Remarks by the President After Touring Faubourg Lafitte Neighborhood, New Orleans, LA

Tremé
New Orleans, Louisiana

1:11 P.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m going to have a chance to make a longer set of remarks later, but I just wanted to point out where we are.  The Faubourg Lafitte area in Tremé is part of one of the most historic districts in New Orleans and Louisiana and America. A lot of folks think this is where jazz really first started taking root.  It is obviously close to downtown and the French Quarter, one of the most important historic African American communities in the country. 

And like so much of this area, it was devastated during the storm.  But what you're seeing here is an example of the incredible federal, state, local partnerships that have helped to revitalize this community -- not just with this housing, which is all new, and was helped -- funded through a program called Hope IV -- but also a new school in that direction, a community center in that direction.  And part of our goal has always been to make sure not just that we recovered from the storm, but also that we started dealing with some of the structural inequities that existed long before the storm happened.

And I’m going to say nice things about him later, but I’m going to make sure to say that none of this would have happened had it not been for the outstanding leadership of Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who has been just an unbelievable partner throughout this entire process.  We're really proud of what he’s doing.  You can see the results here.

Now, just because the houses are nice doesn't mean our job is done.  This is a community, obviously, that still has a lot of poverty.  This is an area where young people still, too often, are taking the wrong path before they graduate from high school. This is a community that still needs resources and still needs help.

But the fact that we can make this many strides 10 years after a terrible, epic disaster I think is an indication of the kind of spirit that we have in this city.  And it’s reflected in our Mayor.  So we're proud of you.

Okay, guys, we're going to see you later.

END
1:13 P.M. CDT