Permanently Abandon New Orleans

[Chris]

Quote by: njlemire87 The biggest reason I think that is that NO is not like other areas that can have these horrific events. It is also ten to fifteen feet below sealevel. They are asking for it there. I think that the people who want to build, should. That is why we have insurance. If my house were destroyed, our insurance would pay us so we could build a new one. I would not rely on the government or the taxpayers to do it for me.

Quote by: ComradeRed Egads...who could have thought that building a city on a swamp near hurricane alley was a bad idea? The only sensible thing is to rebuild the place so this scenario can never be done again.

Egads...

The city was founded in 1718 and I am sure they knew a whole lot about prior paths of hurricanes back then how about you? :rolleyes:

[njlemire87]

Quote by: |Chris| Egads... The city was founded in 1718 and I am sure they knew a whole lot about prior paths of hurricanes back then how about you? :rolleyes:

The portion that was original, hence the french quarter, is built on high ground. Also, it has not always been so low. The placement of the levees made it worse by blocking the silt fro the flooding of the mississippi river that kepte it up.

[Mia]

Quote by: gr8fuldaniel So dont you guys demonize me. I dont think I am really that far off track, am I?

I'm not demonizing you, G, but you're getting out of hand with filling every thread with Bush-hating. I don't love the guy, but I don't blame him when I break a nail, either.

[Clarence]

We should start from scratch. Build an amazing city, more adept to its location. I can see it now. A scientific marvel, as well as an economic boost (as long as its not halliburtan only). Most impotantly, it should be a great coordination of the world's resources. Donated in order to prove to the hasty americans that they also believe in freedom. It would be a massive effort meant for the history books. Like the statue of liberty or something. The image of it makes me feel like an American. The image I was taught in grade school.

Sadly, people will be relocated for a long time, if not permanently. But we have to think of something. that's what this thread is about right?The way I see it, there's three options

1. We could leave it as a wasteland for all to remember. If that's what happens, I'll not be remembering pleasant thoughts about the United States Gov't. Every time I would hear about some S.W.A.T organization clearing out the people (scwatters and such) who keep going back, I would get sick. If this scenerio occurs, the problems we've been having just got a lot worse.

2. Fix what we can and patch up the levies and maybe fortify them a little. You know just spiff it up a little bit and let people move back to little haiti and send them gov't checks so everything looks fine to us Lefties. The rediculous creations the politicians concoct lately would be right in line with this scenerio.

3. Put together a massive rebiuld using Modern science instead of 18th Century "technology". Let the world's engineer's show what they got. I mean crazy shit like that tunnel in Europe or the golden gate bridge. Make it a world effort. Open up and trust enough to let others help and at the same time do everything possible to help ourselves. Our kids would be watching detailed documentaries in school about the 800 million tons of concrete or something equally mind blowing. In social studies, teachers would talk about the great compromise made by everyone involved. Okay now I'm getting all whimsical but... This is what I was taught in school.

Hey, does anyone know if the Statue of Liberty is open again? I know it got closed after 9/11 for a while.

[Morgan_Freeman]

Quote by: Clarence 3. Put together a massive rebiuld using Modern science instead of 18th Century "technology". Let the world's engineer's show what they got. I mean crazy shit like that tunnel in Europe or the golden gate bridge. Make it a world effort.

Sounds great .... as long as my tax dollars aren't used to do it.

[Chris]

Quote by: njlemire87 The portion that was original, hence the french quarter, is built on high ground. Also, it has not always been so low. The placement of the levees made it worse by blocking the silt fro the flooding of the mississippi river that kepte it up.

So if it wasn't originally underneath sea level why are you bitching? Its not as if the French planned it that way. Also I revert to my statement from before. If it were your town I think you would be singing a different tune. It would cost the same to clean up and reinforce the levys than it would to go upstate a few miles and build a completely new city for 1,342,557 persons.

[Gracchus]

Quote by: Pooeypants Yes, I would. It beats me why people would live in an established danger zone. If you know that a catastrophe is coming, that it is a matter of "when" and not "if", why not move to a safer area if you could?

And where, pray tell, is not a danger zone? It is always a matter of when: Volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, riparian floods, forest fires....


:eek:

[Mia]

True - for Texans it's Tornadoes. I would say that building mobile homes here is stupid - they always get taken out, and we don't have warning for Tornadoes.

Our version of warning it "There's one two minutes from your house - take cover!"

I wish helen Hunt had developed that early warning system.......

[RickSp]

Quote by: Mia True - for Texans it's Tornadoes. I would say that building mobile homes here is stupid - they always get taken out, and we don't have warning for Tornadoes. Our version of warning it "There's one two minutes from your huose - take cover!" I wish helen Hunt had developed that early warning system.......

In Florida we used to judge wind speed in terms of mobile homes per hour passing by. God doesn't like mobile homes.

[Mia]

Quote by: RickSp In Florida we used to judge wind speed in terms of mobile homes per hour passing by. God doesn't like mobile homes.

I guess not. Or Satan makes tornadoes. I feel terrible when a tornado hits, because of of of those who lose their homes. I'm scared of one powerful enough to pick up houses. The worst I've heard of here is semi's and such.

I used to work in a glass building and I went HOME during tornadoes!

[Sonart]

Abandon this....???



Wow, talk about the world's largest squatter haven.

.

[PatrickHenry]

It would certainly not be left to decay and rust, Sonart. SOMETHING must be done with the City of New Orleans. I just wanted a substantive discussion of the alternatives to draining, restoration and maintenance of a city below sea level.

The infrastructure of New Orleans is easily worth hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars. But what of the expense to maintain a poorly located city? What of the potential for mass death from vicious hurricanes in the forecasted scenarios of global warming? What of the need for future costly rescue efforts and a repeat of the heartbreak of 2005?

To leave the buildings would not be an option, except possibly for those areas above sea level like the French Quarter. I suppose an alternative would be to backfill huge volumes of earth to make a viable flood-proof city. But what would THAT cost?

Does no one like my idea of an architecturally unified, redesigned city of "New" New Orleans?

[YourTokah]

Quote by: Morgan_Freeman Sounds great .... as long as my tax dollars aren't used to do it.

So what would you have your tax dollars used for, then? And what would you suggest happen to all of the people who are let with nothing? And what would you suggest we do with the city aside from spending billions to fix it up just like new (old) and then watch it get destroyed all over again?

[Athena]

The geology of New Orleans is very interesting and speaking from Oregon, many of us have kind of spiritual feeling about living with the land with the least human damage possible and hope this new spirituality will catch on. If this ancient, now modern relationship with the land catches on, science can work with nature to restore New Orleans and improve it with a better understanding of this eco system than we once had.
You can google "geology New Orleans" and here is one of the articles:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory...utlook/3338558

[Cephus]

Quote by: PatrickHenry The infrastructure of New Orleans is easily worth hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars. But what of the expense to maintain a poorly located city? What of the potential for mass death from vicious hurricanes in the forecasted scenarios of global warming? What of the need for future costly rescue efforts and a repeat of the heartbreak of 2005?

The infrastructure might be expensive, but if you have to pump $100 billion into the city every 15-20 years to completely rebuild, that's not a very convincing argument to keep things the way they are. You're right, the only sensible option is a complete rebuild and improvement. After all, it isn't like NO was all that nice to begin with. You go a few blocks out of the French Quarter and it was slum. Now that they'll be starting with a much, much smaller population, time to improve things for everyone and hurricane-proof the city.

[Lilith]

Some guy on the news suggested paying the displaced persons of NO to come in a repair thier city. It will give them jobs and the people can take pride in the rebuilding and improvements of thier hometown. Makes sense to me. I can't imagine abandoning the whole city. To much history and life there.

[Morgan_Freeman]

Quote by: YourTokah So what would you have your tax dollars used for, then?

The uses explicitly laid out in the constitution -- national defense, etc.

Quote by: YourTokah And what would you suggest happen to all of the people who are let with nothing?

Don't be disingenuous. That is an altogether separate question from what happens to tax money.

Quote by: YourTokah And what would you suggest we do with the city aside from spending billions to fix it up just like new (old) and then watch it get destroyed all over again?

Depends on what you mean by "we". If you mean the federal government, then nothing. If you mean you and me, then we've got something to talk about.

[Mr.Vicchio]

The city will be rebuilt. That's just how we work.

[Matt W]

PH, whilst it's an interesting theoretical question, you may as well apply the same question to every human settlement in a remotely risky location. San Franciso, Pompeii, various cities in the Middle East on Earthquake zones, European cities that have been hit by flooding over the past week....etc. At the end of the day, no city is completely safe. New Orleans hasn't had that sort of thing happen to it for centuries, so why not rebuild it? It'll last a good few hundred years more - if effort is put into protecting the place. Hell, look at Venice.

[Clarence]

Quote by: Clarence We should start from scratch. Build an amazing city, more adept to its location. I can see it now. A scientific marvel, as well as an economic boost (as long as its not halliburtan only). Most impotantly, it should be a great coordination of the world's resources. Donated in order to prove to the hasty americans that they also believe in freedom. It would be a massive effort meant for the history books. Like the statue of liberty or something. The image of it makes me feel like an American. The image I was taught in grade school. Sadly, people will be relocated for a long time, if not permanently. But we have to think of something. that's what this thread is about right?The way I see it, there's three options 1. We could leave it as a wasteland for all to remember. If that's what happens, I'll not be remembering pleasant thoughts about the United States Gov't. Every time I would hear about some S.W.A.T organization clearing out the people (scwatters and such) who keep going back, I would get sick. If this scenerio occurs, the problems we've been having just got a lot worse. 2. Fix what we can and patch up the levies and maybe fortify them a little. You know just spiff it up a little bit and let people move back to little haiti and send them gov't checks so everything looks fine to us Lefties. The rediculous creations the politicians concoct lately would be right in line with this scenerio. 3. Put together a massive rebiuld using Modern science instead of 18th Century "technology". Let the world's engineer's show what they got. I mean crazy shit like that tunnel in Europe or the golden gate bridge. Make it a world effort. Open up and trust enough to let others help and at the same time do everything possible to help ourselves. Our kids would be watching detailed documentaries in school about the 800 million tons of concrete or something equally mind blowing. In social studies, teachers would talk about the great compromise made by everyone involved. Okay now I'm getting all whimsical but... This is what I was taught in school. Hey, does anyone know if the Statue of Liberty is open again? I know it got closed after 9/11 for a while.

These are the options. Let's discuss the pro's and con's.