Ed Blakely
Rebuilding Infrastructure, Lives and Dreams
Edward J. Blakely '60, namesake for UCR's Center for Sustainable Suburban Development and a leading scholar in the fields of planning, infrastructure, transportation and local economic development, recognizes the power of a plan.
As the current executive director of the Office of Recovery and Development Administration for the city of New Orleans, he is working on just that — a plan to rebuild a city devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A plan to restore not merely homes, but hope.
Rebuilding relationships, hopes and dreams is nothing new to Blakely. He has forged new relationships among universities and the public and private sectors for more than 25 years and helped coordinate planning efforts after the 1989 Bay Area earthquake and the 1991 Oakland wildfire-for his efforts, he received the San Francisco Foundation Award for improving community life in the Bay Area.
Having served on a number of task forces and commissions at the local, state, national and international levels, Blakely is ready to roll up his sleeves in New Orleans.
After public approval of his plan to rebuild the city, work is under way. Although slow, Blakely understands that the city is being built as fast as nature and resources will allow-one brick at a time.