in new orleans. A look at the rebuilding of new orleans storm infrastructure. In a discussion about making coastal cities more resilient. And later, economists discuss nhe effect of lifting ira sanctions on the global economy. The Democratic National committee holding its summer meeting in minneapolis. Tomorrow, members will hear from president ial candidates or lincoln chafee, martin omalley, bernie sanders, and hillary clinton. Florence harding once said she only had one hobby and that was warren harding. She was a significant force and her husbands presidency. Despite hardships, scandals, her husbands infidelities, she would help define the role of the modern first lady. Florence harding, this sunday night on cspans original. Ries first ladies p ar sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Now, the closing session of the atlantic magazines conference on the anniversary of hurricane katrina. They concluded with a town hall meeting with questions from the new orleans audience. This is 40 minutes. [jazz music] gwen all day long and you havent seen that tuba come on stage, so you can tell it is the end of the day. But because it is the end of the day, we know there are a lot of unasked questions that have not been asked yet. It has been a very interesting day yet, hasnt it . Hasnt it . A lot of us, face it, we thought we knew it all. But we dont. So here is the chance for a good wrapup and also a move forward. We talked at length about what happened, what didnt happen, what else to back, what didnt. We saw some people get drunk on stage, and i wont name any names [laughter] gwen but we are going to leave by as rain this last question. What does new orleans now know . We started this morning with what have we learned and what is new orleans and now we are going to talk about what we have learned, and we are going to do it with a pretty interesting group. We have had pretty interesting groups all day. Starting to my left, we have a writer for the new york times, and wrote about the storm affected the infrastructure of the city. And next to him is sherry sharee harrisonnelson, and next to her is michael hecht, the president and ceo of the greater new orleans group. And next to him, judith roeder. She has founded the resilience dividend project. So she comes equipped with ways of looking forward. Gary is next to her, and no, john berry is next to her, i am looking at the wrong list. He is a distinguished scholar at Tulane University and he may be making a special appearance tonight on the pbs news hour. And we have the founder of the bandleader of the brass band who will have more in that few moments. Im quick to start out the same way we started up this morning by asking people to tackle this question, what do we know now . Not only did we learn today, but 10 years later, what has new orleans learned about it self, about where it goes next, and about what questions havent been raised and what hasnt been answered. Im going to ask them all to speak to that, but i am going to ask you all to speak to that as well. My only rules is that we try to avoid speeches, we have had her share, and we try to get some conversation going with you, with them, and among ourselves. Succinctre cystic your questions and answers are the more it better conversations , we can have it i want to start with you gary with the answer to the question. Gary i am not very optimistic, i am afraid. I think new orleans has a worse response than it thought, and incensed after the storm that it would be a do over and whatever problems it had would be the problems that we had before and they would just go away. At the same problems we had before we had the day after the storm and we still have them. I also feel that in black new orleans, what they have learned, it doesnt count as much as they thought that it might. The example that comes to me is announced that and was was behind us kind of a mission accomplished. I thought, go to the neighborhoods. You have the seventh ward, and africanamerican workingclass neighborhood, you have another middleclass neighborhood, it is about 60 70 black and gwen so what do we do now . What do we learn now . Gary i feel that there is a black narrative and a white narrative sidebyside and i think there needs to be more of an interaction. Gwen let me ask the next panelist, and ask if there is a black narrative and a white narrative and so what . He started by saying that after katrina, everybody thought everything would be fine and beautiful and it is not. Did everyone expect it to be fine and beautiful . I dont think everyone thought it would be fine and beautiful but i dont think everybody would think we were having the conversations we are having today for that i was a Public School educator, one of the people fired with 24 years experience. I have a masters degree and special certification. Me thatd not have told i would not get to drop so i could do all the things i want to do in my community. That was my goal for life. I did go back to work at the Recovery School district and i dont care what is said, they failed children in the beginning. They were not prepared for children and the day i decided i had to quit was when we went to a hotel much like this downtown and inservice and the facilitator said we are building the plane as we are flying it. Youre talking about childrens lives and if i am building a claim, were probably going to crash. Plane, were probably going to crash. I saw children fed frozen lunches, frozen milk. They could not drink the milk, they cannot eat the food. If i did that as a parent i would be charged with child neglect and child endangerment. If you do that to 400 children under the age of 12 in the state of louisiana, my question is, is it any less child abuse . Childrens needs are still not being met. For me, we are at a crossroads to figure this out and give children what is best for them to serve all of the citizens of new orleans. It is a racial issue, but it is a humanity issue. Where is your humanity if you allow this to happen . Mike i can answer more from the perspective of Economic Development. One thing without doubt is that resiliency is not an ideology, it is a reality. One of the things i am most proud of is when you talk to individuals in our organization or the general public, the ideas of resiliency and building smarter is no longer seen as i left or right issue. Everyone recognizes it as a something that we need to change. That is something new. We have also come to embrace the new. This is a place that reveled and celebrated in its past. I think katrina showed that the past wasnt working. Katrina made us all into entrepreneurs. That is good for the future. Richard campanella said that the city is in equilibrium. Either they are evolving, or they are dying. The discussion about gentrification, which is a real discussion. These growing pains are because we are growing for the first time in 40 years. there has been a running theme throughout the day the good and the strength and the struggle to coexist with growth, resilience, and the strain of getting to that. Where do you see us 10 years from now . Judy i think we understand now mood that resilience is about physical infrastructure and about social and economic infrastructure. All three are critical for a truly resilient city. It may be that the word is overused, but i would submit, so is the word love. We each get to interpret it in our own way. [laughter] this is a moment when each of us needs to take responsibility for making the new orleans that we wish it could have been. I think in the immediate aftermath, the concentration on physical infrastructure may have swapped some of the concentration on education, doing it in the way that, in retrospect, people think we could have done better. Thinking about social and racial issues. But it was a physical infrastructure emergency that triggered it. I do think now with the luxury, as john has said well, its not a done. But with the luxury of shoring up those things that made new orleans most physically vulnerable there is the opportunity now to not only learn from what wasnt done well in the 10 years that has passed, but to really begin to focus, in a much more ambitious way on the social and economic infrastructure. Because you cannot rebuild the economy of the city without equity, without social inclusion as part of that rebuild. That obviously starts with education, but it continues with all of the things that will need to happen in these neighborhoods. I am an outsider. I think, hearing the pain and frustration that still exists, it is a reminder of how important it is to both hear one another, and to continue this journey together. It is a journey that is far from finished. That is what i certainly knew, hearing that over and over again today in a variety of ways. I admire and agree with the sentiment. But it must be a state of saying, lets continue to work to fix this together. Gwen what trajectory are we on, john . John i dont know. I dont think any of us know. If gary talks about a black and a white narrative since the storm, i would agree with that. But i think you should have seen it before the storm. I used to consider this the most racist city that i know of, one of the most racist cities in the u. S. I think there has been positive movement there. I hope that is the case. I think the best thing that has come out of the storm is the sense that people have to rely on themselves and take charge of things. I think a lot of positive things have come out of new orleans had been the result of that. Obviously the influx, whatever the number is, more than 10,000 talented young people. That is generally positive. But then you create problems with rising rents and driving folks out of their neighborhoods, gentrification and so forth and so on. So i dont know where we are going. The other issue is the question of complacency. I have been pleased in general by the coverage so far nationally. That it has not been as atory as i had feared as the fiveyear anniversary . John maybe i didnt specifically recall that. Certainly in everything today has pointed to continued problems, continued risk. How much of that goes past this room and is penetrated the city, that remains to be seen. St. Bernard parish twice voted down a tax to pay for the Operations Maintenance of the brandnew levee system. If they can do that in st. Bernard parish, and everybody here probably knows every single home in st. Bernard parish was underwater. Everyone of them. If they can do it in st. Bernard, and expect taxpayers around the country or in shreveport come on. St. Bernard had a special problem. Because of the local parish government. Those not from new orleans may not know that the parish president has been indicted on several charges. The whole thing is a mess. They may have just lumped all taxes and government together. It may not reflect their view. I dont know what the future is going to be. Gwen lets talk about opportunity and challenge. Just for fun. I want to start with you benny, talking about what you would identify as the most hopeful things that have happened in the last 10 years in your hometown. And what have been the most challenging things . Or, where have we fallen short as a community, as a society in making ourselves a better place . Benny i think the bottom line, like what we said earlier, love. Some of these problems are out of our control. When katrina h, i saw white people, black people, everybody get together and helping each other. We need that type of state of mind. Gwen did that last . Benny no it didnt last. But this isnt going to last. Everybody fix it until they make it until the next storm hits. Black people are going to have their issues and white people are going to have their issues. There will be hate mixed in between. Its never really going to end until some way where we can all settle down and figure things out as humans. We have to work with each other as new orleanians to help build our city. Gwen are you optimistic that could happen . Do you have any expectations, whether it is of government, cultural leaders, educational leaders to agree on how to do that . Benny i mean yeah, i have to be. I have faith that that can happen. I still believe that is what is going to have to happen. Like our ancestors, whether you were a slave or you are rich with hate in your heart, whatever the case may be, its never going to be the world that we imagine or was like it to be for everyone to live peacefully as one. I think its fair that not everybody is looking for it to be roses and the sunshine. Benny no, but just to live, enjoying our family and kids without worrying about being robbed, killed, hated, burnt, whipped, whatever it might be. Things we can control as humans. Gwen i want to ask the panel, what is the single thing you are most optimistic about that can happen in the next 10 years . We gathered here to talk about katrina 2025 years. We can say this is something we saw that was going to happen that made us better, whether it was closing the inequality gap, making housing more affordable, getting those taxes for the levees what do you see as a glimmer of possibility in the next 10 years . Mike to me it is really simple. If we want this recovery to be sustainable and to grow overtime, that we need a middle class that is acceptable that is accessible, that grows. The inequality gap has to be shrunk. We need everybody participating in that recovery. Over the next 10 years, it are middleclass grows, everybody has a chance to join it and it moves up the income axis. That is what success looks like to us. Gwen what is the optimistic thing you can bring . What is the glimmer of hope that can put us in a better position 10 years from now than what you see today . Charise i would say 10 years from now, hopefully all the initiatives that have been put forth, they result in real growth for all of the citizens of new orleans, not just the ones who have means. People who were starting from a lower level, that a reach a fairer Playing Field so that they can advance. Especially children, children who have been under at risk educated, that they have equitable education. The best possible education for that child. If you teach deaf children, that is wonderful. With blind children, those resources mean nothing to you. Every child needs a fair and equitable education. That is hopefully what we are moving toward. Gwen hands up if you have questions. Gary. Gary i am very optimistic about a lot of this stuff, Economic Development in the center of town, these bordering communities along the river. I do think they are going to thrive. I think the start of the city is going to grow that way. Ultimately i am pessimistic about it, because this city has the second greatest income gap in the country. Right now, it is getting worse. The gap is getting wider. As things are right now, unless things change, i only seen it getting wider. The center of town hes doing great and thriving. Its a fantastic place for tourists. The katrina money is out. The fema money is pretty much over. Now its just another wrecked Community Like detroit or parts of philadelphia, chicago, or cleveland. Gwen i have a first question here. Audience after a full day of being here, wonderful people on the panel, interviewers. Not one latino, not one latina. I am wondering what the panelists believe that my community does not fit any of the narratives that have been constructed around katrina. Gwen who wants to take that one on . In those first months, the mayor said a ridiculous thing in saying, i know what you are all thinking, what are we going to do about all the mexicans in town . The whole room just did this gasp. The truth is that black and white, rich, poor, you appreciate workers coming in and gutting the house. I thought latinos were at the center of the narrative more than they were prior. I dont think i can answer your question though. Gwen mike . Mike statistically, we lead the nation by 30 in hispanic population growth. Racially, we are becoming more like the rest of america, multiracial. The past of new orleans was much more black white stasis. We are now becoming more of a typical american city, and that is a good thing. It absolutely needs to change because it doesnt reflect the future of what you are seeing. Audience we havent heard much about what we call the dogooders, the Good Samaritans right after katrina. A new small amount of people who have come in and stayed, who felt they needed to help us recover and continue to fall in love with the city. What is their future if you see all of this gloom and doom . John first, then we will come back. John they are making their own future. Its not for anybody here to tell you what their future is. I came here from rhode island many years ago. I love the place. But i wasnt really trying to create any myself. I just sort of tried to fit in. I think there was a different kind of energy with a lot of these people. A couple months ago, regarding startups and business types i was invited to i dont know why but there was a billionaire there who said one of the things he loved about new orleans was that it was so open. Im thinking, are you nuts . This is one of the most closed societies you can imagine. What has happened is, this new energy has created a sort of parallel society. They dont care about ye olde crews. They started a new crew. Is not that they have sharp elbows, they dont even realize they are elbowing part of what new orleans was