SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: DON'T REBUILD NEW ORLEANS

[Kurt Wayne]

...

...and I promise I'll go no further into this, but indeed, it won't be the New Orleans we remember if the climate that helped the city get into this entire mess is TRULY dealt with.

 

[Brian Brubaker]

Re: ...

Depends on the demand for labor.

That port of New Orleans is not going to close, not at this time, and as such . There is going to be a tremendous push for labor to work it, according to news accounts I've read. If we close that port and its ancillary facilities, we close one of three modes of inland America's transportation.

Also, here in Bentonville, AR every other person I know works for the HQ of you-know-who. (And I think Wal-Mart, donating $15 million, is trying to help in any way possible.) I spoke with a lady yesterday whose husband is in the know on these things...he said there's going to be a tremendous call for labor to work ANY job at the W-Ms in the area, which they seem to want to reopen.

It will be interesting to see how the marketplace accepts this and deals with it.

BTW, I saw a fascinating news story on Plaquemines parish last night. The roads are already cleared between Belle Chasse and Jesuit Bend, and they're going to work on getting the south part of that parish as water free as they can. The residents there haven't had life that easy, but they look used to it...they may evacuate in the next hurricane, but it doesn't look like many of them are planning to move ANYWHERE from where they're at.

Why in the heck don't we move San Francisco, BTW?

This is what I consider to be the root problem. Businesses wanting profits over public safety. People will go where the jobs are. If W-M starts rebuilding their stores down there it will attract people, whether it's safe or not. That will snowball with other businesses, followed by more people, and so on, and so on.

I fear that we're going to see pride, arrogance, and profits drive the complete rebuilding of the city - at any and all costs. But will the ecological problems be properly addressed?

 

[John Erwin]

I was just thinking that the region around New Orleans is not that much unlike parts of Holland; determination and good engineering over there has proven that a lot of these issues can be overcome.

If one was building a new City, a different location might be chosen... however that's not exactly an option here. Does anybody really beleive that an entire city should be abandoned? That's simply not going to happen here.

 

[Anonymous]

I was just thinking that the region around New Orleans is not that much unlike parts of Holland; determination and good engineering over there has proven that a lot of these issues can be overcome.

If one was building a new City, a different location might be chosen... however that's not exactly an option here. Does anybody really beleive that an entire city should be abandoned? That's simply not going to happen here.

There is talk of bringing in large amounts of dirt to fill in some areas of the city to make it less vulnerable because some areas will be completely bulldozed. They will definately make a 21st century levee system now...although it's a little late...

 

[Kurt Wayne]

...

Brian,

Are oceangoing ships able to go as far as Baton Rouge? If not, New Orleans is still going to be the most important port town on the most important river system in the most prosperous (though one might not know it looking at news footage from the crescent city) nation in the world.

There are alternative ports, but they're not on a river which links them to Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Wichita, etc.

BTW, here's the view from the president and founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Slidell native from across the lake.

 

[Roger Edwards]

Back on ST forums after finally finding my password again!

For a national politician, much less someone of Speaker Hastert's prominence, to stick his neck out and say something *that* controversial, yet rooted in amazingly pragmatic thought, is an exceptional display of political courage -- at least until the pressure from emotional "we must rebuild" reactionaries in both parties forces him to retract.

Clearly he knew such sentiments would not be popular in many (most?) quarters. But rational, thinking people need to seriously consider this possibility. I don't believe most folks have considered the absolutely staggering cumulative costs here, in time and money, for cleanup, environmental remediation, salvage, demolition and reconstruction.

I won't use up more bandwidth on it here, but folks are welcome to visit my BLOG essay about this topic (written before Hastert's statements) and make intelligent comments either way.

http://www.stormeyes.org/tornado/blog/arch...new_orleans.php[/url]

 

[Brian Brubaker]

Kurt,

I'm not talking about necessary industrial facilities. I'm talking about commercial developments that attract residential areas - or vice-versa.

No doubt the ports are vital and need to remain, but the it seems futile to attempt to rebuild the city proper at it's current location.

I'm sure the same genious engineers who think they can protect a city from a cat-5 'cane can certainly engineer a transportation system (highway and rail) that will easily allow access to and from remote ports and an inland metro area.

 

[Kurt Wayne]

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Brian, good point.

Remember, those same engineers said they were only authorized to construct a floodwall to withstand a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, nothing more.

There's going to have to be some reengineered thinking and culture for New Orleans to rebuild, and it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Brian Brubaker]

Re: ...

Brian, good point.

Remember, those same engineers said they were only authorized to construct a floodwall to withstand a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane, nothing more.

There's going to have to be some reengineered thinking and culture for New Orleans to rebuild, and it will be interesting to see what happens.

It is true they only built to withstand a cat-3. I heard an interview with an Army Corps engineer earlier this week who said that they can absolutely design and build levies to withstand a cat-5. The issue is going to be the astronomical cost.

Will those in charge igonre the ecological problem (starving the area of river silt) and instead compound it by trying to hold back even more water?

I just have this feeling that we're going to see sensibility tossed aside in favor of pride and profit.