Jump to content

The Question of Rebuilding New Orleans


goodbye

Recommended Posts

Stuff like this doesn't help matters. 

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46361

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is precisely why they stopped giving the debit cards. I got my $2,000.00 directly deposited in my account. It appears that many thieves from Texas and other states have been illegally trying to obtain the cards so they could abuse the FEMA privilege for true victims of Hurricane Katrina. Not surprising, at all, though. I've heard of arrests in Texas, as well as Missouri, to name a couple of states where this type of fraud has occurred.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 128
  • Created
  • Last Reply

My understanding of the flood insurance program is that if you are required by law to have it, and you don't, you are not eligible for federal assistance following a flood disaster - period. I know its required if you have a loan on your house that's backed by a government agency or federally-affilliated lender; but what if you own a home outright in a floodzone - still required to be eligible for aid?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My understanding of the flood insurance program is that if you are required by law to have it, and you don't, you are not eligible for federal assistance following a flood disaster - period. I know its required if you have a loan on your house that's backed by a government agency or federally-affilliated lender; but what if you own a home outright in a floodzone - still required to be eligible for aid?

Like you say, you're required to have it if you have a mortgage on your house--at least anywhere in LA below the I-10/I-12 line. Probably other places around the state as well--including other floodzones.

I know property owners are eligible for low-cost disaster loans, and I believe this is true regardless of whether there was flood insurance. I'm not sure whether there are outright federal grants in any case--if you have flood insurance or not.

Keep in mind, flood damage is limited to $250,000 for the property and I believe has a cap of $50,000 on contents.

Also, I'd read that flood damage policies don't carry the usual homeowners "emergency housing" clause--good for a couple thousand dollars for a motel or rental housing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, there is already resistance on spending federal dollars but I'm pretty confident that billions will be spent on rebuilding the city. You shouldn't expect the average american to understand or agree on how big the city plays a roll in, not only producing oil, but also the transporting of manufacturing and food products produced from Ohio to Montana, down the Mississippi. This isn't an anyplace USA like Charlotte or Jacksonville, its location at the mouth of the Mississippi serves as an economic gateway to the interior portion of the country. Unless we're willing to completely change our national way of living and shipping goods, rebuilding the city will be a national priority.

I also believe that serveral questions about who will manage the money and what exactly will be done with it need to be answered before handing it out on a silver platter.

However, I do agree with you, the city won't ever be what it was, prior to the storm. The verdict is still out on whether it will regain all of its population, but most likely it will become a heavily gentrified city, with new comers moving in and the property values will soar as a result of, heavy tax breaks for businesses, improved rail transit, expressways, levees, less crime and the land rush that is on the verge of starting. Throw the cultural and historical charm aspect into it, and you've got the ingredients for something really special.

Right, what gets me up here in the midwest, are all the people saying don't rebuild, blah, blah.

I always like to ask them how they plan on getting all that corn and soybeans exported. Now, they can ship it by rail to Houston which would cost an arm and leg, and make their products entirely uncompetitive on the world market.

Regarding gentrification of New Orleans--gentrify the place and you lose the cultural and historical charm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stuff like this doesn't help matters.

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46361

This is OUR tax money !!!! I am Pissed that this is the way people are handling this. Of course I knew it would happen. Why did they not just had out Food stamps. The Gov't is greggin' IGNORANT !!! :angry:

NOTE: I am blaming the entire Gov't, not just Bush. Sorry to post my frustration MB as I know you want to keep this thread as strictly as a rebuilding NO thread. Thanks for letting me rant...

-_-

A2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As of now, the levees in New Orleans have broken. New Orleans is being flooding again. The mayor of New Orleans say the city will have only 250,000 people back after New Orleans rebuilds. As of now it does not look good for New Orleans.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it does... so tragic. And they say that "Murphy" was an optimist... :ph34r:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it does... so tragic. And they say that "Murphy" was an optimist... :ph34r:

It's enormously tragic what's happening in New Orleans.. how much longer is hurricane season supposed to last?? will there be anything left??!

Also as I was watching the images of the traffic jams of all the evacuaees leaving Houston on the news I kept wondering, why the heck do they not use the opposite side of the highways since nobody is going into Houston..?? the entrance ramps could easily be blocked, and that would at least help people get out of town faster..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's enormously tragic what's happening in New Orleans.. how much longer is hurricane season supposed to last?? will there be anything left??!

Also as I was watching the images of the traffic jams of all the evacuaees leaving Houston on the news I kept wondering, why the heck do they not use the opposite side of the highways since nobody is going into Houston..?? the entrance ramps could easily be blocked, and that would at least help people get out of town faster..

Yeah, I've noticed some sort of "gloating" about how republican TX has done better then democratic LA in evacuating. Yet, I've wondered the past few days why the Houston area didn't institute a contraflow like New Orleans.

Good thing all those folks stuck on the Houston freeways aren't going to get a hit from a cat 5.

I'm not saying that repubs or dems do anything better, just that TX has no reason to gloat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I've noticed some sort of "gloating" about how republican TX has done better then democratic LA in evacuating. Yet, I've wondered the past few days why the Houston area didn't institute a contraflow like New Orleans.

Good thing all those folks stuck on the Houston freeways aren't going to get a hit from a cat 5.

I'm not saying that repubs or dems do anything better, just that TX has no reason to gloat.

So who was gloating?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On TV today [Fox}, they are saying all houses that flooded will have to be torn down. All soil will have to be decontamiate. The only thing they use out from the houses is bricks. The houses are contamiate inside and outside. There is a good chance nothing will be built there for many years from now.

New Orleans will have a long hard road back to recovery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am concerned that what is built there will bear no relation to what has yet to be destroyed. Most of the post WW II neightborhoods or buildings there are not of great architectural character, but to lose the rest is a great architectural tragedy on top of the human one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following contains excerpts of an email I received from one of my fraternity brothers. I've been really busy with graduate school lately so I haven't been keeping up with the news; can someone either confirm or deny the validity of this?

Last week, congressional Republicans responded to Hurricane Katrina by proposing to cut nearly a trillion dollars from vital national services, like health care for the poor and elderly, student loans, Amtrak, and eliminating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (again!)...

The Republican proposal, titled "Operation Offset," was authored by the Republican Study Committee, a group of over 100 influential members of Congress, including powerful committee chairs and members of the Republican leadership...

A full reconstruction of the Gulf Coast region is generally estimated to cost around $200 billion...Operation Offset," however, calls for an astounding $949 billion dollars in cuts over 10 years to vital national services-almost five times the full cost of reconstruction. To further put that in perspective, it's also more than 4 times what we've spent in Iraq...

Here are just some of the most egregious cuts:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If New Orleans is to be rebuilt it's government has to be rebuilt also.

I like these lines from the Wall street Journal's Opinion section.

Louisiana ranks third in the nation in the number of elected officials per capita convicted of crimes (Mississippi takes top prize).
He notes that the Orleans Parish Levee Board allowed money to be diverted from levees into many other projects. Those included a local casino, a convention center and a Mardi Gras fountain.

This opinion piece raises some very valid points on this issue.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110007312

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The following contains excerpts of an email I received from one of my fraternity brothers. I've been really busy with graduate school lately so I haven't been keeping up with the news; can someone either confirm or deny the validity of this?

What have you guys heard?

:o

How 'bout pulling out of Iraq, lessening our dependence on middle eastern petroleum, ending corporate welfare, ending our financial support of Israel, actually having bids for the reconstruction around the gulf coast?

Doing that would probably save a trillion or more dollars.

How many more years of this nonsense do we have left? The democrats in congress need to grow some and rally the party or they will go into extinction like the Whigs. This is possibly the time of greatest opportunity to kill the neocon movement, it is being squandered

Sorry for going offtopic but the talk of all these programs being eliminated in the name of balancing the budget when we have gone to a war that does not mean anything is quite infuriating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rebuilding New Orleans and the gulf coast will be a hurdle, and I am not alone when I say that it will be done. Though the governmental costs will easily reach 250 billion dollars or more during the rebuilding process, this part of the country will certainly not be abandoned or forgotten.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the midst of the 24-hour news cycle, with the talking heads, politicos, etc., all yammering the same thing, I was pleased to hear that someone, either politician or bureaucrat, thought to make mention implementing a new light-rail system for New Orleans and vicinity and somehow got it on the news.

Now the particular blip I heard proposed a light-rail connector that would connect New Orleans and Baton Rouge. I was thinking something a bit more localized but this is still interesting. I would hope to see rail transit become integral to the new New Orleans and the metropolitan area. It would make a great example for other cities as well of what a well-development rail system can do for a community. It sure would have been helpful for evacuating thousands of people...

In order to keep this discussion thriving, I'd love to hear about where you guys think these rail lines should be placed... whether or not there should be light rail along viaducts or highways for "express" or long distance commuting, streetcars for intra-city travel, etc. Where would your "Grand Central Station(s)" be? Where would your system branch out into surrounding parishes? What do you think about a rail line across a rebuilt Lake Pontchartrain Causeway? Be imaginative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think there's a need to build a light rail system all the way to Baton Rouge, but either high speed rail or commuter rail should be a must. I'm not too familiar with metro New Orleans, but I do believe that a metro wide light rail system should become a part of the plan to rebuild the area.

What the hell, I start this off with some possible routes for a system.

I may be wrong, but it wouldn't hurt to run a light rail line, from the airport, down Veterans Blvd, then some way, connecting it to the Canal Street line, which could become part of the light rail system. Then extend the Canal line to Robert E. Lee Blvd (on the North side of town), and loop it back down Elysian Fields Avenue to connect with a line running parallel to the river. This line would start at Canal St, using Rampart St/St. Claude Ave/Franklin Ave and finally State Road 39E stretching into the eastern portions of town. The St Charles streetcar would stay, but would be expanded down Carrollton Ave, creating a loop back to Canal Street.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^Part of your idea has been proposed as a LRT system connecting downtown to Armstrong International. My idea is based off of that LRT project...

If this, along with the proposed LRT from downtown N.O. to N.O. Intl' Airport, were to be built, this is what I think should be done...

Of course the LRT should connect downtown Baton Rouge to downtown New Orleans.

The LRT from B.R. to N.O. should intersect with the LRT from downtown N.O. to N.O. Intl' allowing easier access to the airport.

The best place for the central station IMO would be at tha foot of Canal Street. From that point, passengers would be able to have easy access to the airport LRT, the riverfront street car, Canal St. street car, the French Quarter, hotels, casinos, shopping in lower downtown, and all of the riverfront area.

The idea of a LRT crossing Lake Ponchartrain has been brought up before, but if it were to be done, stations would need to be put in Metairie, New Orleans, Mandeville, and Covington. I dont know what Slidell will be like when all of this is over, so I am just including the cities in western Saint Tammany Parish.

There would need to be a station in the Superdome area, allowing commuters to get to work in the office buildings on Poydras Street, and the LRT could continue down Poydras and also end at the foot of Canal Street.

The station in Metairie could also be connected to Kenner via a small LRT, so that passangers from the Northshore would also easily be able to get to the Airport.

With the population gains in the Covington/Mandeville area(see "Saint Tammany Parish Growth" in this forum) and the gain in population in the Baton Rouge area, LRT sytems like this would be extremely useful to Greater New Orleans and the Baton Rouge area. People from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Metairie, Kenner, and the Northshore would be connected with each other, and this could also cut down on traffic in the New Orleans-Baton Rouge area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.