Posted 08.27.2008

New Orleans fundraiser borrows DNC spotlight to push for post-Katrina relief

By Mike Cote

The Mile High City got a big dose of N’Orleans flavor on Sunday as Louisiana luminaries and some of its finest musicians whooped it up at the Fillmore to raise money and draw attention to post-Katrina rebuilding efforts three years after the levees broke.

While Colorado Democrats welcomed delegates and VIPs at a “green” concert featuring Dave Mathews and Sheryl Crow at Red Rocks, Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitchell Landrieu and Sen. Mary Landrieu and such New Orleans celebrities as James Carville and Harry Shearer led a “Friends of New Orleans” celebration until 2 a.m.

The $500-a-plate party featured gourmet takes on such Cajun staples as shrimp po-boys, muffaletta sandwiches and seafood gumbo by renown New Orleans restaurateur Ralph Brennan. But the star attraction here was the music, including Tab Benoit and the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, the Meters, brass band the Soul Rebels and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians.

Joining the bands for guest spots were Randy Newman, Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Allen Touissaint and New Orleans transplant pianist Henry Butler, who moved to Boulder in Katrina’s wake.

Butler got the spotlight for a version of Billy Preston’s “Will it Go Round in Circles,” which might be considered a theme song for New Orleans advocates fighting for greater attention and respect from the federal government.

Earlier in the day, siblings Mitchell and Mary Landrieu, Carville and Shearer participated in a panel discussion at the Hyatt Regency Denver—headquarters for the Democratic convention—with Aspen Institute CEO and former CNN chairman Walter Isaacson and moderator Charlie Mitchell of Roll Call.

“I don’t think anyone would expect to rebuild a major metropolitan area in three years,” Sen. Landrieu said. “But I would like to see things move a lot faster.”

She said empty, blighted properties in New Orleans “were basically foreclosed by the storm,” compared to foreclosures in many states caused by bad loans and real estate speculation.

Her brother, the lieutenant governor, said the next president of the United States needs to draft a new plan for rebuilding New Orleans. “The Gulf Coast states have been fighting for a little bit of meat from an otherwise empty bone,” he said. “There is not enough money to cover the damages caused by the fact that the levees broke.”

Mitchell Landrieu also said the government should take advantage of the rebuilding efforts and use New Orleans as a case study.

Isaacson echoed that thought: “It should be a laboratory for the things we can do. Education has been the silver lining of the storm. We don’t need to just restore the New Orleans school system because it was a really bad school system.”

Shearer, best known for his voice work on “The Simpsons” and the film “Spinal Tap,” noted the problems in the rental housing market, exacerbated by the fact that most of the city’s landlords only own a few properties.

“The economy will be slow until working people can come back to New Orleans,” he said.

Long-time political strategist Carville summed up the city’s biggest PR problem: trying to assure tourists that the city is once again open for business while campaigning for more relief from the federal government.

“The truth of the matter is, with some gaping holes, we’re doing better,” he said, but he noted that corruption - legendary in the checkered history of New Orleans—remains a problem.

Preston’s song called for letting “the bad guys win every once in awhile.” Seems like New Orleans can’t afford that anymore.

Last updated on Jan 03, 2009 at 11:37 AM