Quote

I think, you know, people think of the city of New Orleans as a parochial place where it's a lot of folks who are from there and a lot of big families, a lot of musical families, a lot of history, a lot of tradition, but I like to think of New Orleans as an idea.

I think New Orleans is such a beautiful city. It looks like a fairytale when you walk through the French Quarter or the Garden District. There is such a lush sense of color, style, architecture - and the people themselves.

This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority-African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way.

There's nothing like New Orleans. When it comes back, it will be a tremendous highlight for America.

Ain't no place like New Orleans. It's one of kind.

The reason New Orleans is still around is because of the celebrations it has inspired since its inception as a city. I'm always excited about the possibility of what might happen. That's what drives us, and I think that's the spirit of New Orleans and the spirit of jazz.

Like Venice, Italy, New Orleans is a cultural treasure. And everyone who lived in the city should be allowed to come back. But that doesn't mean that they all should live in exactly the same spot that they lived before.

I've experienced all the food and restaurants in New Orleans. I've been doing a bit of touristing when I have the day off, just walking in the French Quarter. To me, it's very, very surprising how people are so friendly. But no, it's very different from Paris.

It's a wonderful city and every American has enjoyed New Orleans in one way or the other.

I'm sure that there are reasonable people that had some reasonable projections about the future of New Orleans, but none of those could include not trying to rebuild the city and make it better than it was before.