What Kind of New Orleans Will Be Rebuilt?(I hope to higher ground this time.)

Real Clear Politics ^ | September 5 , 2005 | Michael Barone

[floriduh voter]

higher ground bump. Get outta the bowl!

[floriduh voter]

good idea. it would be slightly disneyfied but safer.

[floriduh voter]

stringent building codes for commerce or you and I will have to keep paying to rebuild that stuff next time around.

[El Gato]

The criminals seem likely to be dispersed by the soldiers now pouring into the city,

Dispersed? What to come back to kill, rob and rape again? I'd rather they were apprehended, or just shot in the street, their choice.

[RGSpincich]

We used to have a spot like New Orleans in California. Now they call it San Francisco Bay./heh

[Tequila25]

"Make no allowances for people to live there ..only commerce"

Because commerce is run by robots or people willing to live in their offices, right?

It's pretty simple. The port needs to be there, the port needs people, people need a city. New Orleans will probably shrink a lot in population, but most of the CDB, French Quarter, Uptown, West Bank, and Jefferson Parish did not flood that badly.

[Rakkasan1]

seems pretty lame that we have no politicians who have the courage to admit it's foolish to build in a giant flood plain soup bowl.Denny Hastert was right, but like all the rest, apologizes for speaking his mind and saying something that should be just common sense.

Yes, people have the right to live where they want, but they don't have the right to make others pay for it. Government's main job is (or used to be) protecting citizens from enemies both foreign and domestic. If Americans think Government can protect us(or should) from all possible acts of God, we have bigger problems than floods.

Regardless of how silly it is to rebuild below sea level, regardless the fact it'll cost hundreds of billions and 20 years, New Orleans will be rebuilt. Whether or not is should be will probably be argued about for far longer than 20 years.Oh well, it's something to keep former presidents busy and Americans feeling good about giving.Maybe we can name each flood dyke after Clinton, Bush,SR. and James Carville.

Lost among the media questioning and finger-pointing is the blatantly obvious question of whether and why rebuilding should even be done in the same location.This is just as applicable to Grand Forks,ND as it is to New Orleans, so you can forget the race card. Dumb is dumb regardless of geographic locale.

[Bon mots]

Uh, if you somehow think that the "Lord of the Flies" mentality is unique to New Orleans, I suggest you meditate for a few minutes on Detroit, which is worse.

...or Compton, Oakland, Newark, DC...

[x]

It could just be an industrial terminal. George Friedman, of stratfor.com, argues that "the ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic." As in Jefferson's time, this "is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and" -- we get beyond 1803 here -- "the bulk commodities of industrialism come in."

I would have hoped that we had been using the port to export some industrial goods. If we're not -- if we're just sending grain out and getting manufactured goods in -- then maybe we shouldn't rebuild.

[flixxx]

Thanks for the information. As you mention, when Galveston did rebuild, they did it in a rational way. New Orleans needs to do the same...with some advance planning about what can and even should be rebuilt.

[Rebelbase]

Someone mentioned earlier that Sacramento, CA could be put into a similar condition. If it happened in winter time the cold water would kill tens of thousands.

[Rebelbase]

" Send the weirdos to San Francisco"

They're being scattered to the four corners of the nation.

[ALASKA]

And a terrorist with a small amount of explosives and we'd have the same mess all over again.

My thoughts exactly. If the river levees were breached, the situation would be MUCH worse. We'd have an endless supply of water running into to the city. Luckily, the river levees are OK. I'm wondering what might happen should they weaken due to saturation of the normally dry sides. Things could go from worse to worsererererer.......

[Wiseghy]

I agree with Strafor's assessment. Cities are needed to support the world's largest breadbasket port.

My main concern is that the local official's political, games, corruption, finger pointing and gridlock will keep the rebuilding effort stuck in a perpetual inertia. They fear federalizing relief, but federal power and leadership are what is needed here.