NEW ORLEANS -
Many New Orleanians are fuming at criticism from former recovery czar Ed Blakely, who told a California interviewer that New Orleans residents are lazy and racist. ABC26 News reporter Jon Huffman gauges the reaction.
Blakely spent three years in town running the city's post-Katrina recovery. Today, he's the talk of the town, not for what he did, but for what he said.
"I think it's pretty hypocritical," New Orleans resident Tom Foutz said.
Outrage from New Orleanians after Ed Blakely gave an interview at the University of California saying New Orleanians were lazy, waiting for someone else to bail them out of Katrina's destruction.
"If he's going to suggest New Orleans doesn't have a future, I would say look in the mirror," Foutz continued. "He's part of the reason why it doesn't have a future."
"He's using it to make money or to make himself famous," according to New Orleanian Bob Graham. "There's nothing good about it."
It's not the first time Blakely has faced harsh criticism. Three years ago, he famously predicted the skies would be filled with construction cranes rebuilding the city within six months: "We're going to see a lot more cranes. I use that as pressure on my staff and I think it's gonna happen."
After the predicted mass of construction projects failed to appear, he gave an interview to a New York Times reporter calling New Orleanians "buffoons." Then, last summer, he quit his $150,000 a year city job to return to teaching in Australia.
And now, an interview in which he predicts, unless the next mayor is clever, there are going to be race riots on the street of New Orleans.
"If they're not going to help us, why don't they be quiet?" wonders Graham. "New Orleans is not fully recovered. Anybody that lives here knows the problems that we have."
Blakely added in this most recent interview that he never really wanted to be the city's recovery czar in the first place.
Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and New Orleans City Council President Arnie Fielkow have both released public statements about Blakely's interview. The links to both statements are at the top of this story.
Blakely spent three years in town running the city's post-Katrina recovery. Today, he's the talk of the town, not for what he did, but for what he said.
"I think it's pretty hypocritical," New Orleans resident Tom Foutz said.
Outrage from New Orleanians after Ed Blakely gave an interview at the University of California saying New Orleanians were lazy, waiting for someone else to bail them out of Katrina's destruction.
"If he's going to suggest New Orleans doesn't have a future, I would say look in the mirror," Foutz continued. "He's part of the reason why it doesn't have a future."
"He's using it to make money or to make himself famous," according to New Orleanian Bob Graham. "There's nothing good about it."
It's not the first time Blakely has faced harsh criticism. Three years ago, he famously predicted the skies would be filled with construction cranes rebuilding the city within six months: "We're going to see a lot more cranes. I use that as pressure on my staff and I think it's gonna happen."
After the predicted mass of construction projects failed to appear, he gave an interview to a New York Times reporter calling New Orleanians "buffoons." Then, last summer, he quit his $150,000 a year city job to return to teaching in Australia.
And now, an interview in which he predicts, unless the next mayor is clever, there are going to be race riots on the street of New Orleans.
"If they're not going to help us, why don't they be quiet?" wonders Graham. "New Orleans is not fully recovered. Anybody that lives here knows the problems that we have."
Blakely added in this most recent interview that he never really wanted to be the city's recovery czar in the first place.
Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and New Orleans City Council President Arnie Fielkow have both released public statements about Blakely's interview. The links to both statements are at the top of this story.
