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Mayor announces plan to reopen New Orleans Nagin said the "re-population" of the city would start Monday in Algiers, a Creole-influenced neighborhood across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. The city's Uptown section, which includes the Garden District's leafy streets and antebellum mansions, will reopen in stages next Wednesday and Friday. The French Quarter will follow on Sept. 26. The designated neighborhoods have 70 percent to 90 percent of their electricity restored, as well as water for flushing toilets and firefighting, if not drinking. The sewer system works, trash removal is running, and at least two hospitals will be able to provide emergency care, authorities said. The plan to reopen came a day after government tests showed that New Orleans' putrid air is safe to breathe, even if the receding floodwaters that still cover half the city remain dangerous from sewage and industrial chemicals. Nagin said electricity would be restored to the French Quarter after the area is checked several times to make sure a fire won't break out from flipping the switch. Business owners have been anxiously awaiting the return of electricity, which will bring back the glowing neon signs of the strip clubs and bars on Bourbon Street. "If we get power, we can bring the dancers in and start working," said Javier Rosado, who's been helping clean the Big Daddy's strip club so it can reopen. Even though business won't be like it was before the
storm, Rosado said, the opportunity to make money still exists in the
near-desolate city. "The soldiers keep passing by and asking when we'll open,"
he said. "I'm sure we'll make money."
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