Nagin-ize Portland

I’d like to begin by expressing my congratulations to the newly re-elected Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin. Things had been looking grim for Nagin in the race against the politically connected Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, but when it came down to it Nagin won with the people’s confidence – some voters driving miles to their still-deserted neighborhoods in order to cast their ballots. For Nagin, it’s a vindication. The often outspoken mayor was hit hard with Katrina, and many media voices have openly doubted his ability to rebuild New Orleans. Add to that Nagin’s confrontational approach to the federal government and their business allies, he was deemed almost politically suicidal. He was banking that his humanistic record and rhetoric would save him, believing that businesses don’t vote, people do. And the people voted Ray Nagin.

You see, Ray Nagin is a shit-kicker.

A shit-kicker is that old breed of politician whose brutally honest approach, while sometimes incriminating, inspires people’s confidence. And the people of New Orleans, now scattered throughout the U.S., need that confidence. They need to know they still are citizens of New Orleans, and New Orleans wants them back – a concept Ray Nagin drives home again and again.

Shit-kickers worry people too. Ray Nagin is notorious for his speeches. As much as he has an amazing ability to rally and connect people, he’s made some clearly divisive statements and has been accused of being too much of a loner, presenting unfinished ideas and speaking for other politicians without their final stamp. There is worry that Ray Nagin is inspiring too much ownership in New Orleans displaced poor. Fears have been voiced that voters expect to return to a New Orleans that mirrors the one wiped away by flooding and Hurricane Katrina, but as Louisiana political observer Elliott Stonecipher told Time Magazine, “[Nagin] knows that to literally restore the Ninth Ward, to literally restore New Orleans East, is of course not what we want to do."

New Orleans certainly needs change in its rebuilding, the poverty and decrepitude of the city played a major part in how many lives were lost when the levee broke, and how much destruction Katrina was able level upon the city. Not simply because citizens weren’t prepared, or buildings were in a state of disrepair, but because the poor of New Orleans, like much of America’s poor, are a marginalized people. There’s no way President Bush and FEMA would have ignored a similar threat to property and people in the Hollywood hills or even Portland. New Orleans’ survivors, from relative’s homes and hotel rooms throughout the country were left with nothing but the distinct (and unfortunately, most likely true) impression that nobody really gave a shit about them. Except, apparently, for Ray Nagin.

Ray Nagin, who would spurn business in the New Orleans’ rebuilding in order to get the people back. Nagin, who knows that businesses are, as he’s called them, “predators.” They will show up no matter what. There’s money to be had in New Orleans, Nagin knows it, and rather than coddle out-of-state business he’s concentrating on bringing back the people of New Orleans, getting the city’s businesses back. That’s shit-kicking. That’s something commendable, and more so, something to take notice about. Especially in Portland.

Tom Potter, asleep at the wheel, could and should learn a lot from Ray Nagin. Instead of giving bullshit press conferences about rising “crime” in Downtown Portland, look at the roots of its growth. Crime in Portland is still an accessible problem. Fix the marginalizing of our minority and lower classes. Quit giving the green light to predatorial developers to forgo city deals and building codes and turn Portland into the U.S.’s largest retirement community. Portland is an affluent city, one that a city leader can apparently run even with their eyes shut. It pains me to see someone like Ray Nagin, driving a city with four flat tires like a Cadillac, while Potter’s Portland’s Hybrid is headed for a cliff while he’s catching 40 winks. Get off the pot, and kick some shit.