New Orleans Builds on Hollywood-Friendly Rep

Pitt visits New Orleans on Katrina anniversary

(NEWSER) - To mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt went on Meet the Press to talk about his Make It Right Foundation and the affordable, green, and safe houses they’re building in the Lower Ninth Ward. “These homes are elevated above Katrina floodwaters, they are stronger, they’ll take a category 4 (storm), and five times stronger than code, and they all have egress to get out on top,” he says. “So none of these homeowners will suffer those horrors.” More»

'Wire" creator David Simon scores with new series set in Big Easy

(NEWSER) - Critics seem thrilled with Wire creator David Simon's new HBO series Treme, about post-Katrina New Orleans:

• Dave Walker, New Orleans Times-Picayune : "This is the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves, has always desired, but has been denied."
• Locals want to know two things: "Is it real? and Is it good?" writes Kevin Allman for the Best of New Orleans Blog . "It’s as real as any television show ever about New Orleans" and "it’s already good…and it stands the chance of being great."

(NEWSER) - Four years after Katrina, the rebuilding of New Orleans is becoming an exercise in environmentally friendly reconstruction, Bryan Walsh writes in Time. Global Green USA, the American arm of a group founded by Mikhail Gorbachev, is leading the pack by building a sustainable village in the city's Lower Ninth Ward, and retrofitting schools with solar panels and wetland habitats to make them more energy efficient. More»

But no, he's not running for mayor

(NEWSER) - To mark the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt spoke to MSNBC about his effort to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward with his Make It Right foundation—and the grassroots campaign to push him to run for mayor of New Orleans. He says he'd run if chosen, but “on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation on marijuana platform. I don’t have a chance,” he tells Ann Curry. “That’s not what I do best.” More»

(NEWSER) - Even if the government somehow managed to re-create pre-Katrina New Orleans, it couldn't guarantee the safety of the city and its residents, according to a new report. The Army Corps of Engineers is rebuilding levees in anticipation of a “100-year storm,” but for a city of New Orleans’ size nothing is truly sufficient, the Times-Picayune reports. The report recommends relocating people living in at-risk areas. More»