Posted on 09/21/2005 6:11:09 AM PDT by Puddleglum
Heck, if the government really is going to spend $200 billion to rebuild New Orleans, they might as well rebuild it as the city of tomorrrow complete with kelp farms, electricity generated by tides, public transportation light as a cloud and efficient and almost noiseless, parks that are nice and safe and clean. It could be a proof-of-concept city for all those innovations you see in the middle of "Popular Science" that are always "just around the corner." I draw the line at dog-walking robots and the bubble dome (for now), but you get my drift, I suppose.
Well, I am half-joking and half serious. I know if I had $200 billion to rebuild a city, I would try a few new things out, especially in regards to noise pollution, light pollution, energy efficiency, and urban design (proximity of neighborhoods to work, etc).
Any takers? Anything you'd like to see?
Really do it futuristically - build the top floors before you build the bottom ones. As long as the taxpayers are paying for it.
Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
All kidding aside, I do too. It'd be a nice opportunity to test the country's creative ingenuity. There could be some private sector competitions to re-design some basic elements of the city, with the goals of improving performance and efficiency.
That would only serve to increase the sale of spare pairs of socks, and perhaps a gym membership or two.
I want a flying SUV. Definitely a flying SUV.
Oh, and 3-D chess.
If they start handing those out, DO NOT take a red one. The poor bastards in red always get killed.
To expand on your theme, preserve the French Quarter and everything bounded by 90, I10 and that other road I640[?}. That makes a nice boundry of high ground, was not flooded and should be easily restored.
Then let the swamp take the rest. Offer air boat tours to themed names like Cajun Land ["See actual Cajuns catch crawfish and cook over real wood fires!], Pirate Cove ["Hunt for LaFite's buried treasure!"] and, of course, The Battle of New Orleans interactive site. There might even be room for a dinosaur theme area....
They might want to consider Disney for a job that size and scope.
Might even run monorails out to 'em.
I insist Judy Jetson and Yeoman Rand be included.
Professional looters run rampant through the strip mall, and cart off stacks of goods which are taken out of the area and stashed in what looks like a flood damaged shotgun house.
Tourists are allowed to watch the looters from an overhead skyride (just like at Disneyland) and later on, they are dropped off at a location that allows them to visit the "stash house" where they can select items for purchase at appropriately discounted prices.
Suck those rubes in~
Yep, it's sensible to rebuild on the high ground and restore the shipping, along with residences for the personnel needed to run it. Other than that, the project opens itself up to utopian/distopian fun.
Oh, and if ever a city justified monorails, it's one that's below sea-level and surrounded by water.
Dingdingding!
Thats a winner!
Maybe a mob could enter the car and "terrorize" the tourists!
This could be some real fun!
Isn't NewO sinking? Really, not just the "below sea level" thing, but really sinking?
Yep - inches per year.
LOL! Maybe it was because they didn't follow Puddleglum's suggestion and join a gym. Just too much ugly red-covered cellulitis on display.
$200 billion also buys a lot of fill.
I've felt for years that as a kid watching 'The Jetsons' we'd have flying cars by the time I was a grownup - Well, I'm 46, and we STILL DON'T have any flying cars! Not to mention those maid robots that clean for you - of course the Jetson's didn't have stairs in their futuristic home! But we are close with the flat screen tvs...
bigger prisons
That's not a bad idea. But the first priority is cleaning up and housing people, most of whom have nothing right now.
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