Waiting in a parked car in the Ninth Ward as the rain pounds down, I cannot help but think about the flood in the movie, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
It’s a natural, because I am only a stone’s throw from where the levee broke, and I am here to meet the star of that movie, Brad Pitt, as the finale to our “Building Up America” tour.
The actor targeted this area some years ago with his Make It Right Foundation — an ambitious plan to build up the shattered neighborhood with new, ecologically friendly, affordable houses, and then fill them with residents who had been driven out by Katrina.
When the rain backs off a bit, I hustle into one of the raised houses, where my TV crew is busy setting up lights on a covered upper deck. NBC is also there, but in a different area. I spend a few minutes chatting with Brian Williams. We’ve known each other for years and share a lot of friends, and it’s always nice catching up.
This Sunday: A special edition of “Meet the Press” live from New Orleans. Five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated this historical city and the surrounding region, we take an in-depth look at where things now stand. What progress has been made in rebuilding communities, schools, and businesses? Why was the recovery so long and painful? What lessons did we learn from the government’s botched response? And did those lessons help in dealing with the Oil Spill disaster this summer? Guest moderator Brian Williams speaks with two of the area’s notable political leaders: Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Next, we’ll have an exclusive interview with actor Brad Pitt, Founder of the Make It Right Foundation – an organization that aims to build 150 green, affordable, high-quality design homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach, the Lower 9th Ward.
The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina brought out the best in American volunteerism. Actor Brad Pitt, who has a home in New Orleans, responded with extraordinary creativity and commitment. The Lower 9th Ward houses of Pitt’s nonprofit Make it Right Foundation – individualistic and energy-efficient – are among the most inspired responses to the storm’s ravages. As the fifth anniversary of Katrina approached, Pitt spoke with historian Douglas Brinkley, his longtime friend, about his love of the city and his dreams for its future. Brinkley provided this exclusive interview to The Times-Picayune.
Whenever actor Brad Pitt is in New Orleans, he gets on his old thrift-store bicycle and tools around the city enjoying the architecture and ambiance. It’s his way of staying in shape. His favorite destination is pedaling across the retractable North Claiborne Avenue Bridge to the Lower 9th Ward to inspect his Make It Right Foundation houses.
This year’s best sustainable buildings include an elementary school, two universities and a New Orleans home designed for Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, according to the American Institute of Architects.
Each year, the AIA picks 10 buildings that show how design can reduce environmental impacts by reusing materials, connecting to public transit, conserving water and energy and improving indoor air quality.
The “Special No. 9 House,” shown above, was designed to provide storm-resistant, affordable and sustainable housing for New Orleans residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The 1,520 square foot, single-family home is poised for mass production as part of Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation.
Pitt was presented with a plaque from the U.S. Green Building Council which said the actor and his foundation “Make It Right” had created the “largest and greenest single-family community in the world.”
“‘Make It Right’ has exceeded my expectations,” said Pitt who set up the foundation in 2007.
“Our criteria from the beginning were at odds, to say the least. We demanded that these homes be sustainable, that they have aesthetic qualities … that they be storm resilient and take safety in mind of the families who live there and that they would be affordable.”
“Make It Right” has created 13 homes in the New Orleans area the 9th Ward, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Brad will be attending the Clinton Global Initiative in NYC on Thursday, September 24th from 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM (eastern time). It’s a special session entitled: Infrastructure: Building a Better Future – A Progress Report on Making it Right in New Orleans. The session is supposed to The participants will be Brad, Tom Darden, Executive Director of MIR, and former president Bill Clinton.
This special session offers a progress report on this CGI commitment, demonstrating concretely how government, non-profits, and the private sector can work together to build safer, stronger, and more resilient communities while expanding economic opportunity. From one of the greatest disasters in American history, “Make it Right” is laying the groundwork for new prosperity and new beginnings on a foundation of affordable green housing. The discussion will include specific stories of the recovery in New Orleans, and launch a dialogue with CGI members on the future of green infrastructure and sustainable cities.
