29 Comments for this entry

• 

  YvonneW
  May 3rd, 2012 on 7:15 am

  Ray Nagin grew up in the 6th ward and his Father worked in a factory. He went to school in New Orleans and went to Tuskegee University in Alabama. He graduated with a BA in Accounting. He tried to work in New Orleans, but it did not seem to work out. He went from there to Texas and on to Cox where he became eventually responsible for all Cox holdings in the South. He got bored with corporatee America and went to Hockey in New Orleans, and then back as an entreprenuer in New Orleans. He then ran for Mayor. He looked at the tylpe of leadership that the citizens wanted and what the issues were that they were interested in to use as a running platform. He had a lot of good advice from Jim Carver on strategy.
  He tried to run the city like a business and at first he was not accepted by other political leader. However he had the highest amount of crossover votes in a long time. He ran on the basis of making better economics, not on race. The first few years were a blurr, because he tried to help clean up the government. He concentrated on improving povery. After hearing him personally I believe he really tried to improve the city and do the best he could after Katrina. He was strong and determined to make a better city. But some officials wanted him to refuse to let certain groups come back and he would not bow to their wishes. He would not be their puppet, so things went downhill from there.
  With his confidence and knowledge, it seems to me he is a very good leader and is not half the evil person the media made him out to be. I think is interested in making a difference in New Orleans and making it ultimately a better place.
• 

  YvonneW
  May 3rd, 2012 on 7:43 am

  I don’t thing Ray Nagin is what the media makes him out to be. I had heard a lot from the media that was all negative. But after hearing his brief explanation, I don’t believe he misused funds. His key issue was to let anyone come back that wanted to come back because they were adults and they had a right to make a choice of their own of whether they would come back to New Orleans or not come back. After Katrina he was meerly welcoming all to come back even though there had been devastation.
  The funds were slow coming into New Orleans for repairs as they had been promised by George Bush. But once they did come in, then a lot of funds were used to better the city and there was some put in a bank to help to continue with the improvements.
  He made a not to keep mentioning that the only way to turn around New Orleans was too get new blood in there that has better has better goals and dreams and wants to make New Orleans a better place. He felt that New Orleans would never change if the “old blood” stayed in office. He also mentioned that the best way young people could make a difference is by letting their voice be heard and not just sitting back on the sidelines. He really feels New Orleans needs change and that no one has the right to keep the citizens out of the city.
  He mentioned three ways to control stress. First NEVER go TOO HIGH and NEVER go TOO low. Second workout to release tension. Third get in the BIBLE. He said that business should have a conscience and it is not about the bottom line. So too make a difference take action and do something to help make the city of New Orleans better. Be heard!
• 

  WilliamW
  May 6th, 2012 on 1:35 pm

  Former Mayor Nagin was our guest visitor this week and I was quite impressed by what he had to say. Based on all the negative publicity he has been getting since he left office I thought he would not show or would be reluctant to answer questions. He seemed to be back in his pre-Katrina positive demeanor and more relaxed, being out of public office. He was totally candid with the class and responded to all the student and Professor Mayfield questions. He provided his history from growing up in New Orleans, obtaining a baseball scholarship to Tuskegee University, and receiving an MBA from Tulane.

  I must admit I was very impressed with what he was doing for the city during his first term and the very positive changes he made in the city helped my decision to move to New Orleans in 2003. I even voted for him again in 2006 after Katrina, figuring he was in place during the storm and we didn’t need to make a change or it would have been too much a disruption to the city. He came up with some good ideas to jumpstart New Orleans by redeveloping Canal Street, replacing tee shirt and sneaker shops with high end casinos and entertainment, and build a lite rail from the CBD to the airport. They immediately got shut down, but he didn’t even put up a fight. He did put a very positive foot forward by redoing the trash contract and daily cleanup in the French Quarter. This helped to keep the economic engine for the city alive during the rebuilding process.

  Mayor Nagin has written a book “Katrina Secrets,” about what had transpired during and after the storm and he is working on a 2nd book. He spends his time on speaking engagements to schools and prisons. He is definitely a positive influence on young people think of getting involved by voting and taking an active role in the community. He was a businessman who tried had a difficult time breaking the political mold
  and stagnation that has plagued this city for so long.
• 

  JenniferS
  May 7th, 2012 on 12:53 am

  Former Mayor Ray Nagin’s lecture actually interested me much more than I expected. Before meeting him, I kind of expected to just generally dislike him based on what I saw in the media in the years after Hurricane Katrina. While I can’t help but wonder if much of what he said was politician speak, I did actually enjoy listening to him speak and hearing his side of his controversial term as Mayor of New Orleans. He attended Tuskegee University in Alabama and went on to work for Cox Communications as the General Manager of Cox Cable New Orleans. He also put himself into various entrepreneurial projects, such as bringing a hockey team to New Orleans, the New Orleans Jazz. He says that he decided to run for mayor because he was tired of working a corporate job and looking for something new. When he entered the Mayor’s race in 2002, the people of New Orleans were looking for something new and different, which he took advantage of in his campaign. He was able to capitalize on the controversy caused by mudslinging between the two frontrunning candidates and won the mayor seat without any previous political experience. He was not well received by other politicians in this race, but his focus on the economy helped him win the election. He faced many tough decisions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and his candid “Chocolate City” speech put him in the national spotlight. When he explains this controversial speech, he says that the “Chocolate City” line is a reference to a socially conscious Parliament P-Funk song about empowerment and was taken out of context from a speech encouraging African-Americans to return to the city despite news reports that some were trying to push them out. He says that these comments were “a blessing and a curse” because they made him infamous, while also empowering people to reclaim their city after a disaster.
• 

  JenniferS
  May 7th, 2012 on 12:53 am

  His comments on former President George W. Bush also intrigued me. He commented that Bush was an incredibly complex man, not the goofy guy that he is made out to be. Nagin said that Bush was always well-briefed on the situation and knew what was going on, but thought about solving the problem the wrong way and had an ineffective staff. Mayor Nagin also discussed his rocky relationship with former Governor Kathleen Blanco. He said that they were unfortunately unable to get on the same page. I was very surprised when he spoke candidly about his relationships with both President Bush and Governor Blanco, especially when he said “I was in the middle of Bush and Blanco and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy”. I thought this was a pretty bold statement, but I do believe that it fits his personality.
  Mayor Nagin also had an interesting point of view on the increased violent in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He says that the disaster has caused an increase in people with post-traumatic stress disorder leading to violent outbursts and that this is not being taken care of properly by city officials. I had never thought about the problem in this way before, but I now believe that this definitely makes sense.
  Overall, I did enjoy listening to Mayor Ray Nagin. While I may not agree with all of his statements and reactions, I do think that he is someone work listening to as he has very unique experiences and opinions.
• 

  EmekaD
  May 7th, 2012 on 7:44 am

  During Ray Nagin’s lecture the thing that intrigued me the most about his account of the administration, was how outdated city hall was when he first entered office. I recently took a walk through the building. A step in city hall takes you back to the 1960’s, council chambers looks like an old highschool auditorium. So I could just imagine what the rest of the building looked like. Nagin described the office being equipped with a rotary phone, technology of the modern day not being in use. But from this account I learned it’s not just the political and community leaders who are at fault for the progression of the city, it’s also business and community leaders. Thinking about it makes sense for every step toward a big project there is always opposers. The current Tulane Studium …. opposers… Mid-City Walmart…opposers. Of course, it’s a part of democracy and there are vaild reasons to be in opposition to people who live in those communities, however I think if we take a look at the big picture things would come into perspective. But the strength and power of the business leaders in the city, who actually stopped the project of moving city hall by buying the Chevron Building before the city, shows how much political power is in the hands of non-elected officials.
• 

  EmekaD
  May 7th, 2012 on 9:45 am

  The main thing I learned from Ray Nagin’s lecture is to form an opinion on a person based off your own knowledge. It’s easy to criticize and judged based off what we see on the surface but after this class I think everybody’s opinion of Nagin was significantly changed.
  On another level I found it interesting when Nagin talked about dealing with stress. We live in world where stress among our generation is common place, between trying graduate, working, then graduating and actually finding a job, stress seems to be at every turn of life. However, I think none of us can imagine the stress of being the Mayor of New Orleans during the most stressful time on the Gulf Coast during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Nagin mentioned that his relationship with God and exercise kept him on task. I think his calm spirit and day-by-day attitude speaks that stress manageable if you make a decision to take control of it.
• 

  MarkW
  May 7th, 2012 on 10:58 am

  I was thrilled to find out our final speaker for New Orleans as Discourse was former Mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin. The man has been torn apart by national media, painted as a crook, and alongside Bush and Blanco, blamed for the events following Hurricane Katrina. Nagin painted himself as a business-minded, driven, and outspoken individual. That, I was not surprised by. He was elected during a time in which New Orleans was desperate for jobs, after the decline of the oil market in the 1980s, and the peak of violent crime in the 90s and early 2000s. So he marketed himself as a businessman with a strong focus on New Orleans’ economy.

  I was so happy to hear Ray Nagin speak, and this is one reason why: The man has met so much controversy in his political career, and is such a local icon, that there is actually a talking Ray Nagin keychain. Other characters that have their own talking keychain include the Three Stooges and Eric Cartman. That talking keychain, to the best of my knowledge, says 4-5 sayings involving either “Chocolate City,” “FEMA,” or “dog gone.”

  And speaking of the man’s use of the word dog gone, it was very noticeable during his speech. His frequent use of the phrase reminded me of his famous interview with Garland Robinette just after Katrina in which Nagin desperately asked for help. Nagin told a few interesting stories in that class, and spoke a good deal about his personal life and handling stress. He said the way he truly handled stress was working out.
• 

  MarkW
  May 7th, 2012 on 11:22 am

  One of the stories Ray Nagin told was of his shower on the president’s Air Force One after about a week without a real shower. He said he took forever, which kind of made me laugh. I would do the same. Also, I’m sure that Nagin’s depiction of Bush surprised the entire class. How could it be that Bush was not the bumbling Texan that wages wars about oil money and “hates black people?”

  The former mayor described Bush as “complex.”
  4/3rds is a complex fraction.
  And George Bush is a complex dude.

  While it was interesting to hear Nagin’s commentary about “Chocolate City,” and while “Chocolate City” is, in fact, the name of a Parliament Funkadelic album, I don’t believe that the mayor was referencing p-funk in his speech.

  I think “Chocolate City” is statement meaning that New Orleans was, before Katrina, a majority black city, and it was up to the black residents to return, reinvest, and rebuild.

  The terminology, to me, is uncultured slang, and implies that white people do not have a stake in the rebirth of New Orleans, which I know is not true.

  It just seems that throughout his political career, Nagin has not clearly thought before speaking. That’s because he’s not a politician. He’s a driven businessman.

  He was not “blessed” with the tact of a politician, and the speeches he has given prove that.

  However, I really enjoyed how Nagin exposed New Orleans’ “shadow government,” which is a topic everyone was curious to know more about.

  Nagin was, as expected, outspoken. And he was one of the more interesting speakers we had this semester.
• 

  Brian
  May 7th, 2012 on 12:00 pm

  I was excited for this last class. Being the former Mayor of New Orleans after the devastating hurricane Katrina, I was sure Ray Nagin had a lot to say. He started off with a little bit about his background, which surprised me. He grew up in New Orleans and played baseball and basketball in high school. He went to Tuskegee University in Alabama on a baseball scholarship and acquired his undergraduate degree in accounting. He moved back to New Orleans and then went to Texas, and then returned several years later. “Upon his return, he worked for Cox Communications and was promoted later to General Manager. He even tried to bring a hockey team to New Orleans! Since he was not a politician and strictly a businessman, he worked with Jim Carvin when running for mayor. Jim Carvin has assisted many mayors and has never failed any of them. He had never been in political office then jumped ahead pf everyone else and it made the people wonder about him. He started off by selling the airport and this move got the people of New Orleans to realize that he was going to make some changes. After Hurricane Katrina, Nagin stated that it is the people’s choice whether they want to come back to New Orleans and rebuild or not. This is where he got his “Chocolate City” reference from. It was originally the name of a song from a group called Parliament P Funk. He said the song was originally about Washington D.C. and he used it in New Orleans because some other people of high authority said they didn’t want everyone to come back. Because some people felt threatened to return home, Nagin made the statement to give those people a more welcoming feeling. He did a lot of business with George W. Bush and said that he is a very complex man. Mr. Nagin wishes he would have done more with the hospitals after Katrina. If he was still the mayor of New Orleans right now, his main focus would be the adolescents and youth of the city. He thinks that the teenage violence is because kids were stuck in the Superdome watching their mothers and grandmothers suffer and nobody cared about them. he would put very serious focus on the people. Give everybody educational and recreational chances to show that someone is out there and wants to help them. Get the police to handle the mental capacity of the city. He wants to motivate the Orleans Parish Police Department. He wants new, younger people to take over the responsibility as the Mayor of New Orleans. The Mayor is involved in every aspect of the city and signs every contract or bill that is presented. A strong quote about leadership: “If you empower your citizens, they won’t let you down.” My favorite quote from this last class was, “Never get to high and never get too low, because it is never as good or as bad as it seems.” I would say this was a great ending to the semester.
• 

  Sgaudin
  May 7th, 2012 on 5:15 pm

  This week’s speaker was former mayor Ray Nagon. I honestly do not follow politics as much as I should, mainly because of how confusing it can get. So needless to say I did not know much about the former mayor before he was interviewed in class. The only things I knew about him were what the media decided to focus on which we all know are mostly false assumptions, half truths and over-exaggerations. Having Mr. Nagin speak in our class gave me the opportunity to learn “the other side of the story.” I learned his background in business started with his accounting degree from Tuskegee University. From there he went to Cox Communications where he went from general manager to regional manager. He then tried his skills as an entrepreneur before returning back to Cox. Eventually he left Cox again to run for Mayor of New Orleans in 2002, winning the election.
• 

  Sgaudin
  May 7th, 2012 on 5:41 pm

  His background in business helped him lead a strong campaign winning over an unprecedented amount of people’s votes (85% approval rating). His business background also helped him clean up City Hall because he ran his office efficiently as he would a business. This was almost impossible to see (for me) before he came speak because of all the negative media calling him a corrupt leader and a crook. I learned that so much of politics is controlled by the business community, which is one of the reasons he received so much bad press. Taxi Cab Bureau was one of these corrupt communities that he led an anti-corruption campaign against. The media also twisted the facts during the Dallas meeting about Katrina. It was made to seem that Nagin wanted only certain parts of New Orleans allowed to move back into their homes, when in fact it was the business communities who wanted this so that it could fit their “future plan” for the city. I also learned that the former President Bush was given a false persona by the media. Bush had a false stereotype of being “not all there” when in fact Nagin stated that Bush is one of the smartest and most well informed individuals he’s ever met. Unfortunately the team surrounding him and informing him on his decisions were, for lack of a better word, bad. Many of the issues surrounding his role during Katrina were the faults of his advising team.
  Over all, from listening to Nagin, I learned that he was an effective leader who did wonders for New Orleans while he was in office and whose policies still affect New Orleans in a positive way today.
• 

  JessicaH
  May 7th, 2012 on 10:36 pm

  I have lived in New Orleans my entire life. The entire time that Mayor Ray Nagin was in office, I was very young, around age 9, and did not care too much for politics. Therefore, I did not get to see how he really was and ran New Orleans with my own eyes. I have heard plenty more bad things about him than good in recent years. Mayor Ray Nagin was nothing like what I was expecting him to be in person. I guess I expected him to be more professional and have more formal mannerisms in front of the class, considering he is the former Mayor of New Orleans, which is kind of a big deal. I don’t necessarily mean this in a good way either. One thing that Mr. Nagin said that I strongly disliked was that something was “retarded.” I cannot remember exactly what he was referring to, but I feel that anyone, especially the former Mayor of New Orleans, should not be calling something “retarded.” Just by him saying that, I understand why people were not too fond of him. I hope he realizes that saying such things could seriously offend people. I was also taken back by Nagin’s attitude while he was speaking to us. At certain points while he was speaking, Nagin very much seemed like he did not care to be in the classroom speaking to us. At other points, he seemed like he wanted to be there; for example, when he talked about getting involved in politics and to vote, he seemed like he really wanted to have a good influence on us. Furthermore, I still have mixed feelings about Ray Nagin. When he was asked about how he felt about George Bush being president, one of the things that Nagin said about Bush was that “he is an incredibly complex man.” It’s odd because I feel that Nagin is also an incredibly complex man.
• 

  JessicaH
  May 7th, 2012 on 10:37 pm

  From my understanding, Mayor Ray Nagin has not always been the most accepted of all politicians. Nagin was never a part of the system until running for mayor. Because of this, many politicians in the system did not like him or readily accept him. I believe that if he was qualified to do the job as mayor, it shouldn’t matter if he had previous experience in the political system. He focused a lot on the poverty rate, job skill training, and home ownership in New Orleans. Basically, Nagin was doing really good up until Hurricane Katrina occurred. I think that Ray Nagin had the best intentions for New Orleans and all of its inhabitants, but he had difficulty expressing that to people verbally and said the wrong things at times. The Dallas meeting was the real turning point of Nagin’s reputation. He took the heat from the 4% of all the people in New Orleans who chose not to evacuate for whatever reason. Nagin and his coworkers successfully got 96% of all people in New Orleans evacuated before the hurricane hit. After the hurricane, other politicians wanted to reengineer New Orleans and not let its previous inhabitants back into their houses. This is where Nagin’s bluntness and straight-to-the-point personality got him in trouble. He told those politicians “no”, that he would let them back into their homes in New Orleans and encourage them to rebuild better. This example shows that Nagin had the best intentions for the citizens of New Orleans, but he was too blunt and said the wrong things to the politicians. Another controversial issue that arose involving Nagin after the hurricane was when he called New Orleans a “Chocolate City”. He told us that his intentions were to give the African American citizens of New Orleans a warm welcome back because he heard that some of them felt that they weren’t welcome back to their own city. Many people in New Orleans took this offensively, and again, he had the best intentions for this city but came off to people wrong. So, all of the examples that I used in these blogs are the reasons why I have mixed feelings about Ray Nagin. I appreciate that he has good intentions for New Orleans, but he definitely could have worded things a bit differently to come off to people as non-confrontational.
• 

  MayaG
  May 7th, 2012 on 11:45 pm

  When Mayor Ray Nagin first entered office in 2002 I was only eleven years old. I didn’t know a thing about politicis, but even then I definitely knew who Ray Nagin was. Since 2002 I’ve heard many opinions about him, from that of the media to that of my own parents. It seemed to me that the media made him out to be all bad and his supporters, like my parents, made him out to be all good. I had been waiting all semester for this class. I was ready to analyze Mr. Nagin myself and form my own opinions of him. I did not know what to expect, but this was definitely my favorite class all semester.

  The first thing I learned was that Mr. Nagin had no previous political experience before running for mayor, only a background in business. Because of this, Mr. Nagin was not trained in BS like seasoned politicians are. The straight-forwardness that Mr. Nagin posses turned out to be double-edged sword which ultimately lead to him being driven out of office. A quote from Mr. Nagin himself was “I’m too direct to be a politician.” Ray Nagin gained a reputation for telling it like it is and saying exactly what he was thinking, but this is just the type of independence that others in power try to shut out of “shadow governments”. I also learned that Mayor Ray Nagin received 85% of the crossover vote, which was the highest in this city’s history. No matter what happened during or after his time as Mayor of New Orleans or your personal opinion of him, that was a momentous accomplishment.
• 

  MayaG
  May 7th, 2012 on 11:45 pm

  Of course the famous Chocolate City speech was touched on and Mr. Nagin told his side with no type of shame or hesitation. He did not deny that that message was pro-Black telling them to return to the city, but he also said it was not meant to be anti-White telling them not to return. Other big names had been reporting to various sources that “certain people” were not welcome in the city after Katrina, and they would not return if these “certains” did. In response to this, Mr. Nagin did the Chocolate City speech as a way to encourage everyone to return and help to rebuild our city no matter their color. Mr. Nagin said that a big problem in New Orleans is that “The old heads are running things.” I learned during his lecture that he is a very big advocate for young people stepping up and being the change we want to see. It is no secret that this city is stuck in the past and it wants to stay that way. But we cannot let that happen, we have to step up instead of sitting back and watching our city fall apart at the hands of people who don’t care. Mr. Nagin also made the point that “they don’t care about [things] as long as it’s not happening downtown”. During the Final Four, 800 of the 1,000 police officers were stationed in the downtown/ French Quarter area. That is absolutely absurd. It’s no wonder the crime rates rose so quickly in other parts of the city, because no one was there to control or stop it. Yes, the French Quarter is a very important part of our city but it is not the only part. Many politicians here only care about keeping that area safe and thriving and to hell with the rest of New Orleans.

  One student asked the bold question “What would you do if you were mayor now?” Mayor Ray Nagin gave three points 1. Focus on the young black males 2. Get the feds and state to focus on mental health 3. Get NOPD back on track (they haven’t purchased new squad cars since Nagin left office). Ray Nagin spoke very openly and candidly about everything that was thrown at him; he held no punches. I was very
• 

  Brianna Foster
  May 8th, 2012 on 9:49 am

  When I heard that Ray Nagin was going to be our guest for the last class, I was very interested to see what kinds of issues would be discussed in the classroom involving post Katrina and the Chocolate City. To my surprise, the interview was very laid back and former mayor Ray Nagin was very personable and friendly.

  The first thing that Mr. Nagin covered was his lack of experience as a politician. After explaining how the position of mayor just kind of fell into his lap as a new opportunity to expand his influence, what I had heard in the media and much of the confusion about former Mayor Nagin’s intentions seemed clear.

  Mr. Nagin explained to us the business model on which he ran the city and all of the great plans that were in progress before the hurricane. Considering his lack of experience in political office, I would say that I am very impressed by what Mr. Nagin tried to do with the city. Hurricane Katrina happening upon us during his term was something that would have been trying for any mayor, and considering Mr. Nagin’s lack of experience, I think he did a fine job with what he knew: relating to the people of New Orleans, and serving as a motivator to our return home. Hearing the Chocolate City story made me feel empathy for Mr. Nagin because of the seemingly harmless manner in which he used the figure of speech, and hearing him tell the story was quite entertaining.

  What I liked most about former Mayor Nagin was that he set an example to all of us who are not in political science that we can still become involved in politics and bring something real to our city. I think Mr. Nagin is a fine example of a citizen who is actually interested in improving his city and being a voice for his people.
• 

  SarahM
  May 8th, 2012 on 2:19 pm

  I did not live in New Orleans when Ray Nagin was mayor, but I heard horrible things about him through the news of Katrina and the after affects. I can’t fully judge him as the man he is because he gave off a different persona then I thought he would be based on all the criticism and controversy. I still feel as if he justified all the troubles based off his lack of experience and the troubles of the office.From my understanding though Mr. Nagin was not really favored in politics because he had never held and office and had no government experience. He did run the Cox Cable offices for all of southern Louisiana which made him very experienced on how the media worked and as he said was not afraid of the cameras, which is a good thing when trying to get your name out to the public. From what he said during his first term he did make a major impact on the poverty level because they focused on single family households which I really respect for him coming into a disorganized and dated office system. For me being very naive to the politics of New Orleans, Mr. Nagin seemed as if he worked to his best ability to improve the city of New Orleans and I feel for him in the sense he received all this criticism for small comments he made in a light hearted manner because he ran things the way he wanted too. Coming into an office there seems as if you can only focus on a small amount of things at once to fully accomplish them and get them done properly which I feel was his thinking.
• 

  SarahM
  May 8th, 2012 on 2:34 pm

  Regarding Katrina and afterwards is where I am more educated on. I heard through the media that New Orleans was not letting certain people back into their homes and it seemed as if it was the more impoverished areas they were saying this about. Which, is completely wrong and unfair this city is there home and you can not ban someone from there house because you feel as if they are a problem. Well contrary to what the media said, Ray Nagin felt the same as I do. This is where his problem came in because he wanted to welcome and allow everyone back, while the business council did not want too. There is all this talk of shadow government and this would be an example of this because he did not want to follow the requests on keeping certain families out of New Orleans. There seemed to be a microscope on Mr. Nagin and what he said. It seemed as if specific businesses were trying to ruin his name or threaten to not come back to New Orleans if everyone was let back into the city. I think people don’t fully grasp that the businesses, especially major ones, have a huge impact on culture in New Orleans which gives them a bigger voice in a sense. This is what lead to the chocolate city comment which was not meant to be a racial comment, although the media portrayed it that way. When asked Mr. Nagin said he wouldn’t take back the comment because it encouraged some people who were discouraged to come back to their homes.

  The most interesting part of this lecture was when he talked about his experience with President Bush. I thought he would bash the president for the troubles New Orleans had with FEMA and the Presidents infamous fly over which caused a lot of controversy to people of the city. Instead of talking about President Bush he talked about how he was always prepared and tried his hardest to do what he could. But, was seemingly persuaded to do differently than he wanted by his team. He also talked of how Bush was a complex man and did not care what anyone thought of him, once he made a decision that was the one he stuck with.

  All together, this was my favorite lecture and I thought Ray Nagin was a very interesting and personable man despite all that you hear about it, he had/has great visions for this city and only has love for New Orleans. I can only imagine how it feels to have the country looking at you after a disaster and I think Mr. Nagin handled it the best he could and to me that is inspirational.
• 

  LukeG
  May 8th, 2012 on 10:14 pm

  Mayor Nagin: the Ointment & the Dead Fly

  A response to Mayor Ray Nagin’s interview

  Leadership and charisma are only two of the many defining characteristics which make former New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, someone who commands the attention of his listeners. He had no problem maintaining the ears and eyes of everyone in the room in a way that no previous speaker this semester could. As a man who carries such authority with his presence, Mr. Nagin also carries much responsibility. It is in this heavy level of responsibility that the truest form of a man’s character shows itself.

  Having accomplished a tremendous repertoire of successes as a businessman, Mr. Nagin extended his successes to the Mayor’s Race for the city of New Orleans and was ultimately elected with respectable margins. This greater level of authority brought Mayor Nagin’s character under an entirely new set of spotlights. His leadership and charisma did flourish for a period in his role as Mayor; however, when his character was under the greatest pressure and spotlight, it also unveiled a flaw – one that would ultimately stain his reputation forever.

  There is a word of wisdom from the Book of Ecclesiastes that states, “A dead fly in the perfumist’s ointment gives off a stinking odor; so does a little folly, to he who is in a position of wisdom and honor.” Unfortunately, Mr. Nagin was caught with a “dead fly” in the prestigious “ointment” of his reputation. Although he has taken steps towards repairing his tarnished reputation, the negative impact of his previous choices are coming to light also – including his connecting of family businesses to lucrative government contracts. What Mr. Nagin is doing by speaking and writing about his experiences (both good and bad) are the best things that he can do to rebuild his character and win back the hearts of his followers.
• 

  zach
  May 9th, 2012 on 1:48 pm

  Before this class, all I had known about Ray Nagin was pretty much anything I obtained from the news pre, during, and post Katrina. Which was a while ago and I’ve matured much since then. Mr. Nagin was my favorite guest and his interview impressed me a lot and enlightened me on many things about our city.
  Before he did anything involving running for the Mayor of New Orleans, he was a normal businessman. After working in Texas, he returned to his hometown of New Orleans and became the GM of Cox Cable. During his time back he did many great things like bringing the Brass, a minor league hockey team, to the city. Eventually Mr. Nagin noticed that the citizens of New Orleans were not happy about city politics, and tried to find what type of leader the citizens were in need of. When deciding to run for Mayor, he used different viewpoints than normal to get noticed in his debates. And from then on the rest is history.
  What intrigued me the most about his interview was the fact that he pointed out how Mardi Gras plays a particular role in New Orleans’ politics with a form of “Shadow Government”. He did not go into much detail about it rather than the fact that it’s the city’s “big shots” that run Mardi Gras and they can use it to play out in city governing. As he went on about the next question, I sat and thought about how much Mardi Gras really does means to New Orleans, and how certain people could absolutely use it to their advantage. That was very interesting to me and I would like to find out more about it.
  What I was waiting to hear the most in class that day was jut anything to do with Mr. Nagin’s “Chocolate City” comments. I was very surprised with Mr. Nagin’s reasoning behind it, and I felt kind of bad for him. But I agree, he couldn’t have picked a more awkward time to try and throw his normal words into a news conference. What had me thinking the most was why in the world would anyone try to talk the Mayor of the city, mid-crisis, to make an attempt to “re-construct” the city by not allowing certain residents back. That is absolutely ridiculous; New Orleans is New Orleans because of the people that live in it no matter what others would think of them. Then I made a connection, those same people trying to “re-construct” the city, are most likely the same ones that use Mardi Gras to play out their “shadow government”.
  Ray Nagin pointed out that New Orleans politics are corrupt, and says his focus now is on the young citizens, which I can agree that is a good start to righting New Orleans government.
• 

  ShainnaM
  May 9th, 2012 on 4:12 pm

  It’s funny how an actual conversation with a person you’ve “heard so much about” can alter every thing you’ve once thought. Ray Nagin was one of those types people. I had always heard things about him, some good, some bad, but I had never been to one of his press conferences or ever had any sit down conversation like we were able to have in class. As privileged as I felt that he would voluntarily come to our class and speak with us, he didn’t make us feel as though he was this powerful unapproachable type of person. He was this very cool, laid back type of guy. Nothing was off limits to him and that’s how you know you’re dealing with an honest person. One thing I will say was that he was definitely was as comical as he appeared.
• 

  ShainnaM
  May 9th, 2012 on 4:12 pm

  One of the things that stood out to me most in this lecture was one of Ray Nagin’s most criticized comments “the chocolate city”. It’s crazy how you could say something so many times and it could be overlooked, but then one day some one can decide that they want to be offended y what you are saying. After Hurricane Katrina many black New Orleanians were dehumanized. They were viewed as objects rather than people. They weren’t even welcomed back into the city that they had invested so much time sweat and tears. It was time that someone stood up for those people. The people who may not have been able to make it to the town hall meetings and voice their opinions because they were displaced, but Ray Nagin did. Although the original saying came from a song, Ray Nagin made black New Orleanians, even if it was for a moment, feel important. I respect that to the upmost. Irvin Mayfield definitely saved the best for last!
• 

  MelissaM
  May 9th, 2012 on 4:26 pm

  Having no prior knowledge of Mayor Nagin except that some people strongly disagreed with how he handled Katrina, I didn’t know what to expect, because every politician is controversial to someone or other. I can’t say many intelligent things about him as a politician because I am not involved with the politics here. However, as a person, I liked him a lot. He seemed to have a very realistic view on everything he talked about, which is great for New Orleans in regards to how he said “this town hates change”, even when they need it desperately. This makes it clear as to why he had 85% approval rate. Maybe it was just because I’d never heard the accomplishments of a mayor first hand, but it seemed as though he was able to do a lot of positive things for this place. He said that he campaigned by looking at current issues and speaking of them in a different way. If only every politician did this, because maybe issues that have been around forever would actually be resolved if they were looked at in a different light. It was great that he was able to create many job opportunities by shifting the focus of that issue towards single parent homes, home ownership and poverty.
• 

  MelissaM
  May 9th, 2012 on 4:27 pm

  I loved that he didn’t care what people thought of the way he did things. Stating that he didn’t recommend being a politician like himself was very encouraging in the sense that in order to get somewhere in life, you gotta put yourself out there. There were a few other things like this that he enlightened us with. Such as how he is straight forward and cuts to the chase, and how he brought out deep dark parts of NOLA that people don’t talk about. The stuff that people don’t wanna talk about are often some of the most important. My favorite piece of advice that he gave us was in answer to my question of how in the hell he managed the stress of being mayor, seeing as I feel like I’m going to explode from the stress brought on only from college! This was advice that will stick with me: never get too high or too low, read the Bible, and workout.
• 

  VlainV
  May 9th, 2012 on 4:47 pm

  I was pleasantly surprised by Mr. Ray Nagin. I can remember being in high school hearing about all the crazy things he did or said on TV, but I never really understood what was going on. It wasn’t until I got to college and really started to look into the matter that i realized Mr. Nagin was just an overworked frustrated black man living and leading in the middle of a devastating natural disaster that shook the nation. Many people get the impression that politicians are invincible and that they can do no wrong but in reality they’re just like us. Politicians get stressed and have bad days too and they might slip up and say something that wold make them want to put their foot in their mouth. The best thing to do as a citizen is to support your leaders and representatives and try to understand the weight of responsibility they have not only to their city but to their family and friends too. In the interview with Mr. Nagin I learned that you really have to look into situations before you judge a person from what you hear from media resources. Mr. Nagin is a father, a son, a husband, a friend, he’s just a man trying to fulfill his purpose in life.
• 

  Corey Allen Worman
  May 9th, 2012 on 10:06 pm

  Ray Nagin was certainly the most interesting guest. The atmosphere before class was sort of tense, and when he was finally there it was like “Oh shit! He’s here!” Regardless of what you thought about him, its was a big deal to have him there. I knew he had to have given this sort of talk, answered these sorts of questions a million times before, but it still felt like this was a special event, and it was, for him to take time out of his day, to give this time for free, something he normally charges for, was special.
  Regardless of what the reality is, when Nagin talked about his election, about the lack of good candidates, voter apathy, and his decision that something had to be done I was right there with him. When he talked about the condition his team found the Mayoral office in, and what they did to rebuild it, I was down right enthralled. I still feel like Nagin rebuilt the office, the system, and without him, it would still be broken and abandoned today. Rebuilding the connection lines, the fiber net cables, moving the office into modern technology, it was great and I still believe it.
  I asked him about Bob Brown, the chairman of the Business Council, which he mildly suggested was part of the “shadow council” which didn’t want poor blacks to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He described the meeting he had with business leaders in New Orleans who didn’t want poor blacks to return. He denied them outright. I myself really don’t know what to think, but it certainly seems possible. This is what the “chocolate city” was about. That the black community would not be kicked out to serve the wealthy interests in New Orleans. He didn’t really say anything about Bob Brown, just that he business council has some very powerful people/corporations on it. I am generally suspicious of corporations, so all this rang true to me, but in the end I don’t have a gods-eye view on it. The fact that Bob Brown was the first guest, and Ray Nagin was the last, was really interesting. It would be incredibly interesting to ask Brown.
  Talking with a classmate before class the general sense was that he was great before Katrina, and simply “cracked” after. The trips to the Caribbean, just kind of shutting down, seemed to indicate a brokenness. We didn’t really get a chance to really question on this further. It was such a privilege to have him in class, it would have been rude to suggests that we would have done better in such an insane situation. I simply didn’t feel like judging a mayor of a major city when the hardest decision I have to make is what video game to play.
  I tried to ask Nagin what he thought about the changes in America that have make it easier for corporations to abuse their power, but Irvin jumped right on this and defended corporations. I’m still not really sure what to make of this. I think I am perceived as a communist or something (I’m not, actually pretty libertarian).
  I really liked when he shared his experience of President Bush, that despite his appearance as kind of weak minded, he was actually extremely precise and intelligent in person. This is really interesting as I have heard Bush’s appearance as a dimwit was an act.
• 

  Casie
  May 10th, 2012 on 10:48 am

  I missed this class, and from everyone else’s blogs I am very sorry that I did.

  It seems that he changed many peoples minds on who he is and what kind of a mayor he tried to be for the city of New Orleans. Some of the outcomes of his actions were blown up by the media after Katrina, but in the end he is just a man, who at the time was under a microscope. We all make comments that we wish we could take back, as does he. In the end, Nagin helped bring New Orleans forward, converting to computerized systems from paper. And he did his absolute best in a situation noone knew how to handle or even where to start. He just wanted everyone to return home that wanted to and that is honorable. I know that if I was in a position of power at that time I would not have know what to do and looking at New Orleans today, he couldn’t have done too much wrong because we are thriving and growing. You have to take a close look at the city to see the visual devastation, that many still feel in their hearts. I’m sure Ray Nagin was a great speaker I am kicking myself for missing this class.
• 

  VernonB
  May 14th, 2012 on 8:17 am

  Mr. Nagin, a new orleans native, was definitely the guest that I was most excited about seeing. I knew that he had a career before becoming mayor of New Orleans, But never realized how extensive of a career it was. I never knew that he had started businesses along with working at the top of the corporate ladder with Cox Communications. I think many people came into the the class this day with adverse opinions of Mayor Nagin and the choices made during His time in office. I appreciated Mr. Nagin’s honesty and candidness during the entire interview. He admitted to his mistakes as well as exposed the truth behind the rumors he had inherited. The one thing that stood out to me the most about Mr. Nagin’s interview was when he told us that we could Turn the nation on its head and do away with the politically energized governmental system of today. This showed me that not only could I do this in government but also, in any other area of life that I had enough courage to delve into!

• Welcome to Irvin Mayfield's Blog!

  Thanks for dropping by! Feel free to join the discussion by leaving comments, and stay updated by subscribing to the RSS feed. See ya around!

• Recent Posts

  • 10 Volunteer Hours
  • “What does this class mean to me?”
  • Final Class: James Bernazzani
  • May 24: LaToya Cantrell
  • April 17: Lee Reid
  • Week 9: Barbara Major
  • Week 8: Bill Rouselle
  • Week 7: Chef John Besh
  • Week 5: Former Chief Warren Riley
  • Week 6: Quint Davis

• Browse by tags

• Categories

  • Contributing Bloggers
  • Course Information
  • Weekly Guests
  • Weekly Topics

• Meta

  • Log in
  • Valid XHTML