Did you hear the one about New Orleans’ Mayor C. Ray Nagin?

In Chicago recently to address a convention, he was walking down Michigan Avenue and noticed in the window of a tailor shop a beautiful sport coat. He walked inside and asked the proprietor if he had it in his size. The man said, “Each one is specially made, sir. I’d be happy to make you one.”

The mayor said, “I’m just in the city overnight. Let me buy the material and I’ll have it made back in New Orleans.” He brought the material home on the plane.

A few days later, the mayor’s tailor came by City Hall. He measured the mayor, studied the material, and said, “Mister Mayor, would you like a pair of pants also?”

Nagin said, “I’d love a pair of pants. Are you sure there’s enough material?”

“I’m sure of it. In fact, I can probably get you two pairs. And how about a vest?”

“Now wait a minute,” said the mayor. “I bought just enough material in Chicago for a sports coat. Now you’re telling me there’s enough there for a sports coat, two pairs of pants, and a vest. How could that be?”

The tailor said, “Mr. Mayor, there’s something you need to understand. You are a much bigger man in Chicago than you are in New Orleans.”

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The most historic hotel in this city for generations has been the one known through the years as the Roosevelt, and most recently as the Fairmont. It has been shuttered since Katrina, with the owners making no plans to reopen. Tuesday’s Times-Picayune announced that the 114-year-old structure is about to be sold, and the new owners have plans to rebuild and reopen it as a Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

The hurricane flooded its basement with 10 feet of water which destroyed the mechanical equipment. The wind blew rain into nearly every guest room. After the storm, workers began cleaning out and drying out the building when they discovered the hotel had sustained far more damage than originally thought.

A local hotelier says the city needs this hotel back if we’re going to attract a certain class of visitor, but occupancy will be a concern for a few years.

The August 2007 issue of National Geographic features a photograph of New Orleans on its cover, and this large question: “New Orleans: Should it rebuild?” Across the picture, we read: “levees failing/storms increasing/ground sinking/seas rising.”

In a large sense, it’s a moot question because the city is rebuilding at this very moment. Almost 24 hours a day, people are at work. On one block, Mr. Boudreaux is hanging sheetrock in his house. In the next block, the LeBlancs are landscaping their yard. Vacant lots in the next block indicate where the Bourgeois and Landry families demolished their ruined homes. A new modular house is going up across the street. The heavy duty construction trucks burning up the through streets testify to the rebuilding going on here. It’s happening.

Whether it should or not is another question. And basically pointless, since people are going to do what they’re going to do.

It’s like the questions we used to field from outside religious leaders: “How many of your churches are you planning to bring back?” and “What is your strategy for which churches to restore and rebuild?”

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