RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Bobby Jindal takes office today as the new governor of Louisiana. He has promised to root out corruption in a state legendary for its graft. And that will be part of an even bigger challenge, leading the state's efforts to rebuild from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It's been more than two years and much of Southern Louisiana is still struggling to recover, as NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from New Orleans.
JASON BEAUBIEN: Along St. Claude Avenue, the plywood tacked over windows has faded to dull gray. Weeds poke through the debris of houses that collapsed in on themselves.
BEAUBIEN: Okay.
BEAUBIEN: For Kelly Westfall, a sophomore at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, this is the first time she's been to post-Katrina New Orleans. She says she's surprised by how bad things still are.
MONTAGNE: I couldn't imagine if something like this happened, like near our school in Boston, I feel as if it would be fixed, you know, it would be months. And I can't believe that, like, two and a half years later, some of this hasn't even been touched. It's kind of mind-blowing for us.
BEAUBIEN: More than two years later, hundreds of thousands of people still haven't returned, and the financial toll of the storms is incalculable.
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BEAUBIEN: Brian Brox, who teaches political science at Tulane, says Jindal comes into office with a strong mandate to stamp out graft in Baton Rouge. He says there's a perception in Louisiana that the state's reputation for corruption hindered federal disaster relief.
P: A lot of voters think that we need to clean up the politics in Louisiana in order to help fulfill the recovery from Katrina.
BEAUBIEN: And Brox at Tulane points out that constituents in non-coastal areas have a long list of issues - from education reform to taxes, to job growth - that they also expect Jindal to take on.
P: He's really going to have to split his time, rebuild the hurricane-ravaged areas as well as improve the economic fortune of the entire state.
MONTAGNE: 2008 may be the most important year in the history of New Orleans.
BEAUBIEN: Arnie Fielkow, the president of the New Orleans City Council, says Jindal's coming in at a time when significant amounts of recovery funds will finally be flowing into the region.
MONTAGNE: We must show our citizens and the rest of this country that we're rebuilding. And if we do that, I think we are going to not only get our own citizens to stay with us, but we're going to get a lot of outsiders being inspired to invest in this great community.
BEAUBIEN: Jason Beaubien, NPR News, New Orleans. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
