The future of recovery

The Gambit Weekly just ran a long interview with New Orleans Recovery Director Ed Blakely.
Perhaps the most interesting parts are about changing state and local bureaucracies. While Blakely seems to have had some successes, I wonder if the passing months and approaching elections will dim these prospects. With time people often lack the same sense of urgency and elections bring out the worst of bureaucratic power games. Of course, demonstrable successes coming from the new procedures Blakely has promoted might be the kind of wedge needed to open a new front in these battles.