Should New Orleans be rebuilt?

[Kenroy]

A horrible question to have to ask.

But it's a city stuck below sea-level, stuck between a huge lake and a huge river. In a hurricane zone. And climatologists say we can expect more hurricanes like this.

This is a heartbreaking question - but ....

Should New Orleans be rebuilt?

[slor]

1. Yes...but

only the historic parts. All the edifices of modern business should be razed to the ground and replaced with whatever plants grew there prior to the construction.

[Kenroy]

3. What's "historic"?

The French Quarter? The Garden District?

Should levees be rebuilt and the pumps re-constructed to re-create the city?

At what cost?

[MildyRules]

27. Whatever it takes

Whatever it effing takes.

[Kenroy]

36. My emotions

agree with your sentiment.

But my sense of practicality disagrees.

We cannot rebuild this city in this place.

[fujiyama]

2. I don't really know how

It's going to take so long and the risk of another hurricane is very high.

Either they can create a Venice-like city, or maybe move.

[Kenroy]

4. The Venice idea is intriguing...

the French Quarter is the highest land in the city... and that's the part that is most worth saving, in my very humble opinion.

But the city is sinking, like Venice.

Even a canal-based city is at the extreme mercy of hurricanes.

How do we make sure that the tens of billions of dollars required to rebuild are well-spent?

[fujiyama]

6. That's true too

I'm really not sure what can be done at this point. While the Venice idea is intruiging, it may not be very practical.

My hope is that after the search and rescue the city officials can discuss with climatoligists and civil engineers regarding the viability of rebuilding the city - and where it can actually be done.

I favor the restorement of historical structures (atleast as much is possible), but I don't think it's worth risking a major population center in an area likely to get hit again.

[Spinzonner]

5. Fill it in and mound up some additional height

Anything which stays above ground remains.

Anything else is lost and left to the future archeologists.

Hey, when the ocean starts rising it won't be the last city lost to the sea.

[Ediacara]

7. It won't be the last one lost

it'll be the first....

[Nihil]

30. Well, the first American one anyway

Cities have been overwhelmed by the forces of Nature throughout history.
New Orleans is just the most recent one - and the first one in America.

In the next decade, the "ghost city" of New Orleans will be joined by
the "ghost city" of Las Vegas when the total impracticality of living
in a desert comes home to roost.

There will be other villages, towns & cities that will suffer the same
fate as N.O., from Bangladesh to London and even entire islands in the
Pacific.

Don't get me wrong: it is a tragic & horrifying event, even for someone
with no family connections involved, but the historical record is clear.

[Kenroy]

35. I'm afraid you're correct...

the archaeological record shows that some places become uninhabitable. New Orleans will be submerged site.


Vegas will confound the archaeologists of the future.

[Kenroy]

8. That's also interesting

I had a discussion today with an engineer friend about this.

It would be unprecedented to move that much earth, and even if we could do it, it would be unstable dirt - not ideal land to build on.

I think we need a huge effort to save as much history from the city as we can, and then say goodbye to it.

It breaks my heart to say that, but I honestly feel it would be a horrible waste to rebuild a city in the same spot.

[Ediacara]

9. I think this facts needs to be faced

New Orleans will continue to sink if we rebuild it, and will continue to sink if we don't rebuild it. Neither solution can negate gravity.

The Gulf of Mexico will continue to rise.

Hurricanes will become much more common in the coming century.

So no, the city shouldn't be rebuilt. It should be salvaged for materials, abandoned by residents, and left for nature and archaeologists.

[Kenroy]

11. It pains me to say I agree with you

And it breaks my heart to say goodbye to one of my favorite cities. But I think it's folly to rebuild it.

[brentspeak]

10. Not unless you could build levees twice, three times the height

of what they were. And devise some kind of foolproof drainage system in the case of another flood.

[tedoll78]

12. In one form or another, perhaps..

one big question: how many people are going to move back?

You could offer my mother a billion bucks, and she wouldn't move from New Orleans. But now, she's done with it and ready to move across the lake when this is all over.

I suspect that there are many others like her who don't want to risk going through this again.

[Kenroy]

13. I'm sorry your mother endured this...

but I'm really glad she survived it.

[tedoll78]

18. She's doing fine.

I warned her early on Friday that the hurricane would be heading her way (she & Dad live in Kenner). The whole family got lucky and reserved an entire bed & breakfast in Vicksburg, fleeing on Saturday. They'll be going back to several houses underwater, but at least they escaped with their lives.

Thanks for the well wishes! :hi:

[Borgnine]

14. This may sound like too light-hearted an answer given the serious nature..

...but I can't help but think it should be rebuilt Jetsons-style. No, it's not feasible, but at least it would keep the water at bay.

[artemisia1]

15. The port, but not the city - least not as a major city with large pop. nt

[Kenroy]

16. Wow...

I really didn't expect this vote.

I'm surprised, and still heart-broken. I agree with the majority, but it's a horrible thing to agree to.

[fujiyama]

19. I think most people here

understand the reality of nature and the futility in fighting it.

[Kenroy]

20. I agree with the majority...

but still, I'm surprised.

[leftofthedial]

17. It should be rebuilt, but in a sustainable location

and/or manner.

I fear that rebuilding in situ will be vastly expensive and will only delay the inevitable destruction again. We have destroyed the natural processes of the Mississippi River and the entire geography of southern Louisiana is doomed.

[Kenroy]

21. Part of me agrees...

but if they "rebuild" the city in another site, is it a city or a theme park?

[leftofthedial]

23. depends on what they build

I'm sure they'd try to recapture the look and feel of the old city.

The people who live there would have the greatest role in determining the character of the "new" city. No on e lives in a theme park, so it's not likely to be precisely the same thing.

[Kenroy]

24. A city built to resemble another city

in another place is a theme park.

It's difficult to imagine a real city built in imitation of another city - it would remind me of Vegas.

[leftofthedial]

25. corporations built and own and maintain theme parks

people would build, own and maintain the new city.

I doubt they would all invest in animatronic little dixieland bands and the same shades of paint.

they could never rebuild and duplicate one of th emost unique cities on earth

but I don't think it would be the New ORleans exhibit at the Epcot Center or the "NOLA" casino in Vegas either.

[Kenroy]

22. kick

[pippin]

26. Yeah, with what?

Sorry for my bitterness, but rebuilding is going to cost billions. I was in Venice this summer and was reading up on how much saving that city is going to cost and in this country we don't usually put up that kind of money for anything with historical significance. Hell, in Los Angeles idiot coroporate/developer types just tore down George Gershwin's home! If the fascists who run the country would have cared about history we wouldn't be in such a mess today.


In these times in the U.S. where the hell is the money going to come from for anything? Bush and Company have bled this country dry in the fake war in Iraq and he's already mumbled about help coming from "private sources" --whatever that is.

As a cultural historian I would normally support the restoration of historic sites, but when you think of the human lives that need to be taken care of--people who gave lost everything and who need to be rehabilitated--I think there have to be some tough priorities that have to be considered. . . if the powers that be have it in them to to consider and act on anything substantive. God save America.

[pointblank]

28. Should it??.......YES

Will it...I don't know, sadly. :-(

Let me say first off that I was not directly affected by this, not even close to what the people there are, meaning I had no immediate family there. I do/did have some friends in Gulfport that have/had a house on the beach that I still have not heard from...but I do have a lot of love and fond memories of NO and the MS Gulf Coast and I am in shock right now...I guess I will go through the stages the same as when someone you love dies....so bear with me and cut me some slack.

OK, so should it be rebuilt? I say YES. I qualify this by saying that I believe with all of the money, resources and technolgy that we possess as the world's most powerful nation that it CAN be done, and made resistant to these type of disasters. I believe it, I really do. Some of you may flame me for saying this by saying that it is sinking into the ground, or that I have no right to say this as I do not live there...but if Katrina never happened, would you have been arguing this and saying that it should be moved? No, you wouldn't...of course not. When will this 'sinking' occur? 10 years? A hundred years? A thousand years?...No one knows for sure. Is it really happening? Was it going to all of a sudden sometime next year just sink into the ground? Isn't California supposed to break off into the Pacific? Isn't Manhattan in the same sort of trouble?...We are talking about people's home(s) here, it should be rebuilt for them if they desire, and I believe they do.

Now, the sinking factor aside, NO can and should be made hurricane 'proof'. Yes it would take some time and effort and lots of money and pure determination, but it is possible. Not only is it an important city culturally and economically, but I think that if we give in and abandon it then we have lost a part of ourselves that we can NEVER regain.

The question to me isn't SHOULD it be rebuilt, IMO the question is WILL it?

Again, this is one man's opinion, a man who is not a NO resident and does not claim to know what these people's thoughts are...This is simply my opinion.






Besides, if we do not rebuild, the hurricanes win. (a little humor to lighten the mood!)

[lostnfound]

29. Yes, but not by this administration. It will turn into a fundie uglyland.

Can't imagine the Bush administration allowing anything with charm or color to be regrown there.

[Zynx]

31. It's a city without a natural right to exist.

It exists purely in defiance of nature and it couldn't stay that way for ever.

[HadItUpToHere]

32. the hurricanes of the future will be much worse.

as global warming continues to get worse, so will the hurricanes-
not to mention rising sea levels as well...
New Orleans MUST be moved.

[Kenroy]

33. Thank you all

for replying and for your interesting responses.

I didn't expect this outcome in the vote, and it still pains me to agree with the majority of you.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kenroy]

37. Wow...

that came and went quickly.

I would ask the moderators' indulgence on this thread - it's certainly a painful one for anybody who lives in N.O. or has a history there. I understand that.

I've only visited it once, and I feel a connection. I can't imagine the pain of those who REALLY love the city.


Anyway, I'm saying I can take some heat on this... it's a painful question.

[Beelzebud]

38. I'm sorry for my harshness. I'm in a terrible mood today.

I think I'll go work out on the punching bag.

[Kenroy]

39. no apology necessary

I didn't see your response.

But we're all pretty raw these last few days - we're witnessing a horrible thing. No worries.