Why rebuild New Orleans?

[winsomehill]

When they do rebuild, and there is another hurricane... It will again be the poor and elderly that don't have the option to evacuate on time or not. I would hope the government will take them into account and make plans to evacuate the less fortunate.
Heather

 

[Bobbi]

From your mouth to God's ear as my MIL is fond of saying!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver

 

[Dorothy]

>Culture and history aside, it's an important port city and a
>major center for the oil industry (hence the current panic
>over gas prices). There are economic reasons for rebuilding.
>
>And yes, the city has a rich culture and history, but once
>that's destroyed, the best you get by trying to recreate it is
>Disneyland, a slick simulation without any soul. New Orleans
>will never be the same.



actually, from the pictures, it looks like the most historic parts of the city survived without flooding. Kinda says the newer parts were not built in the best places. Also I read on the internet that many of the buildings in the French Quarter are built with a specially treated wood that withstands being flooded and underwater, where as the newer buildings will not. Guess they knew what they were doing way back when.

Another reason to rebuild.....simply it is people's home, they will want to go back.

 

[Fit_mommy]

I think they should rebuild it...so much history there. I just think that before they focus on rebuilding, they need to make is safer. Re-do the levees to make them able to with stand a cat. 5 hurricane...or whatever but do SOMETHING. No sense in rebuilding if it will be just as vulnerable to the next strong storm, ya know? Someone had said to my mom that they should turn the city into a giant temporary landfill for x amount of years until it's above sea-level and then begin re-building after that...I don't know if this is exactly what you call a realistic solution though...

 

[Mariela]

I never said they shouldn't rebuild it. I agree that if they are going to rebuild, why make the same thing again? Why not make things better, safety wise?

 

[Dorothy]

At this point I don't think they know how they are going to rebuild, they are still doing recovery. I would hope part of the plan would be improvement on it. Ironically, the levee system that protects the city is responsible for removing the marsh protection from hurricanes. The Times_Picayune had a series in 2002 about this, and 20 miles of marshes are gone, 20 miles of protection are gone. So if they build more, stronger levees, it still leaves them open for damage.

 

[Spinnergirl]

The main thing, regardless of how anyone feels, is that the bottom line to all of this is that it WILL be rebuilt.

I was born and raised in Minnesota--AKA "Tornado Alley".

I lived in California when the Northridge earthquake happened.

I now live in Florida and deal with hurricanes.

No, it's not like I'm trying to live in places where horrible mother-nature things can occur, I just happen to be there when it does.

Building New Orleans on a landfill is gross. If you'd been in an area where homes are built on them and dealt with the "smell" associated with them, that is not an option(I've only been told that it's HORRIBLE, thankfully haven't had to deal with that).

To say that we shouldn't rebuild someone's place because it's "foolish", hmm.........., not sure I agree with that one. Everyone is entitled to there opinion though, that's what makes America great.

If any of you in California remember what the Northridge earthquake did, then you remember that the structures are made with what they were at the time of the construction and a lot of those codes did not exist back then. Should they have been updated, sure, but a lot of things are not done until something like this happens, unfortunately.

I will be interested in hearing your opinions if this had actually AFFECTED you, like it has me. Sorry if that sounds like I'm mad, I'm not, but until you've had to deal with something like this in your own life, it's hard to imagine what it's really like. I lived in Burbank, CA, 10 miles from the epicenter of the Northridge quake(a friend of mine felt it in Las Vegas)and when it's pitch black that early in the morning and all you can hear are things crashing around you due to the shaking of the apartment complex I lived in, the only thing I could think of was, I hope I don't die. Sounds melodramatic I'm sure, but I take some of this personally, it's always easier to pass judgement when it's not affecting you(I've been guilty of that myself).

Didn't mean to make this sound like a rant, I can only hope that Mother Nature doesn't decide to do something to your area of the country, because nobody deserves to go thru this, it's no fun, but the human spirit is a strong one, and we all bounce back.

'Nuf said.

Mary
Formerly known as Luv2run