Now Back to Britney, Bathroom Stalls, and Baseball
"Over the past two years since Hurricane Katrina, I've seen waves of hardworking volunteers from nonprofits, faith-based groups and college campuses descend on New Orleans, full of compassion and hope.
They arrive in the city's Ninth Ward to painstakingly gut houses one by one. Their jaws drop as they wander around afflicted zones, gazing at the towering mounds of debris and uprooted infrastructure.
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."
Labels: Douglas Brinkley, Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans
posted by Trent Stamp at 9:30 AM
5 Comments:
[Human Assistant typing]: What are the mayor and governor doing?
-- Ed
Without excusing federal negligence on the matter, the August issue of National Geographic contains a story about the history of New Orleans and our increasingly expensive yet ultimately futile attempts to control the water around it. The story makes a good case for not rebuilding neighborhoods that are below sea level on sinking land, when the future will likely bring rising sea levels and increasing storm energy.
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0708/feature1/
The Mayor actually recommended shrinking the city soon after the flood. But the City Council, the ones who pass the laws, rose up to defend their political bases and insisted that everyone in the city have the right to rebuild on their own property. A stupid, short-sighted stand I agree, but there it is. Two years later is too late to tell people who have already rebuilt that they are to be abandoned.
And what's this nonsense about not being able to save New Orleans? Good thing the Dutch didn't come to America for advice. Good thing England isn't asking America for advice about what to do about London, which is increasingly at risk of flooding due to sea level rise and tectonic movements. They build the Thames Barrier and they are making plans to deal with the future when that barrier can no longer hold back the rising waters. Interestingly, surrender is not on the table.
If we abandon New Orleans, get ready Houston, because you're not far behind.
New Orleans is worth saving. All we need is the national will to do so.
Peace,
Tim
If global warming (reguardless of the cause)and rising sea level will be a reality then why would the goverment rebuild below sea level? Also why is Bush at the Federal level entirely to blame and none at the state and local level? What would the state of Louisiana and New Orleans be busy with if not the rebuild effort?
Rebuilding New Orleans -- and for that matter, other hurricane-prone cities -- makes no sense whatsoever. It is a huge (and futile) waste of time and money.
Clean up the debris, by all means -- let's not pollute the area any more than it's already been polluted. But don't sink money into the ground trying to rebuild a city that was never meant to be there. Instead, use those dollars to help people to re-locate and build successful lives in other, more sustainable, places.
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