John Travis Marshall

Weathering NEPA Review: Superstorms and Super Slow Urban Recovery

Delays in implementing long-term neighborhood housing recovery measures following urban disasters profoundly disrupt a citys revitalization and resurgence. Following recent large-scale urban disasters, some blame the National Environmental Policy Act environmental and historical review requirement for greatly slowing the long-term recovery process. They claim that the National Environmental Policy Act review is ill suited for the exigencies of disasters. Finding effective ways to advance urban disaster recovery as quickly as possible, while not compromising key environmental quality objectives, is a central challenge to implementing effective post-disaster recovery plans. This Article addresses how best to balance necessary regulation with critical disaster recovery objectives. Drawing on long-term recovery lessons from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and most recently, Hurricane Sandy, this Article articulates five principles that the federal government should incorporate in a new Unified Federal Review process.

Core Capabilities and Capacities of Developer Nonprofits in Postdisaster Community Rebuilding

AbstractCurrent disaster scholarship examines critical roles that nonprofits play in both immediate postdisaster emergency response and long-term recovery. These studies focus on narrative accounts of nonprofits’ accomplishments and in some cases the strategies they employ to complete recovery-related work. Far less attention has been paid, however, to the specific capacities critical for developer nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to carry out their strategies and projects. This article is a case study focused on critical capacities. Using interviews and primary sources documenting New Orleans’ advanced stage long-term recovery from Hurricane Katrina, this article isolates key organizational, legal, and operational capacities that enabled developer nonprofit and philanthropic organizations’ successful involvement in the city’s long-term housing and community redevelopment projects.