New Orleans - most will never recover

[slickdawg]

When we went to get Slickdaughters pictures taken yesterday in
Kenner (just West of NOLA, near the airport), it became quite
obvious that large portions of NOLA simple will not recover.
You can still drive for miles through the city, and see no signs of life,
just havily damaged homes and businesses.

I suspect that at best, the city will be 50% of what it was in 20 years.

[KABOOKIE]

I suspect that at best, the city will be 50% of what it was in 20 years

Would it then become a vanilla-chocolate swirl city? :D

[slickdawg]

Would it then become a vanilla-chocolate swirl city? :D

Withe the massive influx of Messicans, I'd say it'll be a caramel city in
20 years. :D

[KABOOKIE]

Withe the massive influx of Messicans, I'd say it'll be a caramel city in
20 years. :D


Somebody has to re-build that city! ;)

[slickdawg]

It'll be New Mexico, Louisiana then.

[OklahomaTuba]

Carnivale always had a nice ring to it.

[TUSooner]

When we went to get Slickdaughters pictures taken yesterday in
Kenner (just West of NOLA, near the airport), it became quite
obvious that large portions of NOLA simple will not recover.
You can still drive for miles through the city, and see no signs of life,
just havily damaged homes and businesses.

I suspect that at best, the city will be 50% of what it was in 20 years.

You really have to drive though some of these neighborhoods to appreciate the extent of the situatation. Seeing a single wrecked and gutted house, you say "Oooh, that's pretty bad." But seeing block after block after block of the same thing leaves you incredulous and speechless.

[slickdawg]

You really have to drive though some of these neighborhoods to appreciate the extent of the situatation. Seeing a single wrecked and gutted house, you say "Oooh, that's pretty bad." But seeing block after block after block of the same thing leaves you incredulous and speechless.


Exactly. I did that in December, and again Saturday. Block after block,
mile after mile of deserted city. Words can't do it justice.

[Sooner Born Sooner Bred]

I can't even comprehend how bad it must be. Living in tornado alley, I've seen a good share of destruction of neighborhoods. I thought that was bad, but we recovered pretty quickly in comparison.

[slickdawg]

I can't even comprehend how bad it must be. Living in tornado alley, I've seen a good share of destruction of neighborhoods. I thought that was bad, but we recovered pretty quickly in comparison.

It's heartbreaking to see a few blocks heavily damaged by tornadoes.
If anything good comes from them, it's that recovery is generally
fast.

There's places down here, from Long Beach, MS all the way over
to NOLA, that I just don't see recovering. At the one year
anniversary of Katrina, I suspect 1% of the homes destroyed will
be rebuilt, if that many.

The Mississippi Coast has hundreds of square miles that were simply leveled,
much like if a giant F5 tornado came through. NOLA got to soak in
water for a month, causing a different set of problems that have
the same result - no homes for citizens.

[usmc-sooner]

Withe the massive influx of Messicans, I'd say it'll be a caramel city in
20 years. :D

hey at least they are willing to work

[GottaHavePride]

At this point, I think that - rather than rebuilding - the government should buy the land that will take a massive rebuilding effort (at a decent price) and hold it until some future developer has a use for it and buys it off the government. That way it can be rebuilt as needed rather than spending a ton of money to rebuild it all right now only to have a huge percentage of the populaton decide not to go back.

Plus, the government could hire a ton of people to clear away debris at a slower pace, creating jobs and pouring some money into the local economy.

[SoonerInFla]

South of New Orleans, from Port Sulphur to Venice, there's about a 40 mile stretch that looks like a bomb went off on. It's still mind boggling seeing that stretch of wreckage.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

People will not want to settle there until the levees can withstand cat. #5 hurricanes. It's a charade until that is taken care of.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

And who's fault is that? Lousyanna has been siphoning fed money for those levies for years...I'm sure there was enough blame to pass around, but it is clear that they weren't built to Cat.5 levels and it seems that people thought they were...Someone was lying or someone was not hearing. Understanding the engineering feat required to build to Cat. 5, I'm sure somewhere a strategic decision was made and they were "good to go" after that...

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Would it then become a vanilla-chocolate swirl city? :D

So the big question is whether Ray "chocolate town" Nagin will get re-elected...He has been campaigning hard in Houston...

Question, if'n you're not living there, how'n can you be votin' in an election where you don't have residence anymore?

[mrowl]

whats the point in re-building? By 2100 all of south louisiana will be under the ocean.

[jeremy885]

At this point, I think that - rather than rebuilding - the government should buy the land that will take a massive rebuilding effort (at a decent price) and hold it until some future developer has a use for it and buys it off the government. That way it can be rebuilt as needed rather than spending a ton of money to rebuild it all right now only to have a huge percentage of the populaton decide not to go back.

At what price should the government pay these people? What the land was valued at before Katrina or what it is valued at now? Where will this extra money come from? What price should the government sell this land to a developer? Seems like an easy opening for corruption, given the history of NOLA.

Plus, the government could hire a ton of people to clear away debris at a slower pace, creating jobs and pouring some money into the local economy.

I've heard they've tried this, but the only people that are willing to do the work or Mexicans, not the original inhabitants of NOLA.

[OklahomaTuba]

I've heard they've tried this, but the only people that are willing to do the work or Mexicans, not the original inhabitants of NOLA.

Half a Mil just waiting for an opportunity.

http://www.drudgereport.com/LA.jpg

[TUSooner]

whats the point in re-building? By 2100 all of south louisiana will be under the ocean.
This may not be an exaggeration. Coastal erosion is quietly washing away the coastline and the marshes, leaving nothing to slow down future hurricanes. Perhaps when New Orleans has gulf-front property in the city, somebody will do something. :rolleyes:

[mrowl]

This may not be an exaggeration. Coastal erosion is quietly washing away the coastline and the marshes, leaving nothing to slow down future hurricanes. Perhaps when New Orleans has gulf-front property in the city, somebody will do something. :rolleyes:

your right, it wasn't an exaggeration.

Even if they decide to pump a bunch of money into helping the marshes and coastline, the ocean will rise in level too much. Baton Rouge will be ocean front in 80 - 90 years

[12]

It is very sad, but I hope that it becomes an industrial port, with minimal personal commerce interests. Much of our nation's history and economy will suffer, but what price is it worth to keep it around in that situation?

Sorry, TU (and others in that area), but humans have been moving on and upward for many, many eons now.