New Orleans residents in Memphis who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina will be able to voice their opinions about the future of New Orleans Sunday at The University of Memphis.
The Urban Land Institute and the American Planning Association will host a town hall meeting Sunday at 3 p.m. at The U of M in the Faulkner Lounge in the University Center. The meeting will discuss the rebuilding of New Orleans and is in partnership with Mayor Ray Nagin's "Bring Back New Orleans" Commission.
The forum is the second in a series of five town hall meetings that are being held throughout the southeast.
Heather Sparkes, senior planner for the city of Collierville and section president for the Tennessee APA, is helping host the forum. She said the meeting will be a chance for New Orleans city leaders to talk to their citizens.
"They want to talk to evacuees and see what they want to do with the city," Sparkes said.
She also said the forum is open to more than just Katrina evacuees.
"Anyone interested in the topic can come and give input and ideas," she said.
Laurin McCracken, a marketing and strategies officer for Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, represents the Memphis chapter of the ULI. He said there are two major goals for the event.
"This is a vehicle to allow evacuees to participate in rebuilding their city," he said. "It is also a chance for city leaders to try to get a handle on where the evacuees are."
He said that knowledge will help the city determine how to attract evacuees back to New Orleans.
The event is the public part of a series of planning sessions the ULI and APA have been conducting. The sessions bring together city planners, architects and other experts to plan the future of Gulf Coast communities.
Sparkes said Nagin will not be present at the event, but two members of the Bring Back New Orleans Commission, Anthony Patton and David White, will. Nagin spoke recently at Mississippi Boulevard Church in Memphis.
Patton is CEO of EBONetworks (the name is a combination of the words ebony and networks).
"He is a young, brilliant, African-American leader in the community," McCracken said. EBONetworks is a marketing firm that focuses on African-American issues including attracting black tourists to the New Orleans area.
White is the owner of several McDonald's franchises.
"Both of these men will be able to take information back and use it to really help the city of New Orleans," McCracken said.
McCracken is optimistic of what can be gained from the meeting.
"We believe in what the commission is doing," he said.
Sparkes said she also looks forward to the future of the Gulf Coast.
"We hope more and more people are able to move back," she said. "The meeting will give evacuees hope and encouragement."
