By Mil Arcega
Washington, DC
31 August 2006
 


One year after the costliest storm in U.S. history, the city of New Orleans remains a shadow of its former self.  Some economists believe it's too early to tell if the city will ever completely recover. But there are signs that the important tourism and convention industry is making a slow comeback.

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Marion Lightfoot acts more like a party promoter than a volunteer for a local charity.  But she spends a lot of her time along the popular stretch of nightclubs on Bourbon Street because tourists tend to be generous here. 

Marion Lightfoot

One tourist responds, "They just still need a lot of help, they really do.  I hate it. It could easily have been any of us."

But in a post-Katrina world, New Orleans residents say fewer than a third of the tourists have come back.

That's because even residents have been slow to come back.  Since Katrina, only about 230,000 residents -- about half the city's population -- have returned.  Employment has declined 30 percent and low-wage workers are hard to find.

But the region's billion dollar gambling industry found reason to celebrate Katrina's one-year anniversary. The Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi was the seventh casino to reopen along the Gulf Coast.

George Corchis is the president of the newly renovated 1700-room hotel and casino. 

		George Corchis

New Orleans is famous for its jazz musicians. People here believe music -- not gambling -- is the key to restoring the tourist trade. Singer Margie Perez is one of the 7,000 musicians forced out by Hurricane Katrina. "We need musicians to come back, to bring that life back to the city." 

		Margie Perez

New Orleans trumpeter Wynton Marsalis wants to help build a musicians' village in the city of jazz. "They want to create a place for musicians to have a chance to prosper and flourish," he said. 

		Wynton Marsalis