THE BATTLE TO REBUILD.

This article looks at the belief by many of New Orleans African-Americans that the city officials have no intention of rebuilding the twice flooded Lower Ninth section of the city. Floodwaters from Hurricane Rita had breached the levee along the Industrial Canal, inundating the poor New Orleans neighborhood that is, or was, home to 40,000 African-Americans. Cedric Richmond, the president of the Black Caucus in the Louisiana State Legislature, suggested that more than bad luck was at work. The city planners have big plans for the restoration of New Orleans, but the Lower Ninth is not in them. Over regular dinners in Baton Rouge restaurants like Gino's, an Italian eatery featuring recently transplanted musicians from the Big Easy, the heads of law firms and tourist businesses and conservation groups have been meeting with big real-estate developers. In addition to building a movie studio, new museums and a light-rail line, local developer Pres Kabacoff wants to tear down the poor and almost entirely black Iberville housing project which is situated close to the French Quarter and replace it with low-rise, mixed-income, racially diverse housing. In the narrow re-election of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in 2002, the black vote in New Orleans was crucial.