March 24, 2008

According to a March 13 report in The Washington Times, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin visited the Nation’s Capital for meetings with lawmakers in the hopes of gaining additional resources for his city and its post Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. During his visit, Nagin commented, “The recovery is coming along. We’re back to 71 percent of population. The economy is strong. It’s still a tale of two cities. We’ve made some progress, but there’s still a lot of work to do.” Of Washington’s response, he said, “There’s lots of talk, but the actions have not caught up with the talk. We’ll probably have to await the next administration.”

The mayor gave the Bush administration a “C” in dealing with the city’s infrastructure needs, but blamed the federal bureaucracy, especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), for not doing enough to deal with “the people side” – the city’s human needs in housing, health care and other social services.

The mayor did say that, “The number of volunteers has been minboggling – the churches and schools that came down to help. That’s the only reason that we are where we are now.”

Of the Presidential candidates, Nagin commented, “The candidates are a little hesitant about fully embracing our dilemma. I would like to hear more about what they would do to bring about the full recovery of our infrastructure, which is in deplorable shape.”

Atlanta (GA) saw its first downtown tornado in history on March 14. According to reports in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the tornado left two dead and thousands without power. The tornado hit the area where the World Congress Center, the Philips Arena, the Georgia Dome and the Equitable Building are located. Along with several commercial buildings, the downtown neighborhoods of Cabbagetown, Vine City and East Atlanta Village sustained significant damage.

Although the tornado seemed to strike Atlanta with no notice, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the weather service did issue an alert 12 minutes before the tornado hit – average time for a tornado warning. The damage is expected to total more than $150 million, according to preliminary estimates. Of the cleanup effort, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin said, “We are moving in textbook fashion to make sure that both state and federal government officials are engaged in what we are doing.”

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett was recently featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show to highlight his city-wide weight loss program: “This City is Going on a Diet.” "This City is Going On A Diet" is a challenge created by Cornett to the citizens of Oklahoma City to lose one million pounds in 2008 to create a healthier city. Cornett also created an interactive website to track the city’s weight-loss progress – www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com. The website is designed as a one'stop resource guide for people intending to lose weight and allows participants to confidentially track their weight loss progress and calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a simple method for estimating body fat. The site also features helpful information about nutrition, exercise and how to successfully set weight loss goals, as well as a live counter to indicate the cumulative number of pounds program participants have lost.

Oklahoma City was listed 15th among "America's Fattest Cities" in a 2007 Men's Fitness magazine survey, while a 2007 Fortune article tabbed the city as the fast-food capital of America, two distinctions the mayor had some trouble digesting. Not just a gimmick, the weight loss initiative is among other moves the city is making to free itself from a dominant auto-centric attitude.

Cornett has had his own challenge with weight. He has lost 38 pounds since April of 2007. “As someone who has addressed weight-loss issues my entire life, I know how difficult it can be,” said Cornett. “But we can do it. We need to pull together as a community to lose weight, exercise more often, and eat nutritiously. Obesity is an epidemic in Oklahoma, and the problem is only getting worse. It’s time to end our sedentary, fast food lifestyle. Putting an entire city on a diet may seem a little extreme but we have to get people’s attention. We have to promote a healthier lifestyle. This is a serious public health problem that’s not going to go away unless we act,” said Cornett.