Reckless Abandonment (WAPO) "Bush Admin Actually Wants Big Easy To Die On The Vine"

[kpete]

Reckless Abandonment
By Douglas Brinkley
Sunday, August 26, 2007; Page B01

.......................

After weeks of grueling labor, they realize that they are running in place, toiling in a surreal vacuum.

Two full years after the hurricane, the Big Easy is barely limping along, unable to make truly meaningful reconstruction progress. The most important issues concerning the city's long-term survival are still up in the air. Why is no Herculean clean-up effort underway? Why hasn't President Bush named a high-profile czar such as Colin Powell or James Baker to oversee the ongoing disaster? Where is the U.S. government's participation in the rebuilding?

And why are volunteers practically the only ones working to reconstruct homes in communities that may never again have sewage service, garbage collection or electricity?

Eventually, the volunteers' altruism turns to bewilderment and finally to outrage. They've been hoodwinked. The stalled recovery can't be blamed on bureaucratic inertia or red tape alone. Many volunteers come to understand what I've concluded is the heartless reality: The Bush administration actually wants these neighborhoods below sea level to die on the vine.

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/24/AR2007082401209.html?hpid=opinionsbox1&sub=AR

[BadgerLaw2010]

1. My sister was down there in Americorps. She joked about being the only government presence.

Yeah, it's a bit of a morale buster, believe me. Not to mention that the conditions were absolutely terrible. Even the tourist areas border on ghost towns. It's surreal.

New Orleans needs a federal decision for one of two options:

1. City should be fully rebuilt and fortified to withstand a direct hurricane hit.

2. City should be fully and officially abandoned and the entire population relocated.

This fiasco of it no longer being a major city - try to get a flight down there - but still "standing" and partially occupied is a joke. Of course, Republicans believe that government shouldn't decide anything, so we get this.

[rodeodance]

2. Doing nothing or being detached is doing SOMETHING (as the article points out)

[alfredo]

3. The death of New Orleans, a Dem stronghold, will ensure a Republican

majority in Louisiana.

[AzDar]

4. Isn't some of the now-struggling property highly coveted by Big Oil?

(Or perhaps my tinfoil needs to be adjusted....)

[BadgerLaw2010]

6. New Orleans' problem is too few corporations, not having too many.

People think of New Orleans as "Interview with a Vampire" type Old Money, but in terms of actual major business interests, there's not a lot there. They have one Fortune 500 company, and its failing. Most of the yuppies in the city want out due to lack of jobs and advancement potential.

Minnesota is of comporable population to Louisiana, but far, far richer, with 20 Fortune 500 companies in and around the Twin Cities, as the article lays out.

[malaise]

5. Here's another good read

http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2007/08/the-unlearned-lessons-of-katrina.html

[ladjf]

7. In order for New Orleans to recover, three fundamental problems

must be solved.

First (from a time aspect) the insurance rates must be returned to their former level. The only way for this to happen would be for the Federal Gvt. to bail out the insurance companies in the event of another Katrina type event.

Secondly, the the levies must be brought up to category five standards.

Third, the marsh reclamation initiatives must begin in earnest. If the marshes aren't reclaimed, the Gulf will be lapping at the doorstep of New Orleans within 75 years. That threat alone is enough to cause people to abandon the city. The technology now exists that can definitely solve this problem.
Also, the shored up marsh lands in the South act as a buffer against large hurricanes.

After the levies are brought up to high standards and the marshes are moving Southward rather than Northward, the Government backing of the insurance could be discontinued. The people would be able to get construction loans, afford the insurance and not have to live in fear the another Katrina could devastate them, nor will the Gulf of Mexico pay them a visit along the line.

[madrchsod]

9. 75 years?

there is only 15-20 years left and of course, another katrina and these timelines are meaningless

[ladjf]

10. I just guessed at the 75 years for Gulf to arrive at New Orleans.

But, without looking at the the real science, I'm certain that 15 to 20 years is not possible. If the time line had been that tight, people would have already been exiting New Orleans en mass prior to Katrina.

Looks like one of us is going to have to do the research to find out what the actual estimates are by the scientific studies.

[madrchsod]

8. well take a look at the map of the usa

that huge area between the mountain ranges relies on the port of new orleans to move grain,fuels,and other commodities that is the life blood of this country. lose this- we lose america.

what is so sicking about this discussion is that we are having it after two years.

[Deja Q]

11. But if it's not rebuilt, where will any new "Girls Gone Wild" videos be shot?

Where are the big businesses, who are doing what everyone says government cannot?

Mind you, if we haven't learned by now that building on a floodplain is, well, stupid, we never will.

It may be even more heartless TO rebuild there.

On the other hand, flood plains in ND get flooded every couple of years and they get repaired and rebuilt...

[gratuitous]

12. So Kanye West was right?

I await the predictably lavish apologies from the popular media with breathless anticipation. I'd better stand up, though, if monkey are going to come flying out of my butt.

[Blackhatjack]

13. Fill in the blank and tell us how NO will fare? "Our next President will be____"

Take a candidate's name and fill in the blank. Look at what they are proposing for New Orleans. Compare the results after entering the names of all candidates running.

Now you have the ability to gauge not only the resolve to remedy a national embarrassment, but the moral character of the candidate. IMHO the issue of dealing with New Orleans tells us a lot about each of the candidates.

[rudy23]

14. Questions should have been asked when Rove was put in charge of rebuilding.

How much more blatant can you be?

Has anybody ever asked Rove, our Hurricane Recovery Czar, what proactive steps he's taken to help rebuild New Orleans?