Post your creative ideas to save or rebuild NOLA here.

[KamaAina]

We've got 75,000 or so of the finest minds on the planet; time to use all that gray matter!

If you choose the popular "relocate N.O. somewhere else" option, please suggest a site, and remember, NO covers at least 60 square miles.

I've seen a few doozies on here already: notably, water-filled cofferdams to fix the levee.

Herre are a few of mine:

Hovercraft ferries while the Twin Span is out. Lake Pontchartrain is too shallow for ordinary ferries, plus there should be used hovercraft avaiable from England where the Chunnel is putting them out of business. Lakefront Airport would seem to be a ready-made terminal on the NO side.

This guy in New Jersey remodels shipping containers into houses. A stripped-down version of his "Quik House" could become the 21st-century version of the double shotgun. Shipping containers are one resource SE La. has in abundance.

http://www.architectureandhygiene.com/quikHouse/quikHouse_whatQH.html

Getting the water out: Take the biggest, fattest hoses you can find and put several of them in Lakeview. Suspend one end over the lake. Now, seal the ends and suck out all the air to create a vacuum. Now, submerge the city-side ends in the muck, and break the seals. Hopefully water will rush in to the vacuum and create a siphon effect. (Obviously the breach has to be fixed first or it'd all just come back on them.)

C'mon. You know you can do it!

[SteppingRazor]

1. Nationalized construction organization...

Like the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression. It'll create jobs while also rebuilding the city.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Build new city on higher ground

Get Habitat for Humanity involved - they are shelter experts.

Use special designs for fast, sturdy housing that some creative architects have developed - I've read articles about some of these.

Move some of the historic buildings to New New Orleans.

Install wind power farms to bring in electricity.

[judy]

3. Stop the war in Iraq

and use the money and troops to help clean up/restore the city.

On edit: AND spend more of the money to study an engineering plan to protect the city from the next hurricane, AND spend more of the money to study/implement ways to slow down global warming.

Any other questions???

[Jacobin]

6. That would be a great start. And keep Rumsfeld out of N.O.

If he gets involved, New Orleans will end up like Baghdad.

[Solly Mack]

4. Bring in people from the Nederlands for expert help in dealing

with a city like New Orleans - and then allow them to also help in the rebuilding process.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Short term - Solar distillers, wind driven pumps

military housing.

Solar stills:
http://www.moderntradingpost.com/solar_solutions/

[Wizard777]

7. Habitat For Humanity should be incharge of Residential Rebuilding.

They hold the House Building Record. Foundation to Finish in 24 hours. They would need to aquaint themselves with the La. Architecture. Can they be trusted? I think their spokesman former President Jimmy Carter speaks volumes on that. Yes I would trust them with Billions on a handshake. To men like Jimmy Carter a handshake forms a sacred bond and trust that is not to be betrayed for any reason.

[KittyWampus]

8. Sorry,I Think Nature Should Reclaim It.

[chicagiana]

9. Entire neighborhoods will be bulldozed ...

The water damage is just too great. Don't bother hauling it out. Stack it up and bring in fill. Jack Up down town and fill in the street.

Jack up the city and fill the thing in.

[melissinha]

10. Charge all US Companies for unpaid/diverted/loopholed taxes

Close all offshore bank accounts in Carribbean/Europe etc for U.S. Companies. Audit them all, have IRS ask for all unpaid taxes... it'll pay for everything..


Review KBR/Halliburton contracts... Make them pay back what they haven't earned, and make them work for free to rebuild the Gulf COast.

[MercutioATC]

11. "New Orleans - The Venice of the West"

...need I say more?

[KamaAina]

12. Not shabby, especially down at the bottom of the "bowl".

If, as it now appears, that area is a total loss, they could indeed have canals and/or bayous in the lowest-lying areas, so as to create something resembling a drainage system. That it would provide a suitable environment for pirogues (roughly the Cajun equivalent of gondolas) is a side benefit.

[KamaAina]

13. Has anyone ever seen the fireboat "Deluge"?

I have. It wasn't actually fighting a fire, but the demo was impressive nonetheless.

The Deluge is a fireboat that pumps a HUGE stream of water right from the Mississippi to fight fires on the docks. Is there some way they could float it into the flooded area and direct that humnogous stream out over the levee into Lake Pontchartrain?

[melissinha]

14. you know all the empty business buildings

in Texas that are left from the dot.com boom????

they'd make nice shelters.

THere are plenty in Austin.

I got one!!!I got one.... I think our good Dems should look back on our best President...FDR.. utilized the misplaced for public works....