>>>oh, now they put blame on the local leaders.
Posted on 11/09/2005 10:34:59 PM PST by Pikamax
Burdens of Past Limit New Orleans's Future Poverty, Corruption Weigh on Recovery
By Peter Slevin and Peter Whoriskey Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, November 10, 2005; A01
NEW ORLEANS -- Huge stretches of the city are fallow: no power, no water, no sewer system, no life. Half the city workforce has been laid off, not a single public school is open, and the police department is being run by an acting chief after its former head quit. Mayor C. Ray Nagin is forced to hold town hall meetings in Baton Rouge, 70 miles away.
The litany of problems faced by New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is unmatched by any other U.S. city in recent history. Billions of dollars in public and private funds are going to be spent on rebuilding New Orleans, but those efforts could be undermined by forces that have long beset the city -- a tradition of corruption and dysfunction and a weak economy that clouded New Orleans's future years before the rains began in August.
"Always broke. Worst school system in the state. Highest crime rate in the nation. Shrinking population. All the corporations have moved out," said Bernie Pinsonat, a political analyst in Baton Rouge. "Any poll I do, the rest of Louisiana thinks, 'New Orleans is a deep, dark hole, and no matter how much money we send, it doesn't seem to get better.' "
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"In their response to Katrina, leaders planned badly and executed worse. A state evacuation plan called for low-lying areas -- such as New Orleans, much of which is below sea level -- to arrange bus transportation out of town ahead of a storm. City officials dedicated to the effort 64 buses and 10 vans, with a total capacity of fewer than 4,000 people, even though about 100,000 residents had no other escape.
Once the winds came, knocking out power and much of the telephone system, city and state authorities could not cope. Police stations were stocked with too little food and water to last even a day. The police radio system failed, the battery-operated satellite telephones at City Hall ran out of power, and the emergency call center flooded -- forcing 911 operators to flee even as panicked residents pleaded to be freed from their attics and rooftops."
>>>oh, now they put blame on the local leaders.
Oh my goodness, I thought it was all Bush's fault...why don't we hear this non-stop on all of the nightly news?
NOLA has always been a cesspool. I see NO reason to spend our hard-earned money rebuilding it to provide graft opportunities for career (corrupt) politicians.
>>>oh, now they put blame on the local leaders.
You are right. Any N&IO (New & Improved Orleans) is to be built somewhere else - in a different location, with different terrain, and most emphatically with DIFFERENT POPULATION and different political culture. I would suggest German/Amish Areas of PA/OH.
Parents live on the Northshore and STILL dont have the telephone back on. Have to use cell phones. Dont know how I could cope without Free Republic, but it wouldn't be a pretty sight.
The "different population" aspect is down pat. A lot of the citizenry will not be coming back, no matter what. And with the demographic shift, the politics will change as well.
I, for one, will not return unless that levy system is able to withstand a nuclear blast.
Yep, we're all on the same page for sure. I say it would be cheaper for the taxpayer if N.O. is returned to nature as it once was. Rather than rebuild homes and office buildings, I say cash-out the owners at pre-Katrina fair market values and let the owners do with the money as they will. However, this will never happen as the lefties don't want to loose their once held political clout that goes along with N.O.
I have NO faith in ANY Louisiana politician to keep his/her hand out of the till, nor to do anything wise when it comes to taxpayer funds.
On 2 DEC, it will be 13 years I have been out of that armpit of a State. Thank God!
Good luck to you folks that still live there, and that includes the majority of my extended family.
Hey - there sinks one now!
The founders of NO made a mistake in their choice of land because they couldn't foresee the growth of the city between the Mississippi and the swamps bordering Lake Ponchetrain.
Should the sections of the city below sea level be rebuilt, knowing that the cannot be secured from destruction over time?
Actually I imagine it mostly had to do with the location of the mouth of the Mississippi that determined the location of the City from what I have read. It was all about commerce and the port in the beginning.
Absolutlely right, but the location chosen had enough high ground--for a very small 18th century settlement that we now know as the French Quarter--although the river still threateded it prior to the levees.
However, the city outgrew the high ground that was available. In most flood plains, the Feds simply won't permit rebuilding. It's a problem because how do you retain the vibrancy of the French Quarter and the economic aspects of the Port without the supporting infrastructure and population?
If you figure that out you will be a rich man. It's one thing to move a small town but quite another to move a major city.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.