Obama to Visit New Orleans, Review Rebuilding Effo
|
|
Date: 10/15/2009
Sender: CDP
|
Obama to Visit New Orleans, Review Rebuilding Efforts
By VOA News
15 October 2009
President Barack Obama (file photo)
U.S. President Barack Obama is traveling to New Orleans, Louisiana, four years after the city and surrounding Gulf Coast areas were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
It will be his first visit to the hurricane-battered city since becoming president. The White House says the president will visit a charter school to talk with students. Mr. Obama will then hold a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans, where he will hear concerns from residents about recovery and rebuilding efforts.
President Obama is facing criticism for staying less than four hours in the city and for not visiting areas in neighboring Mississippi, which was also ravaged by Katrina. But senior officials say Mr. Obama has worked hard to provide Gulf Coast residents with the tools needed to recover from the hurricane.
After leaving New Orleans, the president will travel to San Francisco, California for a Democratic Party fundraiser.
The White House says it has sent several senior officials to the Gulf Coast area, and that the administration has helped cut through bureaucratic red tape to secure the release of $1 billion in funding for infrastructure projects.
Some New Orleans residents say basic services are still not being provided and they note that many dilapidated homes exist throughout the city.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina brutalized the Gulf Coast, leaving more than 1,000 people dead and one million others homeless.
The storm turned into a political disaster for then-President George W. Bush who was widely criticized for the slow and mismanaged federal response.
|
|
| |
