Darlin' do you honestly think NO will really ever be re-built? I have my doubts. Unless they are going to fix the Levees first, there is not much point. And certain areas are so contaminated that they would even have to remove the soil. I don't think it's gonna happen. Besides, many folks have left there for other States or for where you live right??? How do you like your city doubled??? OUCH!!
Fund the entire project with disposal fees.
New Orleans literally goes from being a pit to Tel New Orleans, the Souths' "Shining City on a Hill".
As for the population diversity.... well, I doubt the Mayor's prediction of a "chocolate city" will actually happen. The majority of the poorest black polulation has resettled in other towns. Unfortunately for those towns they came with a ton of personal baggage. It doesn't matter how large a city was before the evacuees arrived, no city is prepared for huge population increases overnight. It puts a serious strain on all their resources, not the least of which is law enforcement. For instance, in Houston the murder rate has climbed considerably since the storms with the majority of perps and victims being evacuees. A frind of mine in Houston says they're now calling it, "Death by Chocolate".
BTW, before the storms, NO was approx 67% black but only about 30% of that number lived at or below the proverty level. In other words, most of the black population was not as downtrodden as the press claims. In fact, NO had a lot of sucessful and prosperous blacks.