[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[August 20, 2008]
[Pages 1150-1156]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on Gulf Coast Reconstruction in New Orleans, Louisiana
August 20, 2008

    Thank you all. Thank you for the warm welcome. Please be seated. 
Thanks for the warm welcome. General, thank you for the kind introduction. Who would have 
thought that 3 years after the storm, the President can come and say, 
New Orleans, Louisiana, is on its way back as a stronger and better 
city.

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    I'm proud to be here at Jackson Barracks, built by my predecessor, 
President Andrew Jackson. [Laughter] He built it to protect the city of 
New Orleans. And that's exactly what the folks housed in this facility 
have done and will continue to do. So first, I want to pay homage to the 
Louisiana National Guard. I thank you for what you did during the rescue 
efforts. Even though your own homes were destroyed, you went out to save 
people and their homes. And the people of Louisiana--[applause].
    I think the message here today is, hope is being restored, hope is 
coming back. I'm going to spend some time here in New Orleans, and then 
I'm heading over to Gulfport, Mississippi--same message. And I'm, 
frankly, not surprised. I'm not surprised that hope is marching in 
because I understand the nature of the people who live here in this 
community and these communities. I have seen people when their spirits 
were at a low ebb, but never did they give up. And now I've seen 
incredible progress is being made.
    Oh, there's still work to be done. This isn't, like, a farewell 
address, you know, George Bush came and he said he's through. No, 
we're--there's still more work to be done. But I do think it's important 
to take stock of the moment and to remind people how far this community 
has come.
    Laura Bush sends her best. She's spent a lot 
of time down here, and so have I. The librarians in this part of the 
world are especially grateful; after all, the Laura Bush Foundation has 
helped refurbish a lot of school libraries up and down the Gulf Coast. 
She sends her very best. I know she would say what I'm about to say: 
It's amazing to come into a crowd like this, and look around and see so 
many familiar faces, people that we have come to admire and, frankly, 
after all this business is over, people that we'll say are our friends. 
Maybe it's because of the tragedy that struck that we formed a close 
bond, I don't know. But I can tell you that we have made a lot of good 
friends in the Gulf Coast region. And even though I'm headed for 
retirement in about 6 months, that's not to say I'm going to forget who 
my friends are in this part of the world.
    I do want to thank the Governor 
for joining us, Governor Bobby Jindal. He's a--[applause]. It should not 
surprise you that on the helicopter ride here, Jindal had a few agenda 
items. [Laughter] That's what Presidents have come to expect. And I 
appreciate the way he laid them out in logical form with a--in a very 
respectful tone.
    I'm also proud to be here with the mayor of 
this great city. The mayor and I have had some quality time. [Laughter] 
We have come to know each other. I remember when I first flew down here, 
there was the mayor at the end of the steps of Air Force One. I said, 
``How you doing, Mayor?'' He said, ``I'm hungry, and I haven't had a 
bath.'' I said to the steward on Air Force One, ``Fix the man up with a 
meal, and turn on the hot water in the shower.''
    And I appreciate you, Mayor. I appreciate 
the fact that you decided to run for office again. You said to the 
people of this part of the world, ``There is unfinished business, and I 
intend to be a part of the finished business.'' And the people listened, 
and they put you back in office. And I'm proud to be with you, Ray. 
Thanks for coming.
    We've got a lot of people from the delegations, the Federal 
delegations. William Jefferson is 
with us. Congressman, I'm proud you're here. Thank you for coming.
    The one thing you learn when you're in this part of the world is you 
better pay attention to the parish presidents. [Laughter] Right, 
Ray? You are one. But so is Aaron 
Broussard of Jefferson Parish. I'm proud 
to see you, Aaron. I'll never forget my first time when we came to see 
you. We were in, like, a community center or something. And I think you 
were in Bermuda shorts. [Laughter] Or they may have

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been spandex shorts. [Laughter] But nevertheless, you were focused, you 
were intense, and you got the job done for the people of your parish. I 
really appreciate you coming.
    Billy Nungesser of Plaquemines Parish is 
here. Billy, thanks for working hard. Now, the Governor says that Billy says, ``We're through with the 
recovery. We're moving on. There's still projects to be done, but 
Plaquemines Parish is heading into the future with confidence.''
    I'm proud to be here with the parish president from St. Bernard's 
Parish, Craig Taffaro. Craig, I'm 
honored you're here. He's the first to admit he's got his hands full. 
But I want to thank you for your leadership, and thank you for agreeing 
to take on the issues and the problems. You could have easily have 
ducked the responsibility that comes with elected office. It would have 
been much easier to say, ``We'll just let somebody deal with the next 4 
years; I think I'll show up later on.'' But you came in and you've taken 
the lead, and we appreciate it.
    I want--proud to be here with General Landreneau. General, it's good to see you again. Thank you for 
your time. I said thanks to Hunt Downer; that would be General Downer. I appreciate--[applause].
    Don Powell was the first man down here 
to work with the local officials to try to make sure this recovery was 
coordinated, that the money was well spent, that the money was focused 
in the proper direction. He did a fine job. He decided he wanted to go 
back to the promised land; that would be the State of Texas. [Laughter] 
And so I asked General Doug O'Dell to 
take his place. He's a tough-nosed, no-nonsense guy who cares deeply 
about the people down here. General, thanks for coming. I'm proud you're 
here.
    So the next two men I'm going to introduce are people that you came to know 
well, and people I came to know well too, people I admire a lot. First, 
the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen. And 
the man who came up with a new phrase in American lexicon, which was, 
``Don't stay stuck on stupid''--General Russ Honore; thank you. U.S. 
Army, retired--what's it like? [Laughter] Yes.
    At the airport, I had the honor of saying hello to the Saints 
quarterback, Drew Brees, and running back Deuce 
McAllister. By the way, as 
you may know, Laura and I were at the Olympics; 
no finer citizen of the United States and of this part of the world than 
Chris Paul of the Hornets.
    And thank you all for coming. I appreciate you being here a lot. 
It's hard to believe that it was 3 years ago that Katrina, in essence, 
wiped out a lot of this city. I mean, just flooded it and just destroyed 
a lot of hopes and a lot of dreams. Eight hundred thousand people across 
the Gulf Coast area left their homes; that's a lot. Eight hundred 
thousand people figured out how to leave and headed into--all across 
America. Never before has our Nation seen such destruction by nature--
never before. And a lot of folks, I'm confident, wondered whether or not 
there would be a brighter tomorrow.
    In the midst of all the flood water, people were saying, ``Oh man, 
can we possibly have a good future here?'' And yet the good future is 
here. I'm--not to be a ``told you so,'' but I was in Jackson Square, and 
I predicted that New Orleans would come back as a stronger and better 
city. That's the prediction I made. I also pledged that we'd help. And 
$126 billion later, 3 years after the storm, we've helped deliver $126 
billion of U.S. taxpayers' money. [Applause] And I thank you for 
applauding on that statement, but I know you're applauding the American 
taxpayer. A lot of people around the country care deeply about the 
people down here. And so it was--you know, it was money that we were 
happy to spend.
    The money is mainly in the hands of State and local governments, 
helping to rebuild. And there's a lot of work to be done;

[[Page 1153]]

I fully understand that. And as Bobby made 
clear and the mayor made clear, there's some 
ongoing projects that they want to make sure the Federal Government pays 
attention to, and we will. I make no promises; this isn't a chance for 
me to come and try to be a typical politician and make you a promise I 
don't intend to keep. I hope by now people understand that when I say 
something, we're going to get it done, but I am judicious about saying 
things. And so I told Bobby and told the mayor, we're open minded, and 
we'll listen very carefully to make sure that this recovery continues 
on.
    There are people hurting--I fully understand that--people waiting to 
get back in their home, wondering whether a brighter day is possible. 
Yet a brighter day is coming. And I want to talk about some of the 
hopeful progress that's being made. I think it's important for our 
citizens around the country to understand, there is hopeful progress 
here. We see hopeful signs in the work to protect New Orleans from 
future storms. The Army Corps of Engineer [Engineers]* has repaired 220 
miles of levees. That's important. You cannot rebuild these communities 
unless you're confident that the levee system will work in the future. 
The corps is upgrading the flood walls so they're stronger than before 
Katrina.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    *White House correction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We're on track to meet our goal of a 100-year flood plain protection 
by the year 2011. I know there were some doubts about whether or not the 
corps would be able to get the job done. I can remember clearly, on one 
of my visits--maybe it was the year after the storm--people say, ``Oh 
yeah, sure, he's just saying this, and they don't intend to do it.'' 
Well, we intended to do it, and the corps is working hard.
    Governor Jindal requested that Louisiana be 
allowed to pay the State's share of the levee improvement costs over 30 
years, instead of 3. I listened very carefully to what he had to say. I 
didn't think Louisiana ought to choose between rebuilding flood walls 
and completing other projects that are vital to recovery, so I granted 
the Governor's request. [Applause]
    Thank you. This is not supposed to be self-congratulatory. 
[Laughter] I'm congratulating you.
    There is hopeful signs of progress as housing is restored. 
Louisiana's Road Home program has put nearly $7 billion into the hands 
of more than 115,000 homeowners. Federal dollars are increasing 
affordable housing throughout New Orleans. And as we rebuild, the 
strategy is not to repeat the mistakes of the past, but to move toward a 
vibrant mixed-income neighborhood system. Each week, hundreds of 
families are moving out of their temporary housing, and they're heading 
into permanent, long-term structures. And that's hopeful. Do more people 
need to move out? Absolutely. But has progress been made? Absolutely.
    We see hopeful signs of progress in the growth of the economy. New 
Orleans sales tax revenues are at nearly 90 percent of their prestorm 
levels. Think about that. Three years after the devastating storm, sales 
tax are at 90 percent of where they were prior to the storm. Employment 
increased by 8,000 jobs last year. The Port of New Orleans is a bustling 
center of commerce and trade; Louisiana exports now exceed pre-Katrina 
levels.
    The present city's tourism industry is on the rebound. The 
mayor was telling me tourism is back. People 
are coming here with confidence that they're going to have a good 
experience. That's the reason why we had the North Americans' Leaders' 
summit here; I wanted the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada to get a flavor, a taste of what New Orleans is all 
about. And they did.
    The health care system is improving. The Department of Health and 
Human Services has provided more than $2.6 billion to care for the poor 
and uninsured, to offer mental health services, and to support primary 
care

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clinics and hospitals. The Federal Government is helping to recruit 
doctors and nurses and other health care professionals. We want to make 
sure the people of New Orleans have the care that is necessary for this 
population to grow. And we're working with the Governor to build a 
system of community-based clinics that encourages good preventative care 
and eases the strain on the city's emergency rooms.
    There's hopeful progress when it comes to reducing crime. No 
question about it, there needs to be a lot of effort, Chief, and I know you're working hard to reduce crime. 
It's essential that folks get after the crime problem here in New 
Orleans. Everybody knows that. And we want to help. There is a role for 
the Federal Government to help the local police force deal with crime. 
And so there's--Federal funds are given to local police and sheriffs, 
essential equipment like cars, computers, and radios. Agents--Federal 
agents are working the streets alongside the New Orleans police. Federal 
resources are helping the police department rebuild its crime lab and 
resolve its forensics backlog.
    Violent crime is a problem. But I was told, over the last 6 months, 
there is notable improvements. My only point to the people of New 
Orleans is we'll continue to help you solve your crime problem.
    We're seeing hopeful signs of progress when it comes to education in 
New Orleans. More than 80 public schools in the city have reopened. 
That's good; that's really good. You can't have a vibrant city unless 
you got your schools up and running. About half now are charter schools, 
to give greater access to--give parents better options. High schools 
that once struggled are being transformed into career-oriented 
academies. In other words, there's a lot of innovation here in New 
Orleans. Rather than repeat mistakes of the past, people said: ``Let's 
come together and let's innovate. Let's make this school system''--
[applause].
    I find it interesting that Teach for America is focused on New 
Orleans, that they're recruiting a lot of really bright kids from around 
the country to come here and help the youngsters of this part of the 
world achieve educational excellence. By the way, because of--
accountability measures have been put in place, I'm able to report to 
the people in Louisiana and around the country that test scores across 
this city have improved significantly.
    More restaurants are now open in New Orleans than before the storm. 
Isn't that interesting? [Laughter] You can get some good food here too. 
As I mentioned, I saw the Saints football 
stars; they're now going to 
start a new season in a refurbished Super Dome.
    Religious institutions are opening up. Places of worship that were 
closed are now opening their doors. Musicians are returning this season 
to Mahalia Jackson Theatre. Earlier this year, New Orleans celebrated 
the return of another sweet sound, the streetcars on St. Charles Avenue. 
This city is coming back.
    As we think about the future, it's important to remember some of the 
great acts of compassion that took place. I think about the folks who 
came from across the country here to volunteer, 14 million hours. Isn't 
that amazing? Brothers and sisters in need, and total strangers came to 
say, ``What can I do to help you?''
    I think about the citizens across the country who donated $3.5 
billion to total strangers to help. I think about the people here in 
Jackson Barracks that went out of their way to serve. And I think about 
all the citizens we've met, and I'm just going to cite three, but they're extraordinary examples of what took place.
    First, Daryn Dodson. See, he was studying 
at Stanford Business School. Like, what would be a natural thing, being 
at Stanford Business School, is stay out there in Silicon Valley and try 
to be a part of the high-tech boom, the next wave of technology. That 
would have been very tempting for--but he felt the need to come back to 
New Orleans to help--or come to New Orleans

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to help. And so he joined what's called the Idea Village. It's a program 
to support the city's entrepreneurs, to help stimulate economic growth. 
It's a incubator for good ideas. This bright man decided, instead of 
trying to seek his own personal wealth, to come here and help people 
realize the blessings of entrepreneurship, all aiming to add value and 
to create jobs here in New Orleans.
    I appreciate so very much, Daryn, the 
briefings that you gave me and Laura. And I 
appreciate the fact that you're back here in New Orleans, serving. 
Thanks for coming.
    Okay. Then there's Leah Chase. Some of you 
might have heard of Dooky Chase. Dooky Chase, for those people 
listening, is a New Orleans institution. It's been around for several 
decades, as has Leah. [Laughter] The flood waters left her restaurant 
completely ruined. She saw her whole life washed away, and she wasn't 
sure where she was going to find the strength to go on. And she found 
that strength, though, in her faith, in her family, and her friends and 
neighbors. The community held fundraisers here in New Orleans to help 
her rebuild. I found it interesting that high school students from all 
over the country came to help her rebuild. I found it amazing that 
friends in Indiana donated new chairs for a dining room. And I'm here to 
testify the food is awesome. [Laughter]
    And finally, Doris Hicks. She is the 
principal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School of Science and 
Technology of the Lower Ninth Ward. We had a chance to visit her school. 
After Katrina, the flooding at MLK was so bad that they found fish on 
the second floor of the high school. That's high water. She was told she 
couldn't open until 2010. Somebody said, ``We're pessimistic.'' I guess 
they didn't understand her spirit. They said, ``You won't be open until 
2010.'' She didn't appreciate that. She said that this community needed 
this school up and running. It's open today. I'm told families are 
moving into the community so they can return to that school, and she 
puts it, ``There's no other place like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and 
there's no other place like New Orleans.'' Well, first of all, there's 
not many--[applause]--and there is no other place like New Orleans and 
its surrounding parishes.
    This is an important part of our country. This is a part of our 
country that was flat on its back and is now standing up and headed for 
the future. I have been so honored to work with you. As I told you, I'm 
sprinting to the finish, and so I'm not through, but I thought around 
this third anniversary of a tragic event, it makes sense to come by and 
say, here's what's happened; here's where you're headed. It's an awesome 
example of courage and determination, desire, and I am here to honor you 
all.
    I appreciate the citizens of New Orleans and the citizens of south 
Louisiana showing what is possible in the face of unspeakable tragedy. I 
thank you for staying with it. I thank you for allowing me to come by 
and see you once again. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless 
our country.

Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. at Jackson Barracks. In his 
remarks, he referred to Maj. Gen. Huntington B. Downer, Jr., assistant 
adjutant general, Louisiana National Guard, who introduced the 
President; Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans, LA; Billy Nungesser, 
president, Plaquemines Parish; Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau, adjutant 
general, Louisiana National Guard; former Federal Coordinator for Gulf 
Coast Region Recovery and Rebuilding Donald E. Powell; Maj. Gen. Douglas 
V. O'Dell, Jr., USMC (Ret.), in his capacity as Federal Coordinator, 
Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding; Chris Paul, point guard, National 
Basketball Association's New Orleans Hornets; President

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Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa of Mexico; Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper of Canada; and Warren J. Riley, superintendent, New Orleans 
Police Department.