Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why New Orleans Needs Saving
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research ^ | Feb 27, 2006 | Newt Gingrich, John M. Barry

Posted on 03/06/2006 4:35:55 PM PST by Saints fan

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last
To: Saints fan

The restoration of New Orleans is a costly mis-adventure in tax money wrongly spent. Even if the next hurricane season spares this chocolate fiasco, sooner or later it will all happen again you know it and so do I. It is time to face the fact that this place has run out of luck and the taxpayers should not be obligated to throw good money after bad. The present location is not worth the massive expenditure involved and should be moved far north of its present location where it can be stabilized. If the local millionaires want it rebuilt let them pony up the bucks not the national taxpayers once again.


21 posted on 03/06/2006 5:13:29 PM PST by winker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jack of all Trades
Perhaps The city should have allowed the Feds to build those flood gates back in the 70's. Oops.

Nope, the feds built the levee walls in the late 80's, early 90's.They were incredibally misengineered and built by the Army Corps of Engineers.If they were built right , New Orleans would not have flooded.

22 posted on 03/06/2006 5:15:40 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

If you want to rebuild N.O you are certainly more than welcome to that. The taxpayers in the rest of the country should not have to rebuild that corrupt craphole. Yes, I have been to N.O and 90% of that city was/is a craphole so there is no great loss


23 posted on 03/06/2006 5:22:27 PM PST by Ouderkirk (Funny how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: exit82
They were only built to withstand a Cat 3 storm. Katrina was a Cat 5 until it hit land. When it hit NO, it was a Cat 3/4.

It was supposed to withstand cat 3. When Katrina hit NO it was less than cat 3. The levees should have held, if they were built right.The feds built them and were supposed to oversee maintenance. They didn't and they failed.

24 posted on 03/06/2006 5:22:33 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: speekinout
Noticed that. Also, check the "20% .... passed through" ~ didn't say what percentage had to stop and disgorge passengers and freight ~ actually, virtually none.

The city itself is not needed to move freight.

25 posted on 03/06/2006 5:23:40 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan
So have they completed the preliminary design specs for the Category 5 levees?
Or are the political bureaucrats still on their Spring Tulip Tour of Holland?
26 posted on 03/06/2006 5:23:42 PM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ouderkirk

You have been to every part of the city? I doubt it.


27 posted on 03/06/2006 5:24:01 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan
It was the Federal Government's responsibility to build levees that worked,

I don't think you can get away with that assertion. We've all learned about how much money the Feds sent to LA for the levees, and how all of the levee boards used it.
LA couldn't even manage to turn control over the levees to the state, let alone the Feds.

The failure of the levees was LA's problem. And the failure to evacuate NO was a problem shared by the gov. and the mayor.

28 posted on 03/06/2006 5:24:08 PM PST by speekinout
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan
They weren't actually built by the Corps of Engineers. All they did was supervise the funding of the contracts.

Obviously that wasn't enough supervision given the depth of corruption in that part of the country.

29 posted on 03/06/2006 5:26:23 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

BTW, the levees held. They are still there. The canal walls didn't.


30 posted on 03/06/2006 5:27:14 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

Katrina was not a Cat 2 when it hit NO.


31 posted on 03/06/2006 5:28:44 PM PST by exit82 (Congressional Democrats---treasonously stuck on stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

The Corps was responsible for the engineering design and construction of the levees,not the financing.


32 posted on 03/06/2006 5:29:33 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

I understand that the money that the Feds have sent to NO over the years to shore-up the levies had been diverted by the local politicians into sports stadiums and other projects....spending tax payer money to rebuild a city under sea-level makes absolutley no sense.


33 posted on 03/06/2006 5:30:36 PM PST by Froggie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: exit82

NO was on the western side of the storm. The winds on the western side was less than a cat 3.


34 posted on 03/06/2006 5:31:05 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

Poor planning and not knowing how to get the hell out of Dodge played a major role in NO's current woes. The Florida Keys are much more vulnerable than NO, with one way in, and one way out...the residents are familiar with both and have sense enough to heed the warnings and get out.


35 posted on 03/06/2006 5:34:00 PM PST by Mrite
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan
Except for the helicopter drops in the immediate aftermath of the flooding, I've never seen the Corps lift so much as a hammer to put a nail in a piece of wood.

The civil affairs projects the Corps gets involved in are, for the most part, drawn up by outsiders working under contract. The work is ordinarily performed by winning bidders.

Their job is to "supervise". That's why they have experts in so many fields.

When it comes to military projects, you might actually see the Corps "do something".

36 posted on 03/06/2006 5:34:27 PM PST by muawiyah (-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

Yeah....it's the federal governemnts fault. No, it was your worthless democRAT political machines fault. 200 billion dollars...to democRATS ? Not on your life.


37 posted on 03/06/2006 5:35:43 PM PST by Ouderkirk (Funny how death and destruction seems to happen wherever Muslims gather...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan
The Lake Ponchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project was authorized in 1965. Local Levee districts shared 30% of the contruction costs, and maintained the infrastructure. The initial plan was to use floodgates. Local preferences, litigation and environmental concerns were cited as reasons for the change. link

Sorry for your troubles, but the Federal government did not destroy New Orleans. There's a lot more justification for that statement than the above referenced information. For example, the fact that it was a natural disaster.

38 posted on 03/06/2006 5:37:24 PM PST by Jack of all Trades (Liberalism: replacing backbones with wishbones.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Mrite

Weather people 'got out of Dodge' as you say had nothing to do with the city's current woes. 90% of the residents got out.Only the dumbest of dumb stayed. The city's current woes are because the levee walls failed.


39 posted on 03/06/2006 5:38:58 PM PST by Saints fan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Saints fan

And your point is what? That the canal walls failed at below their design intent? Of all I have read about Katrina, not once have I seen that it was less than a Cat 3 when it hit NO. If the canal walls failed at less than design, then it was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Another fine example of Louisiana construction.

Look, I'm not trying to bash you or your city. But I cannot tolerate the bitching and moaning of people who have chosen to live life shaking hands with disaster everyday for decades, then when that disaster comes, they expect everyone else to fix the problem.

History is full of towns and cities that didn't recover after natural disasters. NO will survive, but it will have to be different, or suffer the same fate at some point in the future.

Anything made by man will eventually fail, if not maintained over time.If anyone cared down there, maybe more care would have been taken, and built weaknesses could have been found before failure.

Hope the higher view is better where they rebuild.


40 posted on 03/06/2006 5:43:17 PM PST by exit82 (Congressional Democrats---treasonously stuck on stupid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-68 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson