With Hurricane Rita behind us, the task at hand is to bring New Orleans back. We want people to return and help us rebuild the city,

We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared,

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.

What I'm trying to figure out is, should we bypass all the political stuff -- you know, these people jumping up and down every time we propose something -- and just go straight to the people,

We will have life. We will have commerce. We will have people getting back into their normal modes of operation.

And I don't care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.