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The Question of Rebuilding New Orleans


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I'd like to see N.O. & Baton Rouge merge. They both could complement each other. They are only an hour and a half apart from each other. A news report stated that the city of N.O.'s projected population was 363,000.

Actually, if you take I-10, they are only about 50 minutes apart from each other. And that population projection is very interesting. :D What news report did you hear that from?

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  • 3 weeks later...

New Orleans dreams big in rebuilding plan

Jazz district, light-rail commuter line, top-flight schools among proposals

Plans unveiled tomorrow

quote:

This city is dreaming big as it puts together a blueprint for its rebirth in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, considering such audacious ideas as re-creating a long-gone jazz district, building a network of bike paths and commuter rail lines, and establishing a top-flight school system.

Full Article

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With the right leadership, BR and NOLA could definately become a great metro area. But it could just as easily go downhill with the wrong leadership.

Its interesting that you say that as many people view Mayor Nagin as an obstruction to progress.

I think the question at this point is not whether or no the reconstruction should happen, but rather, how it sould happen. I think thatthe extremely low lying areas should be abandoned and returned to their natural marsh state. New Orleans is sinking just like other cities that have built on marshland. A prime example of this is Venice, Italy. Returning some of the city (not all of it) would at least prevent this type of thing from happening again on such a massive scale.

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Its interesting that you say that as many people view Mayor Nagin as an obstruction to progress.

I think the question at this point is not whether or no the reconstruction should happen, but rather, how it sould happen. I think thatthe extremely low lying areas should be abandoned and returned to their natural marsh state. New Orleans is sinking just like other cities that have built on marshland. A prime example of this is Venice, Italy. Returning some of the city (not all of it) would at least prevent this type of thing from happening again on such a massive scale.

This is by far the biggest controversy in New Orleans currently. The Bring New Orleans Back Commision released it's plan a few days ago for overall reconstruction of the city. The plan included letting most of New Orleans East, and other parts of New Orleans return to swamp. This of course outraged residents of these areas, as can be expected. Most hurricane and rebuilding experts have said that it would only benefit New Orleans to let parts of the city return to Marsh. But we now have residents vs city goverment, as well as small non-profit rebuilding groups opposing every plan presented that includes abandoning certain parts of the city. Though in the end, I expect certain parts of New Orleans to left to Nature, as some parts of the city(like outer N.O. East) should be.

About Ray Nagin, I honestly don't expect him to be mayor of New Orleans after April or May, depending on when mayoral elections take place.

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Interesting. Are elections still scheduled to take place? I thought that I read somewhere that they would be postponed until September.

Elections were originally postponed to around September, but after all kinds of lawsuits and problems, the elections will now most likely be held in April.

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This is by far the biggest controversy in New Orleans currently. The Bring New Orleans Back Commision released it's plan a few days ago for overall reconstruction of the city. The plan included letting most of New Orleans East, and other parts of New Orleans return to swamp. This of course outraged residents of these areas, as can be expected. Most hurricane and rebuilding experts have said that it would only benefit New Orleans to let parts of the city return to Marsh. But we now have residents vs city goverment, as well as small non-profit rebuilding groups opposing every plan presented that includes abandoning certain parts of the city. Though in the end, I expect certain parts of New Orleans to left to Nature, as some parts of the city(like outer N.O. East) should be.

About Ray Nagin, I honestly don't expect him to be mayor of New Orleans after April or May, depending on when mayoral elections take place.

That proposal makes more sense than building in the flood area.

Nagin is history and rightfully so...his latest divisive comments about New Orleans being a chololate city are the final nail in the coffin.

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Nagin is history and rightfully so...his latest divisive comments about New Orleans being a chololate city are the final nail in the coffin.

Yea he really screwed himself over with some of the comments that he has made in the last few months.

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^There are a few. There are a few lesser-known politicians in the area campaigning for the job, and the most well known man who has said he might be interested in the job is current lieutenant governor Mitch Landrieu, who I think would do a fantastic job as mayor.

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The nepotism bothers me here. Aren't there any other qualified candidates? Mitch Landrieu may well be perfectly fine, but the connections simply bother me to no end. Nagin has proved himself inadequate, but I'd like to think that there were candidates available without the benefit of a legacy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

^Great article, thanks for posting that Cotuit. :D

The Bring Back New Orleans Commision has taken alot of heat for some of it's rebuilding plans and propositions, especially the plan of letting areas like New Orleans East return to marsh, which I honestly agree with.

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Every day in my Physics class, here, at a humble high school in suburban Norfolk-metro Virginia, we start off class with a "focus": something to start our minds thinking and get us in the mindset of complex thought (er... something along those lines). The very first day of class back in September posed this exact question that is the center of this topic: "Should New Orleans be rebuilt and if so, at whose expense?" Should it be rebuilt? I remember saying that in repetition because I couldn't believe the question. A city of such architectural, historical and economic importance MUST be rebuilt, whether or not you personally like the city. It was at one point home to nearly half a million people, just prior to August, 2005, and perhaps one day it will be home to many people again. Hopefully it will be. I think that the government of the city, the state, and the Federal government need to actually do what they didn't do during the Hurricane itself: coordinate an organized plan of action for rebuilding the city and prevent the problems that proliferated in the first place. I think that as they rebuild, they should focus on the safety of the rebuilding as well as the things that were in the past largely neglected, such as an expanded emergency response system, education facilities, expanded public protection (police services), and of course, stronger levees up to a Cat 5 standard. This can't be achieved with the same fingerpointing and namecalling that immediately followed the Hurricane; this must be achieved in a coherent way that represents the best interests of the city itself and its existing (and future) residents, as well as the safety concerns after August 05. The repairs to the city will be extremely expensive; worse than Hurricane Andrew, the 1989 San Francisco earthquake and (to rip a page from my area's headlines) Hurricane Isabel, all combined. Irregardless, I am dismayed at the responses of people in my area and elsewhere. I am not a taxpaying citizen (yet) so perhaps I have no right to say anything, but just the same, don't we owe it to the residents to help them? We are a nation built on countless principles, and one that we have shown time and time again is the willingness to help all those in need, especially when they are our fellow American citizens. I'm getting obnoxiously patriotic and blah-de-blah, but it is true: They are people in need of our help to protect them in the future.

Rant done. Good lord. :yahoo::blink:

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