80 Quotes by Ray Nagin

People are saying it's too early to bring back jazz, the gumbo and the red beans, ... If it's too early, when is the right time?

Let me just say it one more time and make sure everybody understands it ... We will rebuild this entire city,

We have the most significant challenge of any city in American history and they are dismissing ideas ad nauseam, ... Nobody is coming up with better ideas or alternative ideas, and it's really kind of teeing me off.

We're learning as we go. We're a lot smarter this time. We understand what it takes to mobilize away from the threat of a hurricane.

We want to bring New Orleans back. Rita set us back about three to five days, but we are very much on schedule, ... We will begin the re-entry plan with business owners and residents of Algiers. Then we will stop, assess our progress, and move on to the previously targeted zip codes.

The reality of Katrina didn't really strike me until the first time I flew up in a helicopter and saw areas of the city that I had ridden my bicycle as a youth being fully flooded.

When people are dying, bureaucracy should be thrown out of the water.

There have been too many people who have said we were dead. There were too many people who said we were way too divisive. There were too many people who thought this city should go in a different direction. But the people, the people have said they like the direction we're going in and we have run number one today.

We believe our re-entry plan properly balances safety concerns and the needs of our citizens to begin rebuilding their lives,