Friday, September 09, 2005

Should New Orleans Be Rebuilt?



I know lots of people are going to disagree with this, but I do not see why we should rebuild New Orleans. Maybe part of New Orleans, but not the areas that were below sea level and poverty sticken, these areas received the hardest hit. The physical geography of New Orleans is not naturally inhabitable. Over 70% of New Orleans is built over drained cypress swamps, the pumping stations were not there because of the floods; they were there for everyday life. If FEMA rebuilds, they need to rebuild where flooding is not going to happen again. This is not a slam at the poor of New Orleans, I think the same thing when I see the mud slides in California or huricanne victims on beachfront property and people say they are going to rebuild. Why? Our tax dollars need to be spent wisely - not building houses for people over and over and know they could eventually be washed away again. New Orleans sits over a swamp. There are no jobs, and 27 % live below the poverty level. 87% of the people who lost homes were living below the poverty level. 44 of the schools in New Orleans did not meet basic proficiency last year. If New Orleans had these kinds of problems before the flood, what will happen now? I am not talking about leaving people homeless, I think the government should and must do something to help every person who has lost their home, but I don't think a responsible government would put people back in the same place from where they were washed away. Maybe this would be a opportunity to relocate people to a place they can find work and be productive. Maybe they will not all want to go back to New Orleans. I just do not see how anyone can say it will make sense to rebuild in that location. Draining cypress swamps and building housing was not a good idea when it was first done. It is not a good idea now.

2 comments:

Hokule'a Kealoha said...

Rebuild the oil terminal and the port, its needed. Rebuild downtown, but those housing tracts on the Lake and the Projects, no way...those folks arent comming back.

Bill said...

I don't think it will ever be the city it was.