Nice timing, Mayor Nagin. Finally, you appear to have some direction in developing a plan for the city’s rebirth, strategically appearing almost a month before the mayoral election is scheduled to take place. There are just a few issues that remain, such as where people should rebuild. And there’s also the question of where New Orleans plans to get the money to make these lofty dreams a reality.

Looking at Nagin’s urban-development plan, things look theoretically promising – lots of big plans sugarcoated wishes for a bigger and better city- but like the promises made by the federal government recently, it looks more like wishful thinking than a solid plan of attack. In Nagin’s action-packed plans for the city: a new city-run school system with a seven-member appointed board, consolidation of the city’s seven assessor’s offices into one, merging of the civil and criminal sheriff’s offices into one, consolidation of some police districts, a light-rail system from the airport to eastern New Orleans, temporary locks, pumps and floodgates to relieve pressure on the levees and restoration of the coastal wetlands. Nagin also proposed a new agency to oversee the redevelopment plan, the Crescent City Redevelopment Corp.

It’s sad that Nagin thinks the answers lie in yet another commission, considering the prime work done by his Bring New Orleans Back Commission has been repeatedly rejected by the mayor himself. Instead of listening to the commission’s rebuilding suggestions, Nagin said simply that anyone may rebuild anywhere, “at their own risk.” He also mentioned that city services would be limited in the devastated areas, should people decide to re-establish their lives, but of course, he did not elaborate on what that means to the people hoping to rebuild.

Nice, Mayor. Way to watch out for your constituents, we mean, residents.

Not only did Nagin avoid answering questions about rebuilding neighborhoods, but he also seemed to dart around the execution method of the urban-development plan.

Maybe if he doesn’t answer a question directly, people will forget they asked.