This was certainly an eventful weekend for New Orleans.  Mitch Landrieu was elected Mayor on Saturday, and, on Sunday, the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.  Each event is being hailed as symbolic of a new future for a city just a few months shy of the 5^th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Much has been made of the metaphor of the New Orleans Saints as a healing salve for the Big Easy. Founded as an expansion franchise in the NFL in 1967, the Saints were a perennially moribund franchise, failing to win a single post-season game for their first 23 years of existence. One of only a few NFL teams never to play in the Super Bowl, the Saints made an inspiring run in 2006, coming within one win of the Super Bowl.  For many in the city, Katrina helped to forge a unique bond between the city and its team, with the team’s triumph lifting the collective spirits of all New Orleanians and launching Mardi Gras festivities a week early.  It is a wonderful story, and, without question, the Saints have played an important role in restoring the the morale and swagger of the city – and just about everyone outside the state of Indiana was rooting for the Saints to win.  However, we must remember that the realities of neighborhood blight and poverty and the uncertainties about redevelopment plans (including gentrification) did not disappear with the hoisting of the Lombardi trophy.  Governor Jindal, President Obama, and the newly elected mayor have a great deal of recovery and reform work still ahead of them. So, before we get too excited, let us consider just a few things that the new mayor will have to grapple with.

As recently as last November, a study from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center found that 41% of all New Orleans renters spend more than half of their pre-tax income on rent and utilities. On the bright side, the proportion of renters to homeowners has declined since Katrina, meaning that more people in the city own their homes. Nevertheless,  these statistics can be misleading because the increase in home ownership is partially attributable to the decision by many of the poorer Katrina survivors that they either cannot or do not want to return to the city.  Statistics show that the median family income for the city has increased, but figuring out exactly how incomes have shifted within the African American community specifically is more tricky. In May of 2009, ridership on New Orleans public transportation had reached only 43% of its pre-Katrina level.  This suggests that, while much progress has been made, there remains a great deal of work to be done – work that is contentious because it requires difficult decisions about how to rebuild in the Lower Ninth Ward. And, then, there is education reform, a hot button political issue in a city that now has more than 60% of all public school students attending charter schools, a development which led Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to remark last week that Katrina was the best thing to ever happen to the NOLA education system.  So, while the Saints have reached the pinnacle of sports, playing all season in a beautifully renovated Super Dome, the challenge for Mayor elect Landrieu is about much more than X’s and O’s.

Mitch Landrieu appears well-positioned to lead the city – he is well connected throughout the state and his family is perhaps the most powerful in Louisiana politics.  His sister, Senator Mary Landrieu, recently made headlines by holding health care reform hostage in exchange for $300 million for Louisiana (though to her credit, she did end up supporting the bill after securing some much needed money for her state).   Equally significant is that Mitch will become the first white mayor of New Orleans since his and Mary’s father, Moon Landrieu, left office in 1979.  Racial politics are among the city’s most dicey issues that Landrieu must navigate as he works towards fulfilling his campaign promises.  Many argue that without the demographic changes caused by Katrina, Landrieu would not have been elected (this was his third campaign for Mayor).   Yet while the racial politics of the city are complicated and enduring, they may also provide a mechanism by which historically disenfranchised New Orleans residents can hold their new mayor accountable.  The Mayor elect worked hard to attract African American voters, and should fully realize that he needs their continued support to govern effectively.  Mitch Landrieu consistently called for voters to support him in “striking a blow for unity,” and so the new Mayor will be judged by his ability to deliver real gains for all city residents, particularly low- and moderate-income families still struggling to regain their footing after the storm.