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Death of an American City [New Orleans]
NY Times ^ | December 11, 2005 | Editorial

Posted on 12/10/2005 9:21:39 PM PST by ncountylee

We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.

We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.

There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.

At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: katrina; letitdie; neworleans
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1 posted on 12/10/2005 9:21:40 PM PST by ncountylee
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To: ncountylee

To save New Orleans, dissolve its government. With a decent government, it might recover; with its existing government, I'd say it's pretty hopeless.


2 posted on 12/10/2005 9:24:36 PM PST by supercat (Sony delinda est.)
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To: ncountylee
But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck

Wow. It's been three months! We have not been able to re-build an entire city, below sea level, in three months?

Are these people insane? I expected that maybe NO would be back to it's normal self in two years. Three months????

These people are living in TV Land, where everything is okay by the end of the episode.

3 posted on 12/10/2005 9:24:43 PM PST by technomage
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To: ncountylee

4 posted on 12/10/2005 9:25:13 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: ncountylee

Only the slimes would expect the American taxpayer to rebuild a virtually coastal city below sea level. And they only urge it because it's a dim city.


5 posted on 12/10/2005 9:25:52 PM PST by Let's Roll ( "Congressmen who ... undermine the military ... should be arrested, exiled or hanged" - A. Lincoln)
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To: technomage

Exactly. The NYT sets unrealistic expectations and then criticizes the government for not meeting them. It is just another club to continue hitting Bush over the head. The NYT could care less about NO.


6 posted on 12/10/2005 9:27:09 PM PST by kabar
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To: ncountylee
YAWN I am NO out.
7 posted on 12/10/2005 9:27:41 PM PST by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: ncountylee

No New Orleans = No Blanco; No Nagin; No Landrieu.


8 posted on 12/10/2005 9:28:46 PM PST by LdSentinal
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To: technomage

The point is that nothing will happen, unless there is a commitment to build super levees, with federal cash. Nothing except in the highlands will be insurable. The NY Times has it right. A national decison needs to be made.


9 posted on 12/10/2005 9:28:50 PM PST by Torie
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To: ncountylee

We did not lose the city. The core is still there, and however abjectly poverty-stricken it might be at the moment, there is still an economic need for a port, and transportation systems in that location. Will the Ninth Ward ever be occupied again? Hard to say, a lot of engineering would have to be done, and after that much expense, it is highly unlikely that low-cost housing shall ever be built there. Certainly not under the environmental rules that are in place today.

But it will be a long time, if ever, before the city has a population of 400,000.


10 posted on 12/10/2005 9:29:36 PM PST by alloysteel
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To: ncountylee

Big waste of taxpayer money to rebuild the place. Leave it as an historical site to be visited by those passing down the Interstate. The country will be better off without the place.


11 posted on 12/10/2005 9:29:59 PM PST by sangoo
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To: ncountylee
At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship.

Hey, that's consistent with the politics of New Orleans, ain't it?

I feel plenty of sympathy for the suffering and displaced,
but many folks in the New Orleans diaspora may just have to
get used to the places they've re-settled in and take pride that they
once lived in a unique city that may become a modern-day Atlantis.
(granted, an Atlantis that had a lot of parties and colorful politics)
12 posted on 12/10/2005 9:31:08 PM PST by VOA
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To: technomage
Ya Know, I have studied the SF quake of 1906--let me tell ya--there was no fed money to rebuild....folks rich andpoor got together and rebuilt...

So whats to stop the fair citizens of New Orleans, and the states residents from rebuilding the city? I mean really, what is there to stop them? My tax dollars? Huurrmmmpphhh!!!

The state owns land---cut down the trees and rebuild...Oh, its a park? Do you want a park, or New Orleans? I mean really just where is the pioneer spirit that built this country? West of the Missippippi I guess....

13 posted on 12/10/2005 9:31:09 PM PST by abigkahuna (Step on up folks and see the "Strange Thing"--only a thin dollar, babies free!)
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To: ncountylee

NOLA was a POS before Katrina.... MAYBE, with competent leadership and if the welfare class stays away, the city will recover in 5 years.

I wouldn't put any money on it, however.


14 posted on 12/10/2005 9:31:13 PM PST by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: ncountylee

We need to tell them to continue to read the Times Picyaune and to ignore the New York Times. The only reason they printed that editorial is to, once again, put a fork in President Bush. Also, if New Orleans is to be rebuilt, it needs to attract builders, not squatters. Workers, not flamethrowers. Leaders, not pleaders.

The city is worth saving. It should have started many years ago.

The levees could have used some work too.


15 posted on 12/10/2005 9:32:12 PM PST by billhilly (Demo cammo is yellow and white)
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To: technomage

bttt


16 posted on 12/10/2005 9:32:24 PM PST by Darkwolf377 (We need HRC for President like Michael Moore needs a Burger King franchise)
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To: alloysteel

So how is my old neighborhood Kenner doing? Havent been back there in awhile. I lived just off Williams. Cant imagine what life is like now that most have left.


17 posted on 12/10/2005 9:32:41 PM PST by Windsong (FighterPilot)
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To: abigkahuna

Yes, but in 1989 and 1994 the Feds were there to rebuild California.

Did you complain?


18 posted on 12/10/2005 9:33:18 PM PST by H. Paul Pressler IV
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To: ncountylee
...not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.

Maybe this is a clue that they should live elsewhere.

19 posted on 12/10/2005 9:33:36 PM PST by Sloth (Freedom of speech doesn't mean the rest of us have to shut up.)
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To: Windsong
I read somewhere the Mexicans have discovered Kenner. So it must be livable.
20 posted on 12/10/2005 9:33:38 PM PST by Torie
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