When Dillard started classes in January, the campus was so heavily damaged that faculty and staff operated out of the Hilton Hotel on the downtown riverfront. Downtown New Orleans was limping along at the time, and the relocated Dillard students, faculty and staff provided much-needed patronage for restaurants and other businesses that were struggling to get back on their feet.
“There wasn’t much activity in the downtown area at the time, and we brought it back — and are going to do the same thing for Gentilly,” Hughes says.
Francis has the same resolve about Louisiana, in general. He says he decided to serve on Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s LRA because he saw it as an opportunity to rebuild New Orleans and coastal Louisiana, better and stronger.
“I really believe we have an opportunity,” Francis says, “to build better housing, education and medical care.”
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