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The Loss of New Orleans Wasn't Just a Tragedy. It Was a Plan
http://www.jewishworldreview.com ^ | Jonathan Rauch

Posted on 09/20/2005 6:15:16 AM PDT by manny613

he evacuation plans were inadequate and then bungled. The rescue was slow, confused, and often nonexistent. Yet the most striking fact of the New Orleans catastrophe has received less notice than it deserves: The plan for New Orleans in case of a hit from a very powerful hurricane was to lose the city.

(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jonathanrauch; katrina; katrinaplot; neworleans
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Must read until the end to appreciate.
1 posted on 09/20/2005 6:15:16 AM PDT by manny613
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To: manny613

Short article.


2 posted on 09/20/2005 6:20:12 AM PDT by Conspiracy Guy (Ponce de Leon is coming here to look for the fountain of dumb. DC is his first stop.)
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To: manny613
I was with him right up until he proposed yet another government board to go around assessing risks for us. He's overlooking something critical: who says we need to live in a vulnerable spot like NO in the first place? The cost of moving out of NO and letting it go to rot is arguably less than the cost of shoring up the levees, so why is he comparing only the cost of prevention with the cost of rebuilding? What about the cost of just getting out of dodge?

There's a simple, natural way to force people to take that cost into account: force them to pay for their own home repairs--or else pay for the premiums, if an insurance company is willing to supply a policy. They'll decide for themselves if the insurance is worth it, or whether they wouldn't be better off moving to northern Miss.

3 posted on 09/20/2005 6:24:19 AM PDT by Shalom Israel (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.)
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To: manny613
"In 1999, reports the Chicago Tribune, Congress authorized the Army Corps to conduct a $12 million study to determine the cost of protecting New Orleans. But the study was not set to get under way until 2006"

This is an opportune time to get the study underweigh. But being the Government, I wonder what conclusions they will make?

4 posted on 09/20/2005 6:25:51 AM PDT by Enterprise (When Rats govern they screw up and people die. Then, the Rats want to punch the President.)
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To: Conspiracy Guy

bttt


5 posted on 09/20/2005 6:27:10 AM PDT by BartMan1 (...)
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To: manny613
The plan for New Orleans in case of a hit from a very powerful hurricane was to lose the city.

Like, duh.

Even if the levees had been raised to what were estimated to be Cat 5 level, realize that forecasters were off by ten feet in forecasting the surge that hit east of the eyewall.

So if the levees had been raised and more people stayed behind, accepting the estimates of the Corps of Engineers, and had there been a direct hit and the Corps was wrong, the death toll truly would have been catastrophic.

The point is not to make New Orleans safe in its current location. It should be to move much of NOLA to a location that is safe without extraordinary civil engineering projects.

6 posted on 09/20/2005 6:29:14 AM PDT by dirtboy (Drool overflowed my buffer...)
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To: manny613
I read it to the end, but I still don't appreciate it.

Meanwhile, Congress and the White House consistently and sharply cut requests for levee-improvement funds.

He didn't say anything about all the money that got "diverted". Considering that, one can imagine (it's difficult, I know) that even Washington might be inclined to close the checkbook.

The Dims in charge of LA just consider the whole world a big casino, and NOLA was in the pot. So they lost a hand this time. Big deal, Uncle will give them an advance on their allowance for the next roll.

They forgot that this isn't a game. The dead and grieving certainly won't.

7 posted on 09/20/2005 6:31:16 AM PDT by thulldud (It's bad luck to be superstitious.)
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To: manny613

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485468/posts
The Port of New Orleans and WHY We Must Rebuild!


8 posted on 09/20/2005 6:31:58 AM PDT by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: manny613
"Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity." - Albert Einstein

Bulldoze New Orleans, plant grass and move the city to higher ground or,

Bulldoze the city, fill in the six foot deficit and then rebuild it.

Rebuilding New Orleans where it stand today is ludicrous.

God bless our troops wherever they may be.

9 posted on 09/20/2005 6:32:07 AM PDT by JusticeTalion (Vulcan's never bluff.)
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To: BartMan1

I read the whole article and it failed to mention the law suit that stopped the Corp of Engineers from doing improvements to in 95 or 96. The suit was filed by The Sierra Club and demanded a full environmental impact study. Looks like Katrina gave em an IMPACT STUDY.


10 posted on 09/20/2005 6:33:39 AM PDT by Conspiracy Guy (Ponce de Leon is coming here to look for the fountain of dumb. DC is his first stop.)
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To: manny613
Did you see on the news yesterday that residents of select neighborhoods in the city were led in to check out their property so they could recover papers and valuable items. No sooner had they gotten in fires started burning with smoke columns rising as the residents seeing flood damage committed arson. The fires were put out and the residents herded back on the buses.

They just won't quit trying to "get over" on the culture of the rest of the USA.
11 posted on 09/20/2005 6:43:41 AM PDT by Final Authority
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To: Final Authority

I don't get it. Why would they allegedly set fires at seeing the flood damage?


12 posted on 09/20/2005 6:47:23 AM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: Shalom Israel
"There's a simple, natural way to force people to take that cost into account: force them to pay for their own home repairs"

Don't be silly. We're talking about the Government here. It never met a financial sinkhole it didn't like! And New Orleans is perfect in so many ways. Low income, high crime, gambling, tourism, and so much of that long green to splash around. A Government dream city if EVER there was one. The Government is going to be back, happily rebuilding and pouring a couple of hundred billion taxpayer dollars into that sinkhole. No way is the Government ever going to let go of that bedraggled cow.

13 posted on 09/20/2005 6:49:03 AM PDT by Enterprise (When Rats govern they screw up and people die. Then, the Rats want to punch the President.)
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To: AntiGuv
I don't get it. Why would they allegedly set fires at seeing the flood damage?

Cynical take: Perhaps flood damage is not covered by their insurance, but arson is.

14 posted on 09/20/2005 6:50:47 AM PDT by handy (Forgive me this day, my daily typos...The Truth is not a Smear!)
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To: AntiGuv
Why would they allegedly set fires at seeing the flood damage?

Fire damage is insured. Flood damage, in NOLA, isn't.

15 posted on 09/20/2005 6:52:43 AM PDT by ModelBreaker
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To: ModelBreaker; handy

Ooooh, that makes perfect sense.


16 posted on 09/20/2005 6:53:25 AM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
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To: JusticeTalion
Bulldoze the city, fill in the six foot deficit and then rebuild it.

That particular idea is risky. The city is sinking; adding fill is likely to be only a temporary measure.

17 posted on 09/20/2005 6:56:26 AM PDT by Shalom Israel (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.)
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To: manny613

So if most mortgage companies and insurance companies will not back home building on a known flood plain. Why in the world would rebuilding be allowed, supported if not promoted on the same?


18 posted on 09/20/2005 7:07:58 AM PDT by rod1
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To: Shalom Israel
There's a simple, natural way to force people to take that cost into account: force them to pay for their own home repairs--or else pay for the premiums, if an insurance company is willing to supply a policy. They'll decide for themselves if the insurance is worth it, or whether they wouldn't be better off moving to northern Miss.

The MSM and the politicians would have a field day with such a decision.

Even if they just designate low lying areas as uninhabitable and relocate these residences to safer areas would be political heresy.

It would be much more acceptable to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to rebuild this death trap.

19 posted on 09/20/2005 7:11:13 AM PDT by oldbrowser (A living, breathing constitution is a usurpation of the people's sovereignty)
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To: Shalom Israel

The cessation of government-underwritten (taxpayer-underwritten) flood insurance would guarantee that no city would be rebuilt in that location.


20 posted on 09/20/2005 7:19:23 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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