By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS  –  Historic New Orleans is reinventing itself as it recovers from Hurricane Katrina, with efforts under way to help make this a safer, more vibrant city, Mayor Ray Nagin said in his annual State of the City address.

Drawing from the riverside location from where he delivered the speech, Nagin on Wednesday likened New Orleans’ spirit to that of the Mississippi River — “always improvising, reinventing and making a way out of no way.”

“We are changing course, New Orleans,” he said. “We are changing course. But change, obviously, doesn’t happen overnight.”

Nearly three years after Katrina, there’s a sense of optimism among residents that life here is going to get better — but, for many, there’s little faith in government at any level, and patience has worn thin.

The population stands at 307,400, about two-thirds the pre-Katrina level, according to one estimate based on utility hookups. But a fraction of the pre-storm population has returned to such hard-hit areas as the Lower 9th Ward, where an estimated 10 percent of residents are back. That’s a measure that hasn’t budged for months, even as the city’s overall population has continued to grow.

Still, Nagin said there’s been significant progress since those first desperate days and months following the Aug. 29, 2005, storm.

Nagin cited a litany of successes over the last year: from New Orleans’ hosting a series of high-profile sporting events and festivals to low unemployment, tax collections nearing pre-storm levels and the city beginning $1 billion worth of rebuilding projects.

“I have kept my word to you that I would not let New Orleans die,” he said to applause.

Nagin is set to leave office in 2010 and said his initiatives will include focusing on code enforcement to rid neighborhoods of derelict buildings, tackling violent crime, and mortgage-assistance and economic development programs.