Is this what these scholarly "academics" consider structurally sound?
Posted on 01/07/2007 3:32:09 PM PST by blam
Survey: 9th Ward Can Be Rebuilt
Sunday January 7, 2007 10:46 PM
By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The predominantly black neighborhoods known as the 9th Ward can be brought back largely as they existed before Hurricane Katrina flooded them, a survey contends.
The finding contradicts the common perception that the neighborhoods are so damaged that they need to be rebuilt from scratch, said urban planners who conducted the survey.
``The structural integrity of the buildings, even in the most devastated areas, are in much better condition than has been reported,'' said Kenneth Reardon, chair of Cornell University's city and regional planning department.
Urban planners and students at Cornell, Columbia University and the University of Illinois carried out the survey, which was sponsored by ACORN, a national group that works to improve poor and moderate-income neighborhoods. The findings were released Saturday.
The only section needing to be rebuilt lies directly next to the levee breach on the Industrial Canal, an area that covers less than 1 square mile in the Lower 9th Ward, the survey found. Homes there were battered by flood waters of Katrina and later from Hurricane Rita.
The survey found that more than 80 percent of the 9th Ward structures ``suffered no terminal structural damage'' and that the majority of those structures were built atop piers, making it easier to raise them to meet new flood zone requirements.
Researchers and structural engineers based their assessment on the inspection of about 3,000 buildings.
Yet, the neighborhoods are being repopulated very slowly because of the bureaucratic and financial hurdles residents face, the survey concluded after interviewing hundreds of residents. Only about 20 percent of the residents have returned home, the survey found.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
oh goodie..now the murder rate will double or triple once they all come back..AFTER MORE billions are poured into the city..
the 9th Ward can be brought back largely as they existed before Hurricane Katrina flooded them, a survey contends.
Rebuild a slum, sounds good.
OTOH, maybe liberal Brits think it's okay for poor American blacks to be moved back into unsanitary buildings.
Yup- they'll pour billions into it with all brand spankin new stuff which the criminals can steal when they come back. http://sacredscoop.com
However, New Orleans is largely below sea level, next to the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ponchartrain (spelling?), and with the Mississippi River, too. Plus, its voodoo and corruption culture was bad. Similarly, the World Trade Center was comprised of two ugly, drab gray buildings. Their replacements are prettier.
Is this what these scholarly "academics" consider structurally sound?
That's GREAT!
Tar-paper shacks, filled with non-working welfare clients....just what the Democrats need.
/sarc
Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.
No consideration of the fact that the buildings had not been built to modern building codes and should not be rebuilt the way they were.
No mention of the fact that the only way the homes could be insured at a price the residents could afford would be if the government insured the homes with rates a fraction of what the rates should be to cover the risk.
If the residents want to rebuild and can afford to do so, including the costs of insuring their property, they should rebuild.
Homes and businesses should not be rebuild with tax dollars.
Tax dollars should only be spent to clear debris and condemned buildings when the property owner is unable to pay for their removal.
The only thing those old houses have going for them is the fact that many were framed using cypress lumber, which is very resistant to water damage. That is also the main reason that so many of those old houses were still standing *before* Katrina, despite serious neglect. The big problem, though, is that many of the houses parted ways with their "pier" foundations and basically crumbled when the water receded. Some had floated out into the street, some came back down half-on and half-off their pier, and so on. This report is a load of horse manure.
Funny how so many of the structures in the Lower 9th are allegedly salvageable, while so many similar structures (in design and age, but not condition) in Lakeview (the primarily white neighborhood near the 17th Street Canal floodwall breach) are beyond repair. About one-third of the homes in Lakeview (informal estimate, based on a dozen or so streets I drove over the New Years' weekend) have been bulldozed.
Sounds like Ray Nagin got the results that he requested.
Odds are she could have built where she did, just slightly differently, and been more or less okay. One key is to build elevated. Put the garage under the house rather than beside it. If her first floor had been a couple feet higher than her second floor was, she would have had little problem.
Hindsight, I know. But people are still building slab on grade homes all along the coast.
BTW, I find it hilarious that she would go to an insurance agent for advice about whether her home is likely to be flooded.
ping
I didn't take the cypress factor into account. Certainly it's a lot more resistant than most other woods.
Another factor nobody takes into account is that wood swells when wet and when it shrinks the nails are no longer heldas tightly, losing adhesion which is aggravated by rusting/corrosion of all fasteners. Even if the wood is okay the structure isn't nearly as strong as it was before the wetting.
But The Guardian is quoting a professor...from Cornell...and he's an...an...an...expert!
At least he'll say he is...
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.