childhood neighborhood of pontchartrain park.esident of the pontchartrain park community development corporation. which is building energy efficient and solar houses. he's trying to build grocery stores for the underserved lower ninth ward. this is complicated it's going to take a lot of determination, but wendell pierce i know you well enough to know you are exactly the sort of person to get it done. >> thank you very much. i really appreciate that. >> thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> you and i have been political opponents at various points. there was a point where i was mean mugging you in green rooms in the back. one thing i know for certain about you, is that you have a profound commitment to this city. to your city. when you think about how tough it is here, after the storm, is it the kind of tough you expected, or is it something different? >> it's the tough i expected. i realized this wasn't going to be a recovery happening within a week, a month, or even a year. our recovery is going to be measured in deca

pontchartrain with the corps of engineers. public works has two contractors standing by for road repair and debris removal, if necessary. parknd parkways and sanitation equipment is staged and ready to clear roadways should it become necessary. capital construction projects, many of which are going on in the city right now, will be shut down when sustained winds reach the 25-mile-per-hour mark. we are completely staffed up, and we're prepared to work around the clock should we be called upon to do so. we also coordinating with our tourism leaders because we have a number of conventions in town and so we are putting that operation into play to make sure that all of our tourists are communicated with so that they understand the risks. >> essentially what the mayor was saying, there have been reports of these marsh fires in and around new orleans, and there's been all kinds of heavy smoke. he was talking earlier about how the national guard troops have actually been dropping some water so perhaps if this disturbance doesn't strengthen too much, it may be a good thing delivering much-needed rain for the new orleans area, but, ag