Restoring the Real New Orleans

Metropolis ^ | February 1007 | Andrés Duany

[stephenjohnbanker]

Repave it.

[Lorianne]

What can be done? Somehow the building culture that created the original New Orleans must be reinstated. The hurdle of drawings, permitting, contractors, inspections—the professionalism of it all—eliminates self-building. Somehow there must be a process whereupon people can build simple, functional houses for themselves, either by themselves or by barter with professionals. There must be free house designs that can be built in small stages and that do not require an architect, complicated permits, or inspections; there must be common-sense technical standards. Without this there will be the pall of debt for everyone. And debt in the Caribbean doesn’t mean just owing money—it is the elimination of the culture that arises from leisure. To start I would recommend an experimental “opt-out zone”: areas where one “contracts out” of the current American system, which consists of the nanny state raising standards to the point where it is so costly and complicated to build that only the state can provide affordable housing = —solving a problem that it created in the first place.

[kinoxi]

This should be interesting...

[LibFreeOrDie]

Sure, as long as everyone in that opt-out zone understands that they get no government handouts when their shacks succumb to the next hurricane.

(I'd have plenty of leisure, too, if I relied on the government as much as he says we should.)

And here's the author's Seaside development... 1 bedrooms selling for over $1,000,000. Talk about a "pall of debt".

http://www.seasidefl.com/realEstateListingsDetails.asp?currentPage=1&salesId=1140

[etcetera]

Doesn't matter what kind of city or architecture, if it's under water.

[elli1]

Interesting article.

[ARE SOLE]

New Orleans? Ha! Don't they mean Nuevo Orleans? Colonized on our dime.

Regards.

[rogue yam]

Great article. I don't think much of the author's proposals but his description of New Orleans is right on.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

They could take a page from third world cities and simply allow cardboard shacks and shanty towns. I think the idea of building codes is too expensive. Let people come up with their own electrical wiring and plumbing concepts as they do in other poor countries.

Give people the freedom to build any kind of structure they can afford and allow open fires for winter heating if necessary.

When a shelter caves in or burns down, it will be easy for folks to simply throw together another hovel in which to live the life of sloth those in New Orleans have frequently set as the "Big Easy" ideal.

Who are we to judge matters of sanitation or safety?

Affordability should be the only criteria. If people can only afford to live in a Maytag box, let them be free to do so, adding more scrounged boxes for shelter as they bring children into their lives. In fact, removing housing standards will allow the poor to have more free time to procreate.

Another advantage is when a future hurricane hits and floods New Orleans again, rebuilding will be simple and affordable.

Setting high standards for housing simply forces people to work too hard and interferes with the sedentary culture that makes New Orleans such an appealing place.

Why can't we allow one city in America where people don't have to lift a finger if they don't want to?

America needs one city where the word "work" is a dirty word.

[Beckwith]

Poke a hole in the levee.

[TweetEBird007]

I was raised in a home my grandfather built in 1899. This house was built by common labor that worked in agricultural
endeavors with some assistance of a turned out carpenter to install doors, windows and such items that required close tolerances. A copper bearing tin shingle roof was added sometime in the teens, along with Delco electrical system,charged by a windmill that also provided pressure water system via an elevated tank. A telephone system was installed, privately owned, that connected to the system in town, five miles away. This was the second property owner
house built on this place. Additions and changes were made
over the years. The same roof system, doors and windows are
still tight and work well. My Dad built several houses during the summer, as that was a slack season for his business, using the same methods, during the 1950's. These were rental houses, and provided homes, at a reasonable cost for several families that raised their children in them. Some of the kids now have phd's and one retired an officer of a Fortune 500 company and has moved back and built a very nice home on an adjacent piece of property at great expense. None of this could be done in todays regulatory climate with permits, codes, other restrictions, and financial cost that more than double the actual building cost. I own two houses built under present day restrictions and they require much greater maintenance
and replacement than the older homes.

[wintertime]

To start I would recommend an experimental “opt-out zone”: areas where one “contracts out” of the current American system, which consists of the nanny state raising standards to the point where it is so costly and complicated to build that only the state can provide affordable housing—solving a problem that it created in the first place.

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On this point, I agree. The building and housing codes are ridiculous!

My husband and I added two apartments to our existing home in Cecil County, Maryland. We had to rip out an old toilet ( that had served very well since 1913) because it was 9 inches from the wall, and not the code specified 12 inches. Doing that, and reconverting the old plumbing to fit the new, was very expensive.

Also...density of occupancy is also nutz! There is a required amount of square footage per person per apartment, and restrictions on how many unrelated people can share the same space.

For each bath or shower in an apartment there is a $3,000 tax.

All of these zoning requirements make housing more expensive to build, to buy, and to rent.

All about us, in Cecil County and along the Eastern Shore, there are very modest houses. Some are no larger than 600 sq.ft., yet these houses raised large families at one time. They were affordable by working fathers with modest jobs. And,,,although crowded the children living in them were not homeless. None of those inexpensive ( and likely debt free) could be built today.

[wintertime]

My Dad built several houses during the summer, as that was a slack season for his business, using the same methods, during the 1950's

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My dad and brother did the same in Browns Mills, New Jersey. My parents rented them to the families of soldiers at Fort Dix. My brother and father built these two houses in less than a year working weekends and vacations.

Neither of these two houses could be built today, given the space per person, building codes, permits, and other restrictions.

If you visit, "This is the Place" park in Salt Lake City, Utah, they have several examples of pioneer housing. Honestly, I believe a group of experienced men could have built these log and adobe homes in a weekend. I also bet that there were no "homeless" in those times, either.

[Joe Boucher]

Lorianne, you start the article by saying"how doe we save the Crescent City".
The we sounds like you plan on using others money. I'm tired of folks using my money for their causes.
I work for my family not for the good folk of New Orleans.
Enough federal money (which is my money) has been wasted there.

[layreacherman]

All of which is fine until it's your home under 15 feet of water, at which point I doubt you would possess the testicular fortitude to turn down the federal dime.

[wintertime]

Loraianne,

Why would any business locate to New Orleans?

1) It is below sea level.
2) It has one of the highest murder and crime rates in America.
3) Its city government and services are corrupt.
4) Its citizens are among the least educated in the U.S.
5) It has a very high proportion of its citizens on welfare.
6) And,,,its citizens aimed guns at rescue helicopters and tried to shoot them down!

It takes a lot more than good food to get business to move into an area. Without business, you don't have a city.

Personally, I think the state and federal government should condemn most of the city, pay compensation to the owners for their land, open the levees and allow the area to be what it is meant to be: a swamp!

[MarkBsnr]

Absolutely agree. We're not the Dutch, we don't need to reclaim land from the ocean, especially swampland that really, on the face of it, has only entertainment or nostalgic value.

N.O. crime is out of control, and most of its territory is uninhabitable without breathtaking amounts of money being applied. Let it go. The rest of the country will have to deal with the uprooted criminals that were displaced from there, but we've been dealing with them anyway. Enough with the free apartments and motels and living high on the dole.

Or is that too racist?

[seemoAR]

I wouldn't be stupid enough to rebuild there. I have been to New Orleans one time. I don't ever wish to return. I took my family to Bourbon Street because of all the talk about it. My memories include pan handlers, the filth, and the smell of the area. I have been in bars that didn't smell half as bad. I don't really enjoy the smell of urine, stale beer, body odor, and vomit.

[dfwgator]

Half of New Orleans is under water, the other half is under indictment.