꿈이있는 인간 멋진지도자

허리케인이 허리를 분질러 버린 초토화된 그 땅, 시체와 강도떼와

무법이 우글되는 전염병이 낮는 포복으로 접근하는 거대 스레기 통,

그 곳을 아득히 주시하는 사나이 레이 나긴, 어디에서 무엇부터 손을

데야할지도 알 수 없는 절대 황폐의 도시 폐허를 바라보는 뉴 올리온즈

시장. 몽땅 전부를 잃어버린 이들에게 무엇을 할것인가. 굵은 시가 하나

꺼내 물고 씹어 본다.그는 알았다 뭘 해야할지를. 그래 꿈이다

그들에게 희망을 주자. 꿈을 심자.오 이 얼마나 멋진 사나이 인가.

꿈이 있는 자 결코 망하지 않는다. 아니 오히려 죽지 않는다

그 꿈이 이뤄질 때까지는 말이다.

Nagin Hopes Casinos Will Attract Tourists

By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - Mayor C. Ray Nagin hopes to attract tourists and their cash back to his ravaged city with an "out-of-the-box" plan to install Las Vegas-style gambling in the city's biggest hotels.

Nagin put forth the casino proposal Friday as a way to jump-start New Orleans' economy and help its people get back to work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The plan calls for a large-scale gambling area in the city's central business district, stretching from Interstate 10 on the west to the Mississippi River on the east.

"Now is the time for us to think out of the box. Now is the time for some bold leadership, some decisive leadership," Nagin said.

Nagin said gambling should be allowed in hotels that have more than 500 rooms, the majority of which are near the city's famed Canal Street. The plan would require legislative approval.

Gambling is already allowed using video machines in roughly half of Louisiana's 64 parishes, but there's only one full-scale, land-based casino, operated by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., in New Orleans.

Harrah's downtown casino has been closed since shortly before Katrina hit and the company has not given a timetable for possibly reopening the gambling hall.

Also, three dockside riverboat casinos operate in the New Orleans area.

Nagin made his proposal after Katrina virtually destroyed all 13 dockside casinos on the nearby Mississippi Gulf Coast. A bill to allow operators to rebuild land casinos close to shore has been passed by both the Mississippi House and Senate. Gov. Haley Barbour has said he will sign the measure.

There are currently nine hotels in New Orleans with more than 500 rooms; Nagin said he thought five or six hotels would add casinos.

Nagin would not speculate what would be involved in getting his casino plan passed, but said he hoped Gov. Kathleen Blanco ? who has campaigned against additional gambling in Louisiana ? would include it in a recently announced special session that's scheduled for November.

"Right now we're a cash-strapped city," Nagin said.

Nagin said he is not fond of gambling, and that he wished he had another solution, "but I know of no other way."

He said Harrah's would have to agree to give up its exclusive rights and acknowledged he did not think the company would "do it for free."

Harrah's spokesman Alberto Lopez declined to comment on the proposal.

Dan King, general manager of the city's Sheraton hotel, did not discount the proposal.

"I can't speak for my company. I guess all ideas are worth investigating. I don't really have a comment because I haven't studied it," he said.

Nagin said he sent a letter to Blanco earlier this week asking for a 50 percent income tax credit for any worker in the city. Nagin also asked the governor to eliminate the tax on manufacturers' debt in the city and for an income-tax-free zone for manufacturers in the city.