New Orleans: 'Tale Of Two Cities'

When state and local officials debated whether to hold Mardi Gras just six months after Hurricane Katrina ripped up large parts of New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin was one of the strongest voices pushing for it.

On The Early Show on Fat Tuesday, Nagin told co-anchor Rene Syler, "I'm really proud of all the emergency responders and the police and firefighters and city workers that have done an incredible job of putting on this Mardi Gras. This is kind of a bittersweet Mardi Gras for most of us because of a lot of the challenges with the rebuild that we still have ahead of us."

Nagin urged Americans watching news coverage of the festival not to be deceived by the parade scenes, pointing out the routes go through areas Katrina left relatively unscathed.

"It's a tale of two cities, if you will," he said. "Where the parades are passing, you know, that was areas we didn't have a lot of flooding or very little flooding. If you venture out to other areas of the city, where the breeches of the levees happened, you'll see mile after mile, block after block of devastation that's still out there. So we still have a lot of work, and I hope that the American public will continue to support us in rebuilding this great city."

It's estimated that only 189,000 people are back in a city that used to be home to half-a-million people, but Nagin says that should soon change for the better: "The rebuild, or the repopulation, as we see it, is going to come in phases. There was a huge influx of people in January when a lot of the public, private and parochial schools opened. We expect another huge influx this summer, when most of the residents who moved to other areas of the country, their children will have been completed the full year of school there. Then we expect the population to increase significantly."

Will New Orleans be able to provide essential city services for the new returnees, in light of the tremendous debt the city has taken on since Katrina and its bonds falling to junk bond status?

Nagin sounded an upbeat note, saying New Orleans is "starting to see some revenue streams come back online. We expect to have increased sales taxes pretty soon; the property tax bills will be about half of what they were pre-Katrina. So, we are going to have some revenue streams. We've also depended upon the federal government for what they call community disaster loans. So, we should have the resources.

"It's going to be very difficult and very tight, but we should have the resources to provide essential services over a smaller footprint until the economy comes totally back."

Asked about his run for re-election, Nagin said he needs to remind city residents of his record: "Four years ago, they wanted someone different in office. They wanted a reformed mayor, a business-minded mayor to come in and make some changes. I have done that. We have specific examples and accomplishments.

"During Katrina, we had the most successful evacuation; post-Katrina, we dealt with some very difficult times, and I never left my post. To this day, I'm the only person, the only leader in this community that has a plan that has gotten regional buy-in. We are poised and ready. I have the experience and the blood, sweat and tears and I'm ready to see this through."