New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin waits for a Jazz funeral parade to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the storm in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Posted on 09/01/2006 12:42:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin opened a visit to New York on Friday by expressing regret for having criticized the slow redevelopment at the World Trade Center site, saying he will "never again refer to that site as a hole."
Nagin was in town for a two-day pitch to the New York investment community to get business in his hurricane-ravaged city.
While on a stage with the Rev. Al Sharpton and representatives of a New Orleans delegation, Nagin addressed comments he'd made in a recent "60 Minutes" broadcast, where he branded ground zero "a hole in the ground" to compare it to the slow pace of rebuilding in his city after Hurricane Katrina. Nagin had apologized for the comments quickly afterward.
"I want to say to all New Yorkers that I love New York City and have been here on many occasions," Nagin said during a press conference held Friday, less than two weeks before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. "We as New Orleanians and as New Yorkers understand what tragedy is all about and understand the difficulty of recovering from tragedy."
He also said he especially regretted the term he'd used to describe ground zero, where more than 2,700 people died after terrorists piloted two commercial flights into the twin towers, causing them to collapse.
"I will never refer to that site as a hole," Nagin said. "It's a a sacred site that's currently in an undeveloped state."
New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin waits for a Jazz funeral parade to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the storm in New Orleans, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Nagin regrets getting caught on tape...
The fact this guy got re-elected tells you all you need to know about LA and NOLA... even when the corruption and ineptude is laid bare for the eye to see, folks down there won't change it.
They had the government they deserved when Katrina hit... and heaven forbid when the next one hits... they'll have the government they deserve then too.
I regret they reelected this putz.
Clearly a case of battered voter syndrome </sarc>
I'll bet he regrets it - he went to New York to borrow money. How many people in the banking industry up there DON'T know someone who died on 9/11? Swing by Morgan Stanley and ask for some cash, Ray. See what they give you.
actually having this guy win was a far better alternative than landrieu.
"It's a a sacred site that's currently in an undeveloped state."
I wonder if this is just a spin-doctor giving him a script or it was intentionally written to sound absurd.
The fact that he was re-elected lays bare the evidence of nearly insuperable corruption that we all got an inkling of the moment the "it's Bush's fault" card was played.
"I will never refer to that site as a hole"
~Ray Nagin
"We will never fail to refer to that man as a-hole"
~New Yorkers
Nagin is a former cable TV executive.
I work in the cable TV business.The vast majority of management are dim-witted yes men(and women).
Nagin fits the profile
I find offensive how the Thought Police and the media jumps on select individuals who dare to lip off. Yet horrible actions (e.g. Judge Connor of Ohio giving a pass to a vicious pedophile who for years raped more than one boy and the shooting of Jews at the Jewish center) received hardly a mention.
Mayor Nagin-Showing liberal idoicy in all its glory, lowering the bar one day at a time. That man is bitter chocolate.
I'm betting the Revrearend Al biotch-slapped Ray-Ray but good when he got him alone up in the Apple.
Trash talking Ray knows he can impress the rich white liberals who control the MSM and the ghetto punks that help him rule his "chocolate city" but he's also smart enough to know that he don't hold a candle to Big Al when it comes to stealing news coverage.
I'll be the oddball guy and say I like Nagin's candor. It's insincere guys like Schumer that I hate.
Hey it takes time to make a city chocolate !!!
Well now-- Nagin singing a different tune when he puts his hand out. Guess Rev. Al told him his "sweet talk" of NYC on 60 minutes was not getting any check written.
Mayve Nagin can leave his hotel, go out for walk at 1:30AM, beer in hand while on the cell phone, fall in a NYC's big hole and sue the city to get his money. Some guy from NC is trying that in Georgetown, Texas.
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