Katrina and lessons learned

What can Portland teach New Orleans? And what might the Big Easy pass on to the Rose City? According to a guest article in the Oregonian, plenty.

Chris Beck, a former Realtor and Oregon state representative, now a post-Katrina urban-rebuilding consultant, has spent much of the past year in New Orleans as the rebuilding process inches ahead. It's not surprising that Portland's strengths – healthy development, involved citizenry – would be traits Beck would like to see exported to New Orleans.

What can Portland teach New Orleans? And what might the Big Easy pass on to the Rose City? According to a guest article in the Oregonian, plenty.

Chris Beck, a former Realtor and Oregon state representative, now a post-Katrina urban-rebuilding consultant, has spent much of the past year in New Orleans as the rebuilding process inches ahead. It's not surprising that Portland's strengths – healthy development, involved citizenry – would be traits Beck would like to see exported to New Orleans.

What can Portland teach New Orleans? And what might the Big Easy pass on to the Rose City? According to a guest article in the Oregonian, plenty.

Chris Beck, a former Realtor and Oregon state representative, now a post-Katrina urban-rebuilding consultant, has spent much of the past year in New Orleans as the rebuilding process inches ahead. It's not surprising that Portland's strengths – healthy development, involved citizenry – would be traits Beck would like to see exported to New Orleans.

More provocative is his notion that New Orleans has some juice Portland sorely needs: Its colorful spirit, played out in music, festivals and parades, for starters. Could Portland's Rose Festival stand to tune up the brass? Oh yeah. Would Portland's public schools benefit from a shot of the indignation voiced by New Orleans residents, fed up with dirt-poor classrooms for their kids? Absolutely.

Beck offers some specific suggestions for bettering things on both ends, but his over-arching question is the real grabber. Might we find a way to extend the post-Katrina revitalization across the country?

  

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