Shortly after hosting a farewell gala this week for his departing recovery czar Ed Blakely at a posh downtown steakhouse, Mayor Ray Nagin will
headline an academic program next month in Blakely’s adopted hometown of Sydney, Australia. The event, a summit on sustainable globalization hosted by the university where Blakely taught before coming to New Orleans in 2007, features a distinguished list of panelists, including a former United Nations ambassador, the editor of The Economist and experts from Harvard University, Peking University, Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California. The theme of the meeting is “the impact of the global financial crisis on pressing issues of globalization and sustainability, ” according to a Web site promoting the conference. Nagin’s office has not yet announced the mayor’s travel plans. When asked about them Tuesday, a Nagin spokesman said the United States Studies Centre of the University of Sydney is paying for the June 10-11 trip. They did not provide information on the cost of the trip. In luring Blakely here, Nagin forged an unusual business relationship with the school, agreeing to pay the university $100,000 from a city-controlled charity fund to borrow the professor. While at City Hall, Blakely earned an annual salary of roughly $150,000 paid by city taxpayers, plus 50 percent of his university salary. Blakely resigned early this year, a school spokesman said.
En route to Australia, Nagin will make a stopover in Shanghai, China.