Mayor Ray Nagin is getting a lot of flak for New Orleans not being… well… New Orleans.

When reporters ask him about it, and about how money from the federal government and private donations total the $1 billion mark, instead of talking about why they haven’t used it yet (like by saying that the government set the money aside, but has yet to actually approve it), he decides to take a dig at New York City.

“”You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed,” he said in an interview with 60 Minutes, “and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair.”

I agree. Let’s be fair.

Over three thousand people died in New York City, during and shortly after two planes were hijacked and forced to careen into the World Trade Center. Along with the two edifices, seven other buildings collapsed or were destroyed beyond repair, the subway infrastructure was ruined, and there was a state of shock felt around the world.

After the surprise attack, people came together and helped the efforts to rebuild lower Manhattan, from cleaning up the debris to repairing the roads and subway system under Chambers Street. Although they are still cleaning up what Mayor Nagin called a “big hole,” the subways are back, the streets are clean, the area — albeit blocked off from the general public — is still accessible to view by those passing by, and business is growing.

Perhaps Mayor Nagin forgets that one of the main reasons there is still a “big hole” in the ground is that developers continue to clash with the families of the victims as to what exactly they want on the site of the former Twin Towers. Money wasn’t the issue, because from September 11, 2001, and continuing today, the cleanup project has been active.

The tragedy in New York could probably have been prevented if those damn Wright brothers never built a plane, or if Leonardo DaVinci never made designs that inspired the Wrights to make a winged contraption in the first place. But our then-current security measures allowed this to happen in a world where we never imagined this kind of terror on our own soil.

Over 1,300 people died in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina actually struck the Bay City. The initial reaction was actually more of a “Thank God,” than it was “Oh God.” The ‘cane was dropped to a level 3 from a level 5 and everyone had a sigh of relief because it was just a big wet mess they would get over, much like every other storm they were hit with in the past. It was the levies though that failed New Orleans, and in the days afterwards, chaos triumphed.

After the storm, people came together and helped the efforts to house residents who were able to evacuate from their homes in the days before and immediately after Katrina hit. Natives from the Big Easy left their communities and spread out throughout the entire country. When the weather subsided and the floodwater flushed away, volunteers from around the country came in to help clean up and help out the city.

Those that stayed in emegency housing were raped, beaten, and forced to live in unhealthy conditions. The daring that actually stayed in their homes looted stores and homes, some for bare necessities such as food and water, others for necessities such as TVs and DVD players. None of that happened in New York City after September 11, though there were the insurance fraud scams that came about, people claiming to have family in the Towers when the planes crashed. Where were the New York City riots and looting? Where was the inner mayhem?

Perhaps Mayor Nagin forgot that when New York City’s attack on the World Trade Center took place, it came as a total shock. There was no warning, no Terrorist Channel updates giving us the heads up. Everyone knew about the hurricane coming to New Orleans, and everyone knew it was going to be bad.

The tragedy in New Orleans could have been prevented if the city government ever decided to challenge the federal government’s assessment of the levies, or if they decided to conduct maintenance of the protective measures designed to keep the city — which is by all technicality under sea level — from being sunk.

So if Mayor Nagin wants to actually compare the two incidents, so be it. Let’s just remember, this is the same guy urged New Orleans residents to rebuild a “chocolate New Orleans” and saying, “You can’t have New Orleans no other way.” Of course, he apologized for those remarks and said he was trying only to encourage many of the city’s displaced poor population to return. Does this mean that he thinks New Orleans wouldn’t be New Orleans if it wasn’t filled with a bunch of poor Black people?

Seems like New Orleans has a big hole of it’s own.