EACH GENERATION of city leaders must be architects of the future. Over the last eight years, both the public and private sectors have been busy investing in the future of New Orleans. Government has infused the local economy by accelerating the number of capital projects being constructed. The public sector construction activity has invested more than $500 million increasing the region's job base and pumping over $800 million in total spending into the area's economy. The private sector has responded with a more than $1 billion in investment in new development projects across the City of New Orleans.

Expansion work continues on the Morial Convention Center

Citizens bustle across Canal Street as the streetcar approaches

More than twenty-five years ago, the leaders of this city charted a course to make New Orleans the world's most attractive convention and tourist destination. They did so with unprecedented investment, building the Louisiana Superdome and a major convention center and developing the Riverfront.

During our administration, we continued that vision assisting in the expansion of the Morial Convention Center, the centerpiece of the state's and the city's economy. The mammoth $247 million Phase III expansion increased exhibit space by nearly 60 percent and has put New Orleans in an elite class for large scale conventions. A kilometer long, the Morial Convention Center has the most contiguous floor space in the country and has increased attendance by 28 percent in the first year. Currently, plans are being drawn for a fourth phase.

In 2001, the Downtown Development District began a multi-million dollar capital improvement project called The Downtown Revival! The project is being executed in a true spirit of cooperation between the DDD, the City of New Orleans, the Regional Transit Authority and Downtown Property Owners. The downtown improvements include sidewalk enhancements, landscaping and gateways and new signage. The centerpiece of the project is a Canal Street makeover and economic development plan. Canal Street will have new sidewalks, a facade improvement fund for building owners to utilize for restoration and improvement to balconies and canopies. Additionally, new light fixtures and landscaping will be installed along the street.

The DDD comprehensive capital plan is helping to make way for the return of an important Canal Street fixture - our beloved Canal Street Streetcar. Former Congressman Bob Livingston played a crucial role in obtaining funding for this project, with support from Senators John Breaux and Mary Landrieu and Congressman William Jefferson. The Regional Transit Authority has broken ground on the $157 million Canal Street corridor from the riverfront to City Park.

The construction and management of new rail lines has created new jobs and a new way of thinking about travel throughout the region. New Orleans is leading the initiative to show that reinvestment in rail and rail stations adds value to the historic neighborhoods around them. Through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the city held the first National Rail Summit proposing a new vision to connect the entire country within the next ten
years.