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You need to understand that it’s easy to get into bankruptcy and it’s hard to get out. And I said, well, okay, if I make some really hard decisions and I go to cutting, can I get it in shape to grow it back? Because the idea was to build the city back, not the way it was, but the way it should’ve been if we had gotten it right the first time.
Mitch Landrieu, 61st Mayor of New Orleans
As a native New Orleanian, Mitch Landrieu knows a thing or two about crisis and recovery. He served as the lieutenant governor of Louisiana through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and the compounding effects of subsequent storms including Ike and Gustav. In 2010, he was sworn in as mayor of New Orleans—just one month after the Deepwater Horizon explosion undermined the region’s efforts to recover from five years of depopulation and economic decline.
Mayor Landrieu’s experience working for the efficient restoration of New Orleans’s critical infrastructure later led the Biden Administration to appoint him as an advisor on the national implementation of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Otherwise known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), this bill has been the largest long-term investment in U.S. infrastructure since the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1965. It has prioritized and funded an array of essential, future-oriented projects throughout the country.
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated how the increasing scale of environmental disasters will expose vulnerabilities in the nation’s aging infrastructure. Local leaders are thus seeking strategies that balance the needs of growth and economic development with the proactive management of current and future risks.
The work that Mayor Landrieu, city staff, and community partners undertook to steer New Orleans’s recovery process away from bankruptcy and toward revived communities and a more secure built environment has provided a case study for policymakers and resilience groups around the world.
In part one of this two-part episode, Mayor Landrieu talks with Ten Across founder Duke Reiter about the personal and professional experiences that have influenced his views on equity and resilience and shaped some of the bold positions he’s taken in governing. Part two will delve further into his views and outlook on contemporary governance.
We’ve taken a new approach with this episode, take a listen and let us know what you think by leaving a review on your preferred podcast platform.
Related articles and resources:
“Want to Understand the Future of U.S. Climate Resilience? Look to the Gulf Coast” (Ten Across Conversations podcast, Dec. 2024)
“Sunk Costs, Sunken City: The Story of New Orleans with Richard Campanella” (Ten Across Conversations podcast, June 2023)
“DOGE says it’s now saved $65B in federal funds, but that’s still impossible to verify” (ABC News, Feb. 26, 2025)
“Veteran crisis hotline may be impacted by federal layoffs” (ABC 15, Feb. 24, 2025)
“Angry Over Confederate Flag, Mayor Plans March” (New York Times, March 2000)
“What is in the just-passed House Republican budget bill? What to know” (USA Today, Feb. 26, 2025)
Guest Speaker
Mitch Landrieu served as the 61st mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018. He most recently was appointed co-chair of the Biden/Harris 2024 election campaign and White House Coordinator for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Implementation Office. Mayor Landrieu was president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors from 2017 to 2018; lieutenant governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010; and a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988 to 2004. In 2018, he founded E Pluribus Unum, a public policy think tank that trains and assists leaders across the American South.
