Our plan was simple: to reform, to change and to inspire. We started with a police department that was among the most corrupt in the country. Today, crime is down and we have a department that we all can be proud of again. Our City Hall building was filled with lethargic public employees who no longer cared about their jobs or their city. Today, there is a renewed pride among those who work and do business at City Hall, and the citizens of New Orleans believe in their government again. We restored the public trust. We past a bond issue to rebuild the city's streets, parks, playgrounds and public schools. Our neighborhoods are revitalized, and the economy is revived. The children of New Orleans have hope again. No one person or one administration can make these changes. We have been able to accomplish so much because of the support of our coalition of all New Orleanians. Our Gumbo Coalition is White, Black, Asian, Latino, young, old Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, gay and heterosexual. They live Uptown, Downtown, on the East Bank and on the West Bank. New Orleans is the comeback city. We are heading in the right direction. I didn't do it by myself, of course. I am blessed to be surrounded by a competent staff of advisors and loyal friends and family who share the same vision for this great city. Together we worked tirelessly - on weekends, in the early morning hours, over the telephone and aboard airplanes. It has been an incredible experience, one I never realized would be so difficult and so rewarding. I look to the next four years with the same hope and commitment to change that is necessary to prepare this great American city for the next millennium. -Mayor Marc H. Morial |
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This is more than just a collection of speeches from my first term as mayor of New Orleans. It is a chronicle of a remarkable time in our city's history. These speeches, the product of my passion and the passion of my administration, came from a deep love of New Orleans and a profound commitment to change the direction of a great American city. Each speech marks a capsule in time. Delivered at different stages over my first four years in office, they map our progress and struggles along the way - when we were enraged by the shooting of innocent children and restaurant workers in the French Quarter, when we anxiously awaited the arrival of a new reform police chief and when national budget cuts threatened to undermine our city's infrastructure. |
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