New Orleans jazzes up for future

NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans plans a new US$700 million ($1.1 billion) jazz district and central park, aiming to use the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina as an opportunity to rebuild the damaged core of the city.

Standing in front of the still-shut Superdome stadium, city and state officials described the 8ha National Jazz Centre and Jazz Park: a performance centre, museum complex and park that would provide a new cultural anchor for the city known as the home of jazz.

Nine months after Katrina swept through the city, the area to be transformed is only partly functional and has little foot traffic. The Hyatt hotel, which served as a command centre for Mayor Ray Nagin during the storm and will be redeveloped in the plan, is riddled with broken windows.

Workers still are repairing the roof of the Superdome, the stadium that served as the shelter of last resort for thousands in last year's storm.

Supporters hope their plan will attract more residential and mixed-use development by better promoting New Orleans' musical heritage. The park would link the Hyatt and the Superdome while an extended trolley line would run to the historic French Quarter.

Nagin estimated the project would take two or three years.

- REUTERS