New Orleans

City of New Orleans
Flag of City of New Orleans Flag Official seal of City of New Orleans Seal
Nickname(s):  "The Crescent City", "The Big Easy", "The City That Care Forgot", "NOLA" (acronym for New Orleans, LA)
Location in the State of Louisiana and the United States Location in the State of Louisiana and the United States
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Orleans
Founded	1718
Government
• Mayor	Ray Nagin (D)
Elevation	−6.5 to 20 ft ( m)
Population  (2000)
• City	484,674
• Metro	1,319,367
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
Website	http://www.cityofno.com/

New Orleans (pronounced New OR-linz in American English; French La Nouvelle-Orléans, pronounced in standard accent [[Media:La Nouvelle-Orleans.ogg|/la nuvɛl ɔʀleɑ̃/]]) is a major United States port city and historically the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana along the Mississippi River. The city is bordered by Lake Pontchartrain to the north and the Gulf of Mexico to the east and is coextensive with Orleans Parish. It is named after Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. New Orleans is known for its multicultural heritage as well as its music and cuisine. It is considered the birthplace of jazz.

Its status as a world-famous tourist destination is due in part to its architecture, music, cuisine, its annual Mardi Gras, and other celebrations and festivals. It has been called the "most unique city in America".

The city's several nicknames are illustrative:

• Crescent City alludes to the course of the Mississippi River around and through the city
• The Big Easy was possibly a reference by musicians in the early 1900s to the relative ease of finding work there and also due to the less tolerant alcohol restrictions. The name also comes as New Orleans is a major city and was at one time "one of the cheapest places in America to live" . The term came into popular usage throughout the United States in the wake of the 1987 film The Big Easy which was set in New Orleans [3].
• The City that Care Forgot refers to the outwardly easy-going, carefree nature of many of the residents.
• America's Most Interesting City appears on welcome signs at the city limits.
• Hollywood South in reference to the number of films, big and small, shot in the city since 2002. Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made New Orleans their home with the purchase of a home in the French Quarter and also the building of a new complex movie studio to be built in the Treme area of New Orleans.

The Greater New Orleans population was approximately 1.4 million people prior to Hurricane Katrina (the metro area had rebounded to about 950,000 residents by January 2006). Within the city limits of New Orleans itself, the population was 484,674 people (according to the 2000 U.S. census). Since Hurricane Katrina, the population within the city limits of New Orleans itself has been estimated to be be as low as 191,000 (as of February 2007), not counting the large number of reconstruction workers currently residing in the city. For more information, see the section on Demographics below.

History

Main article: History of New Orleans

Beginnings through the 19th century

Sign at Jackson Square in the French Quarter

La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. In 1763, the French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire and remained under Spanish control for 40 years. Most of the surviving architecture of the French Quarter dates from this Spanish period. Louisiana reverted to French control in 1801, but two years later Napoleon sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The city grew rapidly, with influxes of Americans, French and Creole French.

New Orleans also was once part of the Florida territory in what was once known as West Florida.

During the War of 1812 the British sent a force to conquer the city. The British were defeated by American forces led by Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815.

As a principal port, New Orleans had a leading role in the slave trade, while at the same time having the most prosperous community of free persons of color in the South.

The population of the city doubled in the 1830s, and by 1840, New Orleans had become the wealthiest city in the nation, and was the third most populous.

Early in the American Civil War, New Orleans was captured by the Union. This action spared the city the destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South.

See also: New Orleans in the Civil War

1888 German map of New Orleans

File:NewOrleansCBDfromUptown.jpg

A view across Uptown New Orleans, with the Central Business District in the background (1990s).

Twentieth Century

In the early 20th century, New Orleans was a progressive major city whose most portentous development was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Urban development theretofore was largely limited to higher ground along natural river levees and bayous. Wood's pump system allowed the city to expand into low-lying areas. Over the 20th century, rapid subsidence, both natural and human-induced, left these newly-populated areas several feet below sea level.

New Orleans was vulnerable to flooding even before the age of negative elevation. In the late 20th century, however, scientists and New Orleans residents gradually became aware of the city's increased vulnerability. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 had killed dozens of residents even though the majority of the city remained dry. The rain-induced 1995 flood demonstrated the weakness of the pumping system.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

New Orleans, like many coastal and river delta cities, has long been vulnerable to flooding. By the time Hurricane Katrina approached the city at the end of August 2005, most residents had evacuated. Storm surge pushed ashore by the hurricane caused the city to suffer the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. Floodwalls, called "levees," constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed, and 80% of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of remaining residents were rescued by helicopter or otherwise made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana Superdome or the Morial Convention Center. Over 1,500 people died.

The city was declared off-limits to residents while clean-up efforts began. The approach of Hurricane Rita caused repopulation efforts to be postponed, and the Lower Ninth Ward was reflooded by Rita's storm surge. By October 1, parts of the city accounting for about one-third of the population of New Orleans had been reopened.

See also: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and Drainage in New Orleans

Post Disaster Revival

As of December 2006 most estimates put the city of New Orleans at about half of its pre-Katrina population levels. It is understood by most demographers, city officials and the like that more residents are going to return to New Orleans over a period of time. Efforts continue to rebuild infrastructure, pick up hurricane related debris, and restore a level of normalcy to the residents of New Orleans. Most of the residents that are still displaced continue to wait for federal assistance in the form of Kathleen Blanco's "Road Home" program, Small Business Administration loans and other forms of financial assistance to return to their home regions.

Several major tourist events as well as other forms of revenue for the city of New Orleans have returned. The National Association of Realtors held its annual convention in New Orleans as planned before Hurricane Katrina. With over 25,000 attendees, this was the largest convention in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. The Bayou Classic, the traditional football game between Southern University vs Grambling University returned in November 2006 after being displaced to Houston, Texas for its November 2005 date. The Essence Music Festival has returned to the Crescent City for its July 2007 date after being displaced to Houston for its July 2006 date, along with other major events such as Mardi Gras, the Jazz and Heritage Festival, etc (which were never displaced). The National Football League has made a commitment to the city of New Orleans with the return of the New Orleans Saints, following speculation of a move to San Antonio, Texas or Los Angeles, California after Hurricane Katrina, and also a possible 2012 or 2013 Super Bowl. The National Basketball Association has made a commitment to the Big Easy with the return of New Orleans Hornets, part time in the 2006-2007 season (one game per month) and full time for the 2007-2008 season and even granting New Orleans the 2008 NBA All Star Game, which usually generated millions of dollars in revenue for host cities. Several national travel guides have once again listed New Orleans as one of the top five places to visit in the country.

Geography

Vertical cross-section of New Orleans, showing maximum levee height of 23 feet (7 m).

A true-color satellite image of New Orleans taken on NASA's Landsat 7

New Orleans is located at 29°57′53″N 90°4′14″W (29.964722, -90.070556)Template:GR on the banks of the Mississippi River, approximately 100 miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 907 km² (350.2 mi²). 467.6 km² (180.6 mi²) of it is land and 439.4 km² (169.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 48.45% water.

The city is located in the Mississippi Plain, mostly between the Mississippi River in the south and Lake Pontchartrain in the north. The area along the river is characterized by ridges and hollows. Fields atop the ridges along the river are referred to as the "frontlands." The land contour slopes away from the frontlands to the "backlands", comprised of clay and silt.

The city of New Orleans has the lowest elevation in the state of Louisiana, and the third lowest point in the United States, after Death Valley and the Salton Sea. Much of the city is one to ten feet (0.3 to 3 m) below sea level. Areas above sea level are primarily adjacent to the Mississippi River. These were the areas developed before 1900. Rainwater is pumped into Lake Pontchartrain via a series of canals lined by levees, dikes, and floodwalls. Because of the city's high water table, most houses do not have basements. In the cemeteries, most crypts are above ground. The city has considered passing a building code that would require all new residences being constructed on negatively elevated ground to have a garage and storage level on the first floor to protect people's living spaces from floodwaters.

Cityscape

New Orleans' skyline seen from Tulane University located Uptown in Oct. of 2006

New Orleans' skyline seen from above the Industrial Canal

See also: Wards of New Orleans and New Orleans neighborhoods

The Central Business District of New Orleans is located immediately north and west of the Mississippi River, and was historically called the "American Quarter." Most streets in this area fan out from a central point in the city. Major streets of the area include Canal Street and Poydras Street. In the local parlance "downtown" means downriver from Canal Street, while "uptown" means upriver from Canal Street. Downtown neighborhoods include the French Quarter, Treme, the 7th Ward, Faubourg-Marigny, Bywater (the Upper Ninth Ward), and the Lower Ninth Ward. Uptown neighborhoods include the Garden District, the Irish Channel, the University District, Carrollton, Gert Town, Fontainebleau, and Broadmoor.

Other major districts within the city include Bayou St. John, Mid-City, Gentilly, Lakeview, Lakefront, New Orleans East, and Algiers.

Parishes located adjacent to the city include St. Tammany Parish to the north, St. Bernard Parish to the south and east, Plaquemines Parish to the south and southeast, and Jefferson Parish to the south and west.

Climate

File:Average Monthly Temperatures -- NO, BR, HOUS.jpg

The average monthly temperatures in New Orleans are similar to those in Houston, TX and Baton Rouge, LA

The climate of New Orleans is humid subtropical, with short, generally mild winters and hot, humid summers. In January, morning lows average around 43°F (5°C), and daily highs around 62°F (17°C). In July, lows average 74°F (23°C), and highs average 91°F (33°C). The lowest recorded temperature was 11°F (-11.7°C) on December 23, 1989. The highest recorded temperature was 102°F (38.9°C) on August 22, 1980. The average precipitation is 64.2 inches (1630 mm) annually; the summer months are the wettest, while October is the driest month. Precipitation in winter usually accompanies the passing of a cold front. Hurricanes also pose a severe threat to the area, and the city is particularly vulnerable because of its low elevation. According to a recent report by The Weather Channel, the city is the most vulnerable in the country when it comes to hurricanes.

New Orleans experiences snowfall only on rare occasions. Most recently, a small amount of snow fell on Christmas in 2004, during the 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm. On December 25, a combination of rain, sleet, and snow fell on the city, leaving some bridges icy. Before that, the last white Christmas was in 1954, and brought 4.5 inches (110 mm). The last significant snowfall in New Orleans fell on December 22, 1989, when most of the city received 1 or 2 inches of snow.

Demographics

Note: Even though the Census Bureau is aware of the effects of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 population count for New Orleans of 484,674 is the last official number on record for New Orleans. Most current population numbers are estimates, seeing as though it is next to impossible to determine exactly how many people are currently living in the city as of December 2006 (seeing as residents have come back and thousands more Hispanics currently reside in the region than in July 2005). While it is not an official number and mainly an estimate, the Census Bureau estimated the population of New Orleans to be 250,000, dismissing the Louisiana Recovery Authority count of 200,665. Janet Murguia, president and chief executive officer of the National Council of La Raza, the largest national Hispanic civil-rights and advocacy organization in the United States stated that there could be up to 120,000 Hispanic workers in New Orleans and according to most population estimates would push the city's current population to about 320,000 or possibly more. A more precise population number won't be known until the Census Bureau's official population count in 2010. Until then, population numbers for New Orleans are mainly estimates and most likely will be met with criticism and seen as unstable and unreliable.

Hurricane Katrina, which struck the city in late August 2005, caused major flooding (due to the failed levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers), the city's evacuation and due to the evacuation a significant decrease in population; also, many former residents have not yet returned. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures caused the city's evacuation and left many low lying parts of the city destroyed and temporarily uninhabitable. A November 2006 study, conducted by the Louisiana Recovery Authority (L.R.A.), put the Orleans Parish population at 200,665. However, the methods used by the L.R.A are questionable and most parishes dispute the L.R.A population counts such as is the case with St. Tammany Parish However, as stated above, all studies and current population numbers are mainly estimates and an official population count will not be conducted until 2010.

By 2010 city officials in New Orleans expect the city's population to be anywhere in the mid to upper 300,000 range or even the low 400,000 range, as more housing will be brought onto the market. Housing Department of Urban Development has stated that public housing developments, which were originally going to be torn down, are going to be re-opened temporarily; the public housing developments will be redeveloped but will be done in phases. Developers taking advantage of federal tax credits to build low income housing and affordable housing should help residents return to the region. Also, as more residents receive federal grant money even more people should return to the region.

Another November 2006 study by the Louisiana Public Health Institute -which was called "the most extensive population study since the Katrina Hurricane"- found New Orleans' population as near 50 percent of its size prior to Hurricane Katrina. The study estimated 200,665 people live in Orleans Parish, which comprises the city proper, compared to the 2000 U.S. Census population of 484,674. The study also found the three parish metro area, which includes Jefferson and hard-hit St. Bernard Parish, has a population of close to 700,000 or 800,000 people (the entire seven parish metro area has a population of 1.2 million). Official population numbers for New Orleans and surrounding areas are to be completed in 2010.

The Latino population is increasing in post-Katrina New Orleans, due in part to many Latinos coming to help rebuild the city. [4]

City of New Orleans Population by year
Census year	Population
1810	17,242
1820	27,176
1830	46,082
1840	102,193
1850	116,375
1860	168,675
1870	191,418
1880	216,090
1890	242,039
1900	287,104
1910	339,075
1920	387,219
1930	458,762
1940	494,537
1950	570,445
1960	627,525
1970	593,471
1980	557,515
1990	496,938
2000	484,674

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 484,674 people, 188,251 households, and 112,950 families residing in the city. The most recent (2004) population estimate for the city is 462,269. The population density was 1,036.4/km² (2,684.3/mi²). There were 215,091 housing units at an average density of 459.9/km² (1,191.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.25% African American, 28.05% White, 0.20% Native American, 2.26% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 1.28% from two or more races. 3.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

New Orleans contains many distinctive neighborhoods.

The population of Greater New Orleans stood at 1,337,726 in 2000, making it the 35th largest metropolitan area in the United States. These population statistics are based on legal residents of the city. But due to the enormous annual tourist flow, the number of people inside the city at a given time, such as Mardi Gras season, tends to exceed these numbers sometimes by the hundreds of thousands.

There were 188,251 households out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.8% were married couples living together, 24.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 40% were non-families, 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.23.

The age distribution of the city's population is 26.7% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 29.3% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $27,133, and the median income for a family was $32,338. Males had a median income of $30,862 versus $23,768 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,258. 27.9% of the population and 23.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.3% of those under the age of 18 and 19.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

The population of New Orleans peaked in 1960. Since then, suburban parishes such as Jefferson and St. Tammany have increased in population.

An analysis by Brown University sociologist John R. Logan in January of 2006 suggests that as many as 50% of whites and 80% of blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath may relocate permanently.

Religion

Saint Louis Cathedral is a symbol of New Orleans.

New Orleans is notably absent from the Protestant Bible Belt that dominates religion in the Southern United States. In New Orleans and the surrounding Gulf Coast area, the predominant religion is Roman Catholicism. Within the Archdiocese of New Orleans itself, 35.9% percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Catholicism has been present in New Orleans since its initial founding, and continues to have an extremely strong presence in the surrounding area. This is reflected in the cities' many parochial schools, architecture, and festivals, including Mardi Gras.

Compared to other areas in the immediate region, the greater New Orleans area has a significant Jewish population, estimated at around 10,000 pre-Katrina. Some famous people from the New Orleans Jewish community include David Oreck (the inventor of the Oreck vacuum cleaner) and Harry Connick, Jr. (his mother was Jewish; he was raised in both religions).

New Orleans also famously has a presence of its distinctive variety of Voodoo, due in part to syncretism with Roman Catholic beliefs, the fame of voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau, and New Orleans' distinctly Caribbean cultural influences.

The practice of Voodoo within the city has been highly exploited by the tourism industry.

Crime

New Orleans has a high violent crime rate. Its homicide rate has consistently ranked in the top five of large cities in the country since the 1980s along with Detroit, Miami, and Atlanta. Homicides peaked at 425 in 1994, for a homicide rate of 86 per 100,000; a homicide rate which has not been matched by any major US city to date. The homicide rate rose and fell year to year throughout the late 1990s, but the overall trend from 1994 to 1999 was a steady reduction in homicides.

From 1999 to 2004, the homicide rate again increased. New Orleans had the highest homicide rate of any major American city in 2002 (53.3 per 100,000 people), and again retained the highest homicide rate in 2003, with 275 homicide according to this report.

Violent crime is a serious problem for New Orleans residents, especially African American, yet far less of a problem for tourists. As in other U.S. cities of comparable size, the incidence of homicide and other violent crimes is highly concentrated in certain low-income city neighborhoods, such as housing projects, that are sites of open air drug trade [5]. The homicide rate for the New Orleans metropolitan statistical area, which includes the suburbs, was 24.4 per 100,000 in 2002.

After Hurricane Katrina, media attention focused on the reduced violent crime rate following the exodus of many New Orleanians. That trend is beginning to reverse itself as more residents return to the city, although calculating the homicide rate remains difficult given that no authoritative source can cite a total population figure. Regardless, statistics are showing that violent crime is beginning to return to the city.

There were 22 homicides in July 2006, the same as the monthly average for the city from 2002 until Hurricane Katrina, when the population was much higher. There were 161 homicides in 2006. [6]

The lack of civic leadership as well as a weakened police force has led to a rise in crime (however most argue that when New Orleans had 1600 and 1700 officers crime was still out of control.) As of February 4, there were at least 18 homicides in 2007.[7] On Thursday, January 11, 2007, several thousand New Orleans residents marched through city streets and gathered at City Hall for a rally demanding police and city leaders tackle the crime problem. Mayor Ray Nagin said he was "totally and solely focused" on attacking the problem. The city of New Orleans implemented checkpoints starting in early January 2007 from the hours of 2 a.m and 6 a.m. in high crime areas and to date, January 20, 2007, they have netted over 60 arrest and issued more than 100 citations and it is believed that the checkpoints are baby steps into the overall redesign of criminal justice system and getting a better handle on crime. It should be stated that the actual number of homicides in New Orleans has decreased since the bloody year of 1994 when 425 people were slain and New Orleans had the distinction of being the "per capita murder capital of the U.S.", the number of homicides in 2004 were about 275, cutting the 1994 number in half.

Government

New Orleans has a mayor-council government. The city council consists of five councilmembers who are elected by district and two at large councilmembers. Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Jr. was elected in May 2002, and was reelected in the mayoral election of April 22, 2006.

The New Orleans Police Department provides professional police services to the public in order to maintain order and protect life and property. The Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff's Office serves papers involving lawsuits and provides security for the Civil District Court and Juvenile Courts. The Criminal Sheriff's Office maintains the parish prison system, provides security for the Criminal District Court, and provides backup for various New Orleans Police Department patrols.

The city of New Orleans and the parish of Orleans operate as a merged city-parish government.Template:GR Before the city of New Orleans became co-extensive with Orleans Parish, Orleans Parish was home to numerous smaller communities. Some of these communities within Orleans Parish have historically had separate identities from the city of New Orleans, such as Irish Bayou and Carrollton . The original City of New Orleans was comprised of what are now the 1st through 9th wards. The City of Lafayette (including the Garden District) was added in 1852 as the 10th and 11th wards. In 1870, Jefferson City, including Faubourg Bouligny and much of the Audubon and University areas, was annexed as the 12th, 13th, and 14th wards. Algiers, on the West Bank of the Mississippi, was also annexed in 1870, becoming the 15th ward. Four years later, Orleans Parish ceased being separate from the city of New Orleans when the city of Carrollton was annexed as the 16th and 17th wards. However, to this day, the USPS still recognizes and accepts mailings which are addressed to Carrollton, LA, as legal and will deliver them to the ZIP code 70118.

New Orleans' government is now largely centralized in the City Council and Mayor's office, but it maintains a number of relics from earlier systems when various sections of the city ran much of their affairs separately. For example, New Orleans has seven elected tax assessors, each with their own staff, representing various districts of the city, rather than one centralized office. On November 7, 2006 a constitutional amendment passed both statewide and in Orleans Parish which consolidates 7 assessors into one by the year 2010

See also: Mayors of New Orleans

Economy

A tanker on the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

New Orleans is one of the most visited cities in the United States, and tourism is a major staple in the area's economy. 10.1 million visitors came to New Orleans in 2004, and the city was on pace to break that level of visitation in 2005 (prior to Hurricane Katrina). Annually, tourism in New Orleans is a $5.5 billion industry, and accounts for 40 percent of New Orleans' tax revenues. Tourism employed 85,000 people (pre-Katrina), making it New Orleans' top industry. The city's colorful Carnival celebrations leading up to Mardi Gras during the pre-Lenten season draw particularly large crowds. Other major tourist events and attractions in the city include the Sugar Bowl, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (popularly known by locals as "Jazz Fest"), Voodoo Music Experience, Southern Decadence, and the Essence Festival, not to mention sporting events including Super Bowls and NCAA final fours.

New Orleans is also an industrial and distribution center, and the busiest port system in the world by gross tonnage. The Port of New Orleans is the 5th largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 12th largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo. The Port of South Louisiana, also based in the New Orleans area, is the world's busiest in terms of bulk tonnage; and when combined with the Port of N.O., forms the 4th largest port system in volume handled.

Like Houston, Texas, New Orleans is located in proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and the many oil rigs lying just offshore. Louisiana ranks 5th in oil production and 8th in reserves. Louisiana is also home to two of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) storage facilities: West Hackberry in Cameron Parish and Bayou Choctaw in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Other infrastructure includes 17 petroleum refineries with a combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 2.8 million barrels per calendar day, the second highest in the nation after Texas. Louisiana has numerous ports including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which is capable of receiving ultra large oil tankers. Natural gas and electricity dominate the home heating market with similar market shares totaling about 47 percent each. With all of the product to distribute, Louisiana is home to many major pipelines supplying the nation: Crude Oil - Chevron, BP, Texaco, Shell, Exxon, Scurloch-Permian, Mid-Valley, Calumet, Conoco, Koch, Unocal, Dept. of Energy, Locap. Product - TEPPCO, Colonial, Chevron, Shell, Plantation, Explorer, Texaco, Collins, BP. Liquefied Petroleum Gas - Dixie, TEPPCO, Black Lake, Koch, Chevron, Dynegy, Kinder, Dow, Bridgeline, FMP, Tejas, Texaco, UTP. [8] There are a substantial number of energy companies that have their regional headquarters in the city, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell Oil Company. The city is the home and worldwide headquarters of a single Fortune 500 company: Entergy Corporation, an energy and infrastructure providing company. Freeport-McMoRan, the city's other fortune 500 company recently merged its copper and gold exploration unit with an Arizona company and relocated that division to Phoenix, Arizona.

The federal government has a significant presence in the area. The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is located in the eastern portion of Orleans Parish. The facility is operated by Lockheed-Martin and is a large manufacturing facility where external fuel tanks for space shuttles are produced. The Michoud Assembly Facility also houses the National Finance Center operated by the USDA.

In recent years, in an effort to diversify her economy, New Orleans has become known as "Hollywood South". Many large budget and critically acclaimed feature films have been made in and around New Orleans over the last few years, such as Ray, Runaway Jury, The Pelican Brief, The Skeleton Key, Glory Road, All the King's Men, Déjà Vu, Last Holiday, Waiting..., Failure to Launch, Stay Alive, and countless other full-length films and documentaries.

Other companies with a significant presence or base in New Orleans include the worldwide headquarters of Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries, AT&T, IBM, Navtech, Harrah's (downtown casino), Popeye's Fried Chicken, Zatarain's, Whitney Bank (corp. HQ), Capital One (banking HQ), Southern Comfort, Tidewater (Corp. HQ), McMoran Exploration(worldwide corporate HQ) and Energy Partners (corp.HQ).

Most major corporations that had offices or headquarters in New Orleans have returned post-Katrina. Also, over 95% of businesses whose annual income is over $20,000,000 have come back.

Education

Schools

New Orleans Public Schools, the city's school district, was one of the area's largest school districts before Hurricane Katrina. It was widely recognized as the lowest performing school district in Louisiana. According to researchers Carl L. Bankston and Stephen J. Caldas, only 12 of the 103 school districts in New Orleans showed reasonably good performance at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Following Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana took over most of the schools within the system (all schools that fell into a nominal "worst-performing" metric); about 20 new charter schools have also been started since the storm, educating about 15,000 students.

The Greater New Orleans area has approximately 200 parochial schools. The prevalence of parochial schools has been both a cause and a consequence of the troubles in the public schools. Because so many middle class students have been enrolled in non-public schools, middle class support for public education has been relatively weak. At the same time, the apparent low quality of public schools in New Orleans has encouraged middle class families to educate their children in private or parochial schools. This has contributed to major underfunding of the public school system.

Colleges and universities

Several institutions of higher education also exist within the city, including University of New Orleans, Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, Dillard University, Southern University at New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, Louisiana State University Medical School, and Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Other schools include Delgado Community College, University of Phoenix, Culinary Institute of New Orleans, Herzing College, Commonwealth University, Notre Dame Seminary, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Libraries

There are numerous academic and public libraries and archives in New Orleans, including Monroe Library at Loyola University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University, the Law Library of Louisiana, and Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans.

The New Orleans Public Library includes 13 locations, most of which were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The main library includes a Louisiana Division housing city archives and special collections.

Other research archives are located at the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Old U.S. Mint.

Culture

Balcony in New Orleans

Dialect

See also: Yat (New Orleans)

Like many United States' cities, New Orleans has developed a distinctive local dialect over the years. This dialect is neither Cajun or the stereotypical Southern accent so often misportrayed by film and television actors. It does, like earlier Southern Englishes, feature frequent deletion of post-vocalic "r". It is similar to the New York "Brooklynese" dialect to people unfamiliar with it. There are many theories to how this dialect came to be, but it likely results from New Orleans' geographic isolation by water, and the fact that New Orleans was a major port of entry into the United States throughout the 19th century. Many of the immigrant groups who reside in Brooklyn also reside in New Orleans, with Irish, Italians, and Germans being among the largest groups.

One of the strongest varieties of the New Orleans accent is sometimes identified as Yat, from the greeting "Where y'at?" The prestige associated with being from New Orleans by many residents is likely a factor in the linguistic assimilation of the ethnically divergent population. This distinctive accent is dying out generation by generation in the city itself but remains very strong in the surrounding Parishes.

Throughout the Greater New Orleans area, various ethnic groups have retained their distinctive language traditions to this day. Although rare, Kreyol Lwiziyen is still spoken by Louisiana Creole people. Also rare, an archaic Louisiana-Canarian Spanish dialect is spoken by the Isleños people, but can usually only be heard by older members of the Isleños population.

Tribute "City"

The culture of the city has a profound impact on many people, including Walt Disney, who built a replica of the French Quarter called New Orleans Square in his park Disneyland in 1966, with buildings and landscaping fitting that of 19th Century New Orleans set upon the park's Rivers of America port. When it opened, Walt Disney had then New Orleans mayor, Victor H. Schiro be made honorary mayor of New Orleans Square, and Schiro, in turn, made Disney an honorary citizen of the real New Orleans.

Events

Mounted Krewe Officers in the Thoth Parade during Mardi Gras.

Greater New Orleans is home to numerous celebrations, including Mardi Gras and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. New Orleans' most popular celebration is her Carnival, officially beginning on the Feast of the Epiphany; which locals sometimes refer to as "Twelfth Night." The Carnival season is often known (especially by out-of-towners) by the name of its last day, Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday"), held the Tuesday before before the beginning of the Catholic liturgical season of Lent, which by its commencement on Ash Wednesday ends the Carnival season.

The largest of the city's many musical festivals is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Commonly referred to simply as "Jazz Fest," it is one of the largest music festivals in the nation; and features crowds coming from all over the world to experience music, food, arts and crafts. Despite the name, it features not only jazz but a large variety of music, including both native Louisiana music and nationally-known popular music artists.

Music

Louis Armstrong, famous New Orleans Jazz musician.

New Orleans has always been a significant center for music with its intertwined European, Latin American, and African-American cultures. New Orleans' unique musical heritage was born in its pre-American and early American days with a unique blending of European instruments with African rhythms. As the only North American city to allow slaves to gather in public and play their native music (largely in Congo Square, now located within Louis Armstrong Park), likely due to the more relaxed attitudes of French and Creole slave owners as compared to their Anglo-American neighbors, New Orleans was blessed to give birth to an indigenous music, jazz. With New Orleans' large, educated and influential Creole, Haitian and free black population, these African beats intertwined with trained musicians and the city's now famous brass bands gained wide popularity (and they remain just as popular today). Decades later it was home to a distinctive brand of rhythm and blues that contributed greatly to the growth of rock and roll. A great example of the New Orleans sound in the 60s is the #1 US hit "Chapel Of Love" by The Dixie Cups, a song which had the distinction of knocking the Beatles out of the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. New Orleans became a hotbed for funk music in the 60s and 70s. By the late 1980s it had developed its own localized variant of hip hop called bounce music which, while never commercially successful outside of the Deep South, remained immensely popular in the poor African-American neighborhoods of the city through the 1990s. A cousin of Bounce, New Orleans Rap has seen commercial success locally and internationally. Notable members of the New Orleans music scene are Master P, Cash Money Records, Djuan Edgerton, and Rickey Spearman. Throughout the 1990s many sludge/doom metal bands have started in the New Orleans area. In addition, the nearby countryside is the home of Cajun music, Zydeco music, and Delta blues.

The city also created its own spin on the old tradition of military brass band funerals; traditional New Orleans funerals with music feature sad music (mostly dirges and hymns) on the way to the cemetery and happy music (hot jazz) on the way back. Such traditional musical funerals still take place when a local musician, a member of a club, krewe, or benevolent society, or a noted dignitary has passed. Until the 1990s most locals preferred to call these "funerals with music," but out of town visitors have long dubbed them "jazz funerals." Younger bands, especially those based in the Treme neighborhood, have embraced the term and now have funerals featuring only jazz music.

Media

The major daily newspaper is the New Orleans Times-Picayune, publishing since 1837. Weekly publications include The Louisiana Weekly and Gambit Weekly. Also in wide circulation is the Clarion Herald, the biweekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Greater New Orleans is well served by television and radio. The market is the 54th largest Designated Market Area (DMA) in the U.S., serving 566,960 homes and 0.509% of the U.S. Major television network affiliates serving the area include:

• 4 WWL (CBS)
• 6 WDSU (NBC)
• 8 WVUE (Fox)

• 12 WYES (PBS)
• 26 WGNO (ABC)
• 32 WLAE (PBS)

• 38 WNOL (The CW)
• 49 WPXL (i)
• 54 WUPL (My Network TV)

WHNO 20 also operates as an independent station in the area, providing mainly religious programming.

Radio stations serving Greater New Orleans include:

• Jazz: WWNO-FM (88.9), WWOZ-FM (90.7), WTUL-FM (91.5)
• Classical: WWNO-FM (89.9)
• Country: WNOE-FM (101.1), KKND-FM (106.7)
• Contemporary: KLRZ-FM (100.3), WLMG-FM (101.9), WDVW-FM (92.3)
• Gospel/Christian: KHEV-FM (104.1), WYLD-AM (940), WBSN-FM (89.1), WLNO-AM (1060), WSHO-FM (800), WOPR-FM (94.9), WVOG-AM (600)
• Latino: KGLA-AM (1540), WFNO-FM (830)
• Oldies: WJSH-FM (104.7), WTIX-FM (94.3)
• Progressive: WTUL-FM (91.5)

• Public: WRBH-FM (88.3), WWNO-FM (89.9)
• Rock: WEZB-FM (97.1), WKBU-FM (95.7), KYRK-FM (104.1)
• Sports: WODT-AM (1280)
• Talk: WWL-AM (870), WWL-FM (105.3), WSMB-AM (1350), WIST-AM (690), WRNO-FM (99.5)
• Urban/Urban Contemporary: KMEZ-FM (102.9), WQUE-FM (93.3), WYLD-FM (98.5)

Two music stations that were influential in promoting New Orleans-based bands and singers were 50,000-watt WNOE-AM (1060) and 10,000-watt WTIX-AM (690). These two stations competed head-to-head from the late 50s to the late 70s.

Sites of interest

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, in 2003, looking towards Canal Street.

Greater New Orleans has many major attractions, from the world-renowned Bourbon Street and the French Quarter's notorious nightlife, St. Charles Avenue (home of Tulane and Loyola Universities), and many stately 19th century mansions.

Favorite tourist scenes in New Orleans include the French Quarter (known locally as "the Quarter"), which dates from the French and Spanish eras and is bounded by the Mississippi River and Rampart Street, Canal Street and Esplanade Ave. The French Quarter contains many popular hotels, bars, and nightclubs, most notably around Bourbon Street. Other notable tourist attractions in the quarter include Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the French Market (including Café du Monde, famous for café au lait and beignets), and jazz at Preservation Hall.

Also located near the French Quarter is the old New Orleans Mint, formerly a branch of the United States Mint, now operates as a museum. The National D-Day Museum (renamed as the National WWII Museum) is a relatively new museum (opened on June 6 2000) dedicated to providing information and materials related to the allied invasion of Normandy, France. The Natchez is an authentic steamboat with a calliope which tours the Mississippi twice daily.

Art museums in the city include the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Audubon Park, the Audubon Zoo, and the Aquarium of the Americas are also located in the city of New Orleans. New Orleans is also noted for its many beautiful cemeteries. Some notable cemeteries in the city include Saint Louis Cemetery and Metairie Cemetery.

Significant gardens include Longue Vue House and Gardens and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. Gardens are also found in places like City Park and Audubon Park. City Park still has one of the largest if not the largest stands of oak trees in the world.

Chalmette Battlefield, located just below the city, is the site of the Battle of New Orleans in which General Andrew Jackson repelled between 11,000 and 14,500 seasoned British troops. General Jackson banded together local New Orleans citizens, Choctaw Indians, local Barataria pirates (the infamous Jean Lafitte), and the first all free black militia in order to rout the British. The final battle of the war of 1812 took place in January of 1815 (officially after the war had ended). It is speculated that had the British taken New Orleans the Treaty of Ghent would have been discarded and hostilities would have continued[9]. Andrew Jackson gained enough fame from the battle of New Orleans to be elected President of the United States in 1828. Tours of the battlefield are available and a reenactment is held every year.

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, bus tours of the damaged areas became popular and are still available.

Food

Main article: Louisiana Creole cuisine

New Orleans is world-famous for its food. Like its Jazz, New Orleans is blessed with the only truly indigenous local cuisine in the nation. From the infiltration of hearty cajun country fare over the centuries to the local creole, haute creole and New Orleans French cuisines, New Orleans food is perhaps its most cherished possession. Local ingredients, African, Cuban, French, Spanish and Cajun traditions combine to produce a truly unique and easily recognizable New Orleans flavor.

Unique specialties include beignets, square-shaped fried pastries that could be called French doughnuts (served with coffee and chicory "au lait"); Po'boy and Italian Muffalettas; Gulf oysters on the half-shell, boiled crawfish, and other seafood; étouffée, jambalaya, gumbo, and other Creole dishes; and the Monday evening favorite of red beans and rice. (Louis Armstrong often signed his letters, "red beans and ricely yours.") New Orleans residents enjoy some of the best restaurants in the United States that cater specifically to locals, and visitors are encouraged to try the local establishments recommended by their hosts.

Sports

Main article: Sports in New Orleans

Professional sports teams include the New Orleans Saints (NFL), the New Orleans Hornets (NBA), the New Orleans VooDoo (AFL), and the New Orleans Zephyrs (PCL). The home stadium of the Saints is the Louisiana Superdome, which hosts the annual Sugar Bowl as well as numerous other prominent events (for a listing of these events, see Louisiana Superdome). The home stadium of the Hornets is the New Orleans Arena. New Orleans is also home to the Fair Grounds Race Course, the nation's third-oldest thoroughbred track. In addition, New Orleans is home to the Zurich Classic, a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. For more on sports in New Orleans, see Sports in New Orleans.

Infrastructure

Notable buildings

New Orleans' tallest building is the 51-story One Shell Square. The approved 67-story Trump International Hotel & Tower will be the tallest building in the city and state if built at the proposed height of 700 feet (213 m). New Orleans is now entering what could become a large downtown residential building boom, with multiple high-rise towers already planned for the city.

Tallest buildings

Name	Stories	Height
One Shell Square	51	697 feet (212 m)
Place St. Charles (now CapitalOne Tower[10])	53	645 feet (197 m)
Crescent City Towers (former Plaza Tower)	45	531 feet (162 m)
Energy Centre	39	530 feet (162 m)
LL&E Tower (now 909 Poydras Building)	36	481 feet (147 m)
Sheraton New Orleans	48	479 feet (146 m)
New Orleans Marriott	42	449 feet (137 m)
Texaco Center	32	442 feet (135 m)
One Canal Place	32	440 feet (134 m)
1010 Common	31	438 feet (134 m)

Transportation

File:IMG 3666border cropped.jpg

A Saint Charles Avenue streetcar headed down Canal Street

Streetcars

Main article: Streetcars in New Orleans

There are three active streetcar lines moved by electric motors powered by DC wires overhead. The St. Charles line (green cars, connecting New Orleans with the once independent suburb of Carrollton) is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in New Orleans and a historic landmark. The Riverfront line (also known as the Ladies in Red since the cars are painted red) runs parallel to the river from Canal Street through the French Quarter to the Convention Center above Julia Street in the Arts District. The Canal Street line uses the Riverfront line tracks from Esplanade Street to Canal Street, then branches off down Canal Street and ends at the cemeteries at City Park Avenue with a spur running from the intersection of Canal and Carrollton Avenue to the entrance of City Park at Esplanade near the entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The city's streetcars were also featured in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire. The streetcar line to Desire Street became a bus line in 1948. There are proposals to revive a Desire streetcar line, running along the neutral grounds of North Rampart and St. Claude, as far downriver as Poland Avenue, near the Industrial Canal.

As of December 2006, the St. Charles streetcar line is only running between Canal Street and Lee Circle (the portion of the line in the Central Business District). Work is still underway to restore the St. Charles line out to Napoleon Avenue by Labor Day, with the whole line complete by the end of 2007. The Canal line is functioning, but the red cars were flooded by the hurricane, so the historic green cars are currently running on not only the St. Charles line, but also the Riverfront and Canal lines. The first of the red cars to be restored is expected to return to the Canal line by Summer 2007.

Buses

Public transportation in the city is operated by New Orleans Regional Transit Authority ("RTA"). There are many bus routes connecting the city and suburban areas. The Jefferson Parish Department of Transit Administration [11] operates Jefferson Transit [12] which provides service between the city and its suburbs.

Proposed Light Rail

Recently, many have proposed extending New Orleans's public transit system by adding light rail routes from downtown along Airline Highway through the airport to Baton Rouge and from downtown to Slidell and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Proponents of this idea claim that these new routes would boost the region's economy, which has been badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and serve as an evacuation option for hospital patients out of the city.

Roads

see also: Famous streets of New Orleans

New Orleans has two main interstate highways, Interstate 10 (I-10) and Interstate 610 (I-610). I-10 runs east-west through the city, and traverses the northern edge of the Central Business District. I-610 provides a direct shortcut for traffic passing through New Orleans via I-10, allowing that traffic to bypass I-10's southward curve. In the future, New Orleans will have another interstate highway, as I-49 is currently being extended from Lafayette to New Orleans.

The two main U.S. highways passing through New Orleans are U.S. 90 and U.S. 61. U.S. 90 runs along Jefferson Highway/S. Claiborne Avenue, Broad Street, and Gentilly Blvd./Chef Menteur Highway. U.S. 61 runs across Airline Hwy/Tulane Ave.

The tolled Crescent City Connection is New Orleans' major bridge across the Mississippi River, providing a connection between I-10 on the north side of the river and the Westbank Expressway on the south side of the river.

Other bridges that cross the Mississippi River in the New Orleans area are the Huey P. Long Bridge, over which U.S. 90 crosses the river and the Hale Boggs Memorial Bridge which carries Interstate 310.

The Twin Spans, a five mile causeway bridge in extreme eastern New Orleans carries Interstate 10 across Lake Pontchartrain, connecting New Orleans and suburban Slidell.

Also in eastern New Orleans, Interstate 510/LA 47 goes across the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet/Intracoastal Waterway via the Paris Road Bridge, connecting eastern New Orleans and suburban Chalmette.

The tolled Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, consisting of two parallel bridges, are at 24 miles in length the longest bridges in the world. Built in the 1960s, the bridges connect New Orleans with its suburbs on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

Airports

The metropolitan area is served by Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, located in the suburb of Kenner. New Orleans also has several regional airports located throughout the metropolitan area. These include the Lakefront Airport, the military base in the suburb of Belle Chase Louisiana, and "Southern Seaplane" also located in Belle Chase. Southern Seaplane has a 3,200 foot runway for wheeled planes and a 5,000 foot water runway for seaplanes.

Railroad

The city is served by rail via Amtrak. The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is the central rail depot, and it is served by three trains: the Crescent, the City of New Orleans, and the Sunset Limited.

In addition, the city is served by six of the seven Class I freight railroads in North America: Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, CSX, the Canadian National Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railway. The New Orleans Public Belt provides interchange services between the railroads.

National Guard

New Orleans is home to the 1-141st Artillery Battalion, a unit formed in the early 19th Century as the Washington Artillery. This unit is part of the 256th Infantry Brigade and served in Iraq in 2004-5. Beginning 19 June 2006, New Orleans had over 300 national guard soldiers patrolling the streets of devastated neighborhoods that received the most flooding, allowing the somewhat reduced police force to concentrate on more populated areas, focused on crime "hot spots" such as Central City and tourism hubs such as the French Quarter and Central Business District.

Sister cities

New Orleans has ten sister cities:

• Juan-les-Pins, France
• Maracaibo, Venezuela
• Matsue, Japan
• Mérida, Mexico
• Innsbruck, Austria
• Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo
• San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
• Tegucigalpa, Honduras
• Caracas, Venezuela
• Holdfast Bay, Australia

Gallery

• 
  New Orleans - street music

See also

• Famous streets of New Orleans
• Hurricane on the Bayou (film)
• List of New Orleanians
• New Orleans in Fiction, Film, Television, etc.
• Reconstruction of New Orleans
• Wards of New Orleans
• Metairie

External links

• Official Website of the City of New Orleans
• Official Tourism Website of the City of New Orleans
• New Orleans travel guide by Wikitravel
• New Orleans Wiki
• Info on Katrina recovery
• New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau
• New Orleans Travel Guide
• NewOrleans.com
• FrenchQuarter.com
• Thayer's Gazetteer: Historical Documents on New Orleans and its Water Management
• People Of New Orleans - Video interviews with New Orleanians, post-Katrina.
• Louisiana Trip - Gallery of images of French Quarter and other places in Southern Louisiana, taken a few months before Katrina
• New Orleans Streetcars
• 1862 Aerial View of New Orleans
• Scientific American Magazine (February 2006 Issue) Protecting New Orleans
• A psychogeographic guide to the city of New Orleans
• New Orleans: Flood History in Photos
• NewOrleansPodCasting.com - Listen to the voices that are rebuilding New Orleans