Portland is definitely not worthy of emulation. Its strict planning policies have drastically increased housing costs and worsened traffic congestion. Moreover, Portland has lost several Fortune 500 companies to surrounding cities, and has suffered from extremely high unemployment (in the late 1990’s, Portland had the highest unemployment rate of any major urban area in the US).

Whenever someone starts proposing more and more regulation to a city suffering from an already declining economy, you can be assured that they aren’t there to help. New Orleans has nothing to learn from Portland save perhaps what *not* to do if it wants to survive and thrive.

Sam, I’m a NOLA expatriate currently living in Portland, and I have to disagree with you - this was one of the worst rebuilding articles I’ve ever read.

Not once in the whole thing did Beck mention the cause of the destruction - the failure of the federal levees. His prescription for the city? Extending the riverfront park past the Convention Center and ripping out “a mile” of I-10 that goes through the Tremé.

It’s the position, and pose, of a missionary in a foreign country who sees starving and hurting people and jumps to the conclusion that what they really need is pages from his personal Bible. In this case, Beck’s Bible is sustainability and green issues and eco-stuff. All fine things, but when he said he dreamt of New Orleans covered in solar roofs, all I could think of was a New Orleans without blue roofs.

And his description of New Orleans’ music scene - the DNA and the lifeblood of the city - as “post-adolescent African Americans hooting on trumpets and tubas in late-night clubs” was duel-worthy.

I took apart his arguments on my blog and got the biggest response I’d had in months to anything I’d written (including links from Portland’s other two major papers, Willamette Week and the Mercury).

It’s beyond upsetting that, two years after the fact, a major daily that prides itself on its progressiveness is actually asking “Why should we bother rebuilding New Orleans?”. And it’s a question not worth answering, other than to say: New Orleans is doing it for itself, and if you want to bring the help the city needs, we thank you — but if you want to bring the “help” you THINK it needs, then please: stay home and shut up.

Thanks for the comments, Kevin. Those that are interested can read Kevin’s post, mentioned above, here…
http://kevinallman.typepad.com/kevin_allman/2007/11/why-should-we-b.html

As a response, I’d say I pretty much agree with you. Beck sounded as naive as most of those that come to New Orleans, are charmed by the city and then casually serve up their own way to fix it (not realizing that what’s wrong with the city might have something to do with its charm). But I disagree with saying that New Orleans has nothing to gain from looking at Portland and that the article wasn’t worth a read.

Public transportation, park space, bike paths, and waterfront views, are obviously not the final solution to New Orleans (as Beck may have suggested). But it sure would be nice to have those things in New Orleans, especially because it wouldn’t be that hard to do and because those things in New Orleans are in desperate need of an update. And while those things are not the “meat and potatoes” of what makes a city work, they certainly can add to quality of life, ie bring more people to/keep more people in New Orleans.

If nothing else these things indicate how the city is being run. For example, how about a map of where the streetcar goes at each stop? Or a schedule? Can someone ride their bike in New Orleans without either a) getting brushed back a passing car, b)”doored” by a parked car, or c) flung over the handle bars by a gargantuan pothole? Would it be nice for New Orleans to have a place for public activity on the river other than the overcrowded fly and the tourist section of downtown? Would it be beneficial for citizens that don’t live in New Orleans proper to have realistic transportation options other than inching along I-10, the West bank bridge, the connections from the Northshore? Surely we can see past Beck’s shortcomings as an advocate and look to Portland for ideas.