Return of New Orleans residents slows

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The return of New Orleans area residents has slowed to a trickle, raising questions about the city's future, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

An analysis of U.S. Postal Service data indicates less than 1.1 million people lived in the New Orleans metropolitan area in June, down from 1.5 million when Hurricane Katrina struck, the newspaper said.

In New Orleans, 171,000 people have returned to the city or, in some cases, never left. While city officials estimate the current population at somewhere between 210,000 and 250,000, many of those residents appear to have moved to New Orleans for construction work.

Brown University demographer John Logan said local officials are to blame because displaced New Orleans residents have been left in doubt about the future of the city and their neighborhoods.

"This is a time when public officials have to make the hard decisions about where and how to invest, and enough time has passed since the local elections that one could expect more decisive action by now," he said.