Housing:
Housing is clearly a desperate necessity: No homes means no workers means no tax revenues.
Federally funded programs would facilitate reconstruction either by clearing land for redevelopment or by allowing residents to rebuild and get their homes back on the tax rolls. What rebuilding that is occurring is largely on a hit-or-miss basis, constrained by the availability of materials, payment of insurance claims, and the availability of skilled labor.

Elections:
Perhaps the biggest wild card in New Orleans' recovery will be the upcoming mayoral election, postponed once by Gov. Kathleen Blanco because of the disarray in the city.
The overriding issue will be incumbent Mayor C. Ray Nagin's handling of the disaster and its aftermath. Many reconstruction initiatives will not begin in earnest until the city's leadership is determined. The election should be one of the most unusual ever, with candidates campaigning not only in the city, but also among displaced residents living in other cities and states.
The mayor is facing a crowded field of challengers, and issues of class and race will undoubtedly affect the outcome.
For one, the mayor is black, and two of his leading opponents are white. And since the storms, New Orleans' demographics have shifted. In general, those returning to the city have been its more affluent, white residents. At the same time, some African-Americans worry that they will be pushed out of the next New Orleans.
Whatever the state and city decide about rebuilding cannot be solidified until there is a clear mandate about New Orleans' leadership.

Debt restructuring:
 With the uncertainty of leadership resolved, New Orleans and some other financially battered public sector issuers in the area might decide if, and how, they should restructure hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. Questions remain about whether borrowers, some of which are in special tax jurisdictions supported by dedicated revenue streams, can return to the markets given the erosion in their revenue bases.
A second special session of the Louisiana legislature recently refined plans for debt relief in the state's fiscally precarious parishes, municipalities, and special tax districts. The state has approved the use of Gulf Opportunity bonds, which will greatly help ameliorate the destruction from last year's hurricanes.
None of these funds have yet been accessed and won't be until the state lays down specific guidelines for their use. The $7.6 billion in funding originates from the federal government (the bonds will be tax-exempt), and will be funneled through the state, which will do the actual borrowing. Mississippi and Alabama are preparing similar plans.

Transportation:
Although it has been more than six months since Hurricane Katrina hit, it may take months yet for the future of the region's most important transportation infrastructure facilities to become clear. For all practical purposes these facilities have been in operation for three months or less.

Federal aid:
The federal government so far has allocated $88 billion in aid to the region. Much of that has been spent on emergency assistance. It is expected that federal aid will total $100 billion when all recovery and reconstruction funds are added up.

Last season's hurricanes decimated Louisiana's economy, had severe effects on the entire Gulf region, and sent ripples across the nation. In the Gulf, damages were well above the previous record of $43 billion (in current dollars) from Hurricane Andrew, which blasted south Florida in 1992. The recovery has been slow, particularly in Louisiana, where New Orleans lost about $6 billion of economic output in 2005. The pain is not yet over. Despite the city's halting steps toward recovery, that amount may double in 2006.
Aside from tourism and conventions, the other major regional industry slammed by the hurricanes was oil and gas production, especially at the 115 offshore rigs knocked out by Katrina.

Recovery of the region, and of New Orleans in particular, will be a difficult process for all stakeholders. It will be complicated by competing claims for land use, political leadership, and federal funding. But some of those issues should begin to be resolved in the next few months.
If public issuers in the region achieve the fiscal stability they are aiming for, and residents regain their homes and jobs, then perhaps Mardi Gras 2007 will be not just a dry run for the future, but a full celebration.