# How do we rebuild New Orleans?



## Tgace (Sep 12, 2005)

Since all of us US tax payers are going to be paying for it in one way or another how would you do it?


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## arnisador (Sep 12, 2005)

Rationally, I'd like to see it moved.

I doubt that that will happen...but as we see estimates of $300 billion to rebuild, I am concerned about the effect on the economy, and wish we could try to ameliorate the effects of the inevitable _next_ one!


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## terryl965 (Sep 12, 2005)

One day at a time, just one day at a time


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## michaeledward (Sep 12, 2005)

Doesn't matter as long as simultaneously, a grand plan to rebuild the coastal marshes and boundary islands. Without the restoration of this portion of the geography, all other efforts are doomed to failure during the next hurricane event.


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## oldnewbie (Sep 12, 2005)

I'd like to see it moved out of the flood plain. I believe it's a mistake to rebuild in the same spot. Towns were moved after the Miss River devastation.....

 Also, they should hire all labor from the Biloxi- New Orleans area....

 Plenty of people need work!


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## shesulsa (Sep 12, 2005)

I voted for what I think is the ideal, moving out of the floodplain.  However, I also know this is unrealistic because as long as there are real estate developers, anything that has earth somewhere beneath it, they will try to build on it and successfully sell it to people who want to live near water.

 If they're going to resurrect the existing location, the levies need to be rebuilt, eventually. They've been in place for - what? - 300 years? That means they are way out of date for our technology and for the needs of the region (clearly). If they're going to do this, now would be the time to do so.

 However, I've never been a big fan of the inhabiting of floodplains - it never turns out well. Tragedy strikes, we all smack our foreheads and weep while the real estate developers laugh all the way to Mexico on their yachts.

 Rebuild elsewhere, say I.


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## TonyM. (Sep 12, 2005)

I voted for moving the city to higher ground. I also think it's about time the army corps of engineers removes all of the levees from the mississippi as they are causing the serious flooding, not preventing it. I've been preaching to deaf ears about this for twenty five years.


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## ginshun (Sep 12, 2005)

Just fence it off and ship in a bunch of criminals for a real life _Escape from New York_ type scenario.


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## FearlessFreep (Sep 12, 2005)

> Just fence it off and ship in a bunch of criminals for a real life _Escape from New York_ type scenario.


 Well, if it's surrounded by water then _Escape From LA_ or maybe _No Escape_ would be more approriate


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## ginshun (Sep 12, 2005)

FearlessFreep said:
			
		

> Well, if it's surrounded by water then _Escape From LA_ or maybe _No Escape_ would be more approriate


 OK, nix the fence.  Make it a moat instead, that should be easier at this point anyway.


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## OUMoose (Sep 12, 2005)

ginshun said:
			
		

> OK, nix the fence.  Make it a moat instead, that should be easier at this point anyway.


And televise it.  Make it sort of a Running man type scenerio.


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## ginshun (Sep 12, 2005)

OUMoose said:
			
		

> And televise it.  Make it sort of a Running man type scenerio.


 Oh hells ya


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## jfarnsworth (Sep 12, 2005)

I say we leave it alone. Who knows when the next natural disaster can happen there.


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## Tgace (Sep 12, 2005)

I saw a news story about Holland and their dike break that killed thousands of people (forgot when it was, 50's-60's I think). It took that for them to remake their huge, expensive and effective flood control system they have now. The thing is that that was a national threat, the whole of Holland was at risk. Is one US city worth that much expense? Do we all foot the bill to build a complex flood control system for New Orleans?


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## Cryozombie (Sep 13, 2005)

I think we should give all our money to people displaced by the storms:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/trifold_flame/177894.html

 Im ashamed I donated.


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## BlueDragon1981 (Sep 13, 2005)

Yeah that billions that he is giving well that is paid by the U.S tax payers, but do you really think that we will be given the choice as to where to have it rebuilt. NO.

Rationally they should move it off the flood plane and still build CAT5 leveys.

They should come up with an evacuation policy also along with many other policies regarding the event of another hurricane.


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## 7starmantis (Sep 13, 2005)

Everyone is saying move the city, anyone got a plan on where to move it?


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## jfarnsworth (Sep 13, 2005)

Well everyone should be gone by now. Tell them not to return. Write off the losses as we usually do in this country and move on. I for one would like to see more people at work. Rebuilding would mean jobs for plumbers, electricians, HVAC, masonaries, engineers, architects, you know the list will go on and on and on. Business would be great down there however I still think we should leave it be let the families move on in another location of their choosing and be done with it.


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## 7starmantis (Sep 13, 2005)

jfarnsworth said:
			
		

> Well everyone should be gone by now. Tell them not to return. Write off the losses as we usually do in this country and move on. I for one would like to see more people at work. Rebuilding would mean jobs for plumbers, electricians, HVAC, masonaries, engineers, architects, you know the list will go on and on and on. Business would be great down there however I still think we should leave it be let the families move on in another location of their choosing and be done with it.


 So just leave it as it is? Just let everything sit there and rot? Just let it become a dangerous "mindfield" of violence?

 I'm not trying to be funny or mean, I'm not understanding what your saying should be done.

 7sm


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## arnisador (Sep 14, 2005)

As to people abusing the $2000...someone will always abuse the system. If they try to weed out the false positives, it'll take that much longer to get help to those hwo need it.

I don'tthink donated money goes to this, does it?


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## JAMJTX (Sep 14, 2005)

NOLA was a great city with a rich, wonderful history.  But it is over.

If not now, it would have been soon.  The city started out below sea level, surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico, swamps, the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain.  It was doomed from the start.  

The Mississippi River has been naturally changing course for decades (maybe longer).  The Army Corps of Engineers has been fighting against that for as far back as I can recall, and fighting a losing battle as flooding has continually gotten worse.  The levee system around NOLA has been pumping millions of gallons of water every day to try and fend off flooding, that was before the storm.  As the beaches eroded and the city continually sank the dams and levees offered less and less protection.
At the rate the city was sinking it would have been part of the Gulf of Mexico in a hundred years or less.  After all is settled, It will be interesting to see how far below sea level the city limits are now, probably 14-15 feet.

It will cost 100 billion dollars or more to rebuild NOLA and take several decades.  Most likely, the city will be smacked by 5 more major storms before the rebuilding is done. 

If the rebuilding is done in 20 years, at the rate the city was sinking before the storm it will be completely submerged in one generation.  Now that the city is 2-3 feet closer to being under the Gulf of Mexico than it was before the storm that timetable is moved up by 20 years.

Is it really worth the cost to rebuild the doomed city, knowing full well that all efforts are in vain and within a single generation an eaven greater catastrophe WILL happen and all will be lost and can never be recovered?


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## Ray (Sep 15, 2005)

7starmantis said:
			
		

> Everyone is saying move the city, anyone got a plan on where to move it?


I say we should look for a nice hill rather than a "bowl" surrounded by bodies of water.


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## Shizen Shigoku (Sep 15, 2005)

Model after Venice.


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## BlueDragon1981 (Sep 15, 2005)

Wow JAMJTX and I agree on something. Is it really worth rebuilding when it is most likely going to be destroyed again. Of course you could model it after Venice. If you do rebuild it where it is then why not.


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## Andrew Green (Sep 15, 2005)

As long as cutting taxes has to be a priority to get elected any city that needs a expensive system built and maintained to protect it is in the wrong place.

 Cause 20 years from now some new president will just cut the funding again, cause the odds of it happening durring there term are pretty low, and that is a big chunk of money they can avoid spending to make everyone happy.... providing nothing bad happens in which case the political back peddling begins.


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## 7starmantis (Sep 15, 2005)

Where can we find a nice hill the size of N.O. that is'nt allready occupied? I do like the idea of a southern venice 

 7sm


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## JAMJTX (Sep 15, 2005)

Were not talking about "Venice" here, were talking Atlantis.
Although Venice is also sinking and will be completely submerged in about 50 years.


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## arnisador (Sep 15, 2005)

Yes, Venice has problems of its own...


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## 7starmantis (Sep 15, 2005)

JAMJTX said:
			
		

> Were not talking about "Venice" here, were talking Atlantis.
> Although Venice is also sinking and will be completely submerged in about 50 years.


 Actually Venice isn't sinking the surrounding waters are raising....but I hear ya 

 7sm


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## Makalakumu (Sep 16, 2005)

Here is an article about President Bush's speech last night...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9359349/


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## andy (Sep 17, 2005)

Why not employ all those displaced low-income people that will be recieving assistance from all areas of society. As low level construction workers to rebuild the town?opcorn: :tantrum:


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## MisterMike (Sep 18, 2005)

Ever read the 3 little pigs? My vote is for BRICKS.


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## michaeledward (Dec 3, 2006)

Rebuilding New Orleans may be less and less likely.

I saw a headline earlier today that indicated the St. Paul Travelers Insurance Company is going to stop insuring commercial properties in New Orleans.

St. Paul Travelers insurance is the largest commercial insurer in Louisiana. Because of its size in the market, some analysts are concerned that smaller players may also decide to stop selling commercial policies.

If commercial insurance policies become scarce, or overly burdensome, we will be able to watch the city as it atrophies.


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