Ray Nagin - Nagin's First Term

Nagin's First Term

Shortly after taking office, Nagin launched an anti-corruption campaign within city government, including crackdowns on the city's Taxicab Bureau and Utilities Department. Media scenes of corrupt officials being led out of City Hall in handcuffs were received with surprised enthusiasm by much of the public. When an investigation into corruption among city vehicle inspection (locally known as "brake tag" inspection) certification workers suggested that corruption was systemic, Nagin fired the entire department's workforce. In fact, when Nagin was asked what should be done about his cousin, who was implicated in the taxi cab bureau scandals, Nagin said "if he's guilty, arrest him." Nagin's cousin was later arrested.

The 2004 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report of the City of New Orleans as certified by CPA firm KPMG highlighted many significant accomplishments of the Nagin administration. New Orleans gains 4,500 jobs that year. U.S. Census Bureau figures showed about 38,000 New Orleanians had risen out of poverty as the national average increased. Targeted policies to stimulate business growth, enhance job skill training and homeownership for single parent households were credited. According to the American City Business Journals, per capita income in New Orleans was rising at the fasted rate in the nation.

Southern Business and Development named New Orleans number eight on the list of "come back kids" in the south. New Orleans had back to back record tourist years, 10.1 million in 2004. Yahoo/National Geographic Traveler poll named the city its number one family destination. Since 2002, the area had seen over $400 million of film productions, including movies like the Oscar-award winning Ray with Jamie Foxx and All the King's Men, featuring Sean Penn. According to Moviemaker Magazine, New Orleans was the 4th best place to film a movie and had earned the title "Hollywood South".

In November 2004, the Nagin administration passed the city's largest bond issue, $260 million. New Orleans also implemented unprecedented technology and jumped from 69th to 38th on Intel's list of "Most Wired Cities". The city's website went from being unranked to the 4th best in the nation.

As Hurricane Ivan threatened the Gulf of Mexico in September 2004, Nagin urged New Orleanians to be ready for the storm. In an effort to get the public's attention and bust through media clutter he advised evacuees to have some "Benjamins" ($100 bills) handy and urged those planning to stay not only to stock up on food and water but also to make sure they had "an axe in the attic,". This was a reference to the many people trapped in their attics by rising floodwaters when Hurricane Betsy hit the city in 1965. Nagin issued a voluntary evacuation call at 6 pm on September 13 and the interstates quickly filled as some 600,000 metro New Orleanians left. Traffic was so heavy that some trips took 12 hours or more. Fortunately, the hurricane missed the city like many others.

Although a lifelong Democrat, Nagin endorsed conservative Republican Bobby Jindal over conservative Democratic Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Blanco in the 2003 runoff for governor. Both candidates platforms were almost identical, so Nagin requested each write a letter detailing what they would do for the citizens of New Orleans if elected. Jindal wrote a very detailed plan while Blanco sent a one page, two paragraph letter.