Twenty months after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of
the Gulf Coast region, the city of New Orleans still faces
an enormous challenge to recover from one of the worst natural
disasters in U.S. history. "We are trying to rebuild
a city for the first time in America," Dr. Edward Blakely,
Executive Director of Recovery Management for the City of
New Orleans, told attendees of the Town Hall Plenary at the
Restoration
2007 conference hosted earlier this month by the International
City/County Management Association (ICMA).
With new revitalization efforts underway, Code Council CEO
Rick Weiland pointed out to plenary participants that New
Orleans has a unique opportunity to build back its structures
stronger and smarter. "After any great tragedy, usually
something good happens if we pay attention and if we heed
the lessons that we've learned," Weiland said. "So
much of what New Orleans faces right now is the task of rebuilding
a community—a sense of place—as it moves forward,
and this city has the chance to do that right."
From left, Jon Luther, Executive
Vice President of the Home Builders Association of Greater
New Orleans, visits with ICC's Richard Kuchnicki, Rick
Weiland and Mark Roberts at the Restoration 2007 conference.
A recent poll by the New Orleans Times-Picayune estimated
that more than half of the city's 430,000 residents that were
displaced by the storm are returning at an average of 1,000
per week. And while the citizens—those who have returned
and those who have not—remain burdened with economic
hardships due to widespread property damage and limited recovery
funds, city officials are hoping the $1.1 billion Unified
New Orleans Plan will help stabilize neighborhoods and
spark an economic resurgence.
Blakely, who was appointed by Mayor Ray Nagin to lead the
city's recovery effort, explained that the Unified New Orleans
Plan targets 17 areas of the city for redevelopment and to
serve as the foundations for the massive rebuilding project.
"We're trying to restore those villages and knit the
city back together," he said. "We're not trying
to rebuild New Orleans to what it was, but to what New Orleans
can be. We hope to build a greener, smarter city than we had
before."
Dr. Edward Blakely told conference
attendees: "We're not trying to rebuild New Orleans
to what it was, but to what New Orleans can be."
Weiland said the lessons learned from previous disasters,
most notably a series of hurricanes that struck Florida just
one year before Katrina hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama,
should be a deciding factor in how housing and other structures
are rebuilt in New Orleans and across the region. He also
referred to recent studies by the National Institute of Science
and Technology and other organizations that prove buildings
built to newer codes and standards are better equipped to
withstand disasters, and that mitigation efforts play a leading
role in communities' economic recovery efforts.
"When you see studies conducted of buildings that were
built to a code and ones that were not—standing right
next to each other like we saw in Florida in 2004—the
buildings that were built to good science withstood the storms,"
Weiland explained. "The buildings were still there, and
there was less recovery time and there were less people displaced.
"Every dollar that we spend building right—that
target of building smart and sometimes building out of harm's
way if possible—saves us four dollars on the back end
of a disaster," Weiland added.
With the I-Codes now adopted statewide in Louisiana and in
coastal counties in Mississippi, Weiland said the Code Council
is committed to assisting jurisdictions in the region as they
continue their recovery processes. In addition to opening
a field office in Louisiana with full-time staff, ICC has
expanded its training and education programs to assist local
code enforcement officials and jurisdictions that currently
do not have building departments or enforce building and fire
codes. Weiland also discussed the Council's new initiative
with Congress that would provide federal grant money for staffing
needs at state and local building departments across the country.
"We will continue to stay very much involved in the recovery
efforts," he said.
Becky Baker, an ICC member from Jefferson
County, Colorado, served as a panelist for the SMARTcodes
education session at Restoration 2007. Government Relations
Senior Advisor Dave Conover moderated the meeting.
The Code Council was a cosponsor of the Restoration 2007
conference. In addition to Weiland's participation in the
Town Hall Plenary, ICC also hosted to two education sessions:
"Your Local Building Department: Is It Meeting the Community's
Needs" which addressed the International Accreditation
Service's new Building
Department Accreditation program; and "The SMART
Building Department: Using SMARTcodes to Enhance Performance"
which outlined the Council's new automated
code compliance checking system.
ICC Board President Wally Bailey, who was a panelist in both
education sessions, said the Council's participation in the
ICMA conference and other events helps achieve one of his
presidential initiatives to raise awareness of code enforcement
officials and building better relationships with citizens
of communities. "Probably here in Louisiana and along
the coastal areas, you can see that part of mitigation is
actually having a good, qualified building department staff,
and having good, qualified code administration," Bailey
told attendees. "We are proactive public safety departments.
When you think about that, there are reactive public safety
departments that react when there are disasters, but we are
proactive by demand."
ICC Board of Directors President Wally
Bailey (left) discusses the Building Department Accreditation
program at Restoration 2007. Joining him were International
Accreditation Services President Chuck Ramani (center)
and Government Relations National Organizations Liaison
Richard Kuchnicki.
