The lower socio-economic class in New Orleans will cease to exist.

[lpbk2713]

Their entire neighborhoods will be bulldozed in the name of recovery but their former homes will be replaced with upscale condos and office plazas capable of generating more tax revenue. The former residents will be forced to leave NO to find affordable housing in another city. And this will suit the fat cat capitalists just fine.

[demnan]

1. I'm afraid you're right.

n/t

[theboss]

2. Has Anthony Williams been elected mayor of New Orleans too?

Because that's been the plan in DC for about six years.

[geomon666]

3. Why would anybody want to build a big expensive house there now?

Who in their right mind would do that knowing your building in a devastating flood zone?

There's places in Miami that are still barren plots of land, where houses and buisnesses once stood.

[leveymg]

6. Property will be less expensive, but insurance prohibitive for all

but the wealthiest. That last point needs a caveat. The insurance companies redistribute costs so the middle subsidize both ends.

[leftofthedial]

4. Mission Accomplished!

:thumbsup:

[Oreo]

5. I have a question....

All the people that are being sent to the Astrodome in Houston. Do they have to pay to return to NO once it reopens? If they can't afford it (ie. they're homeless, sick, etc) do they join the homeless people of Houston? If they can't show any form of identification proving they're NO residents, what then?

[elehhhhna]

7. We can take 'em. Houston is a very generous city.

In that regard, I'm proud that this is our adopted home. We miss Chicago but if I was hard up in trouble I'd prefer to be here in Houston.

[nonconformist]

9. I'd guess they'll be on their own long before NO "reopens"

IF it ever does reopen.

They can't house 30k in the Astrodome for months on end.

[leveymg]

11. The next step after that in Houston is state-subsidized housing.

<>

[1932]

8. And since the top lives off exploiting the bottom, they're going to have

problems too.

[Jacobin]

10. I spend a lot of time there

These folks will come back. The culture there is unique and very very strong with traditions going back for centuries.

Despite their lack of material possessions (or maybe because of that), their spirits and will to live are indomitable.

They will be back before the middle and vaunted classes are.

Do not write them off.

[OneBlueSky]

12. if that's the case, then New Orleans will cease to exist . . .

as we know it . . . it's the lower socio-economic class that gives the city its flavor, its energy, its passion . . . always has, since before Louis Armstrong was blowing his cornet at the Colored Waifs Home . . . without them, New Orleans will be stale, vapid, and uninteresting . . .

[Taxloss]

13. No, the city - all cities - need the lower classes.

Who else will do all the job no one else wants to do? Cleaning the toilets? Sweeping the streets?

[ps1074]

14. you're 100% on target

I was thinking about this same thing all day...