Do city planners exist anymore?

[SoCalDem]

We need a whole new approach to coastal areas.. Imagine what we would be looking at today if there was a 10 mile "buffer zone" of community use park/recreation area that extended down to the shore..

we'd be looking at submerged/damaged park equipment, perhaps some structures damaged/destroyed, but the loss of life and the "new homeless" created would be minimal..

Would the city/coast be less desireable if people could not LIVE there?? People could still "camp" there, and erect temporary structures.. the water and sand would be for all to enjoy..and could fend for itself in storms..

Do we need all the "stuff" cluttering up the view anyway?

if we are looking at an "active phase" of storms, can we afford to keep making the same mistakes over and over? Every "re-build" costs 10x the last one..


The seaport part of the city of course would still be vulnerable to storms, but employees are easy to evacuate, and structural damage can be repaired..or maybe they could be built stronger in the first place..

[YOY]

1. Yes

They do.

[SoCalDem]

3. Do they PLAN?? or just take orders from the admin in charge?

:)

[YOY]

18. Ask them

www.icma.org

My guess would be to take orders, give input, admin changes orders accordingly, make plans, and finally realize them.

[charlie]

2. Prime beachfront property

for "community" use? Not in America.

[SoCalDem]

6. Community money pays to rebuild them over and over

:(
eminent domain was made for this:)

A flooded community benefits no one..but a natura; breakwater/storm absorber helps everyone:)

[charlie]

11. In probably the most unfortunate

timing a business could imagine, I'm watching pitches for an upcoming auction of virgin Virginia coastal properties, between disaster coverages on CNN. Right now. Get 'em now, build your dream home, 'cause these hot parcels won't last (ain't that the truth)!!

[Soup Bean]

4. Everyone thinks planners are "communists".

30 years of non-stop anti-government, all big business all the time propaganda is taking its toll. Zoning regulations that do exist seem to be subject to "regulatory discretion", which usually means those with the money get to do what they want, while people without money and connections bear the brunt.

[ohio_liberal]

5. Why yes, yes they do

The city of Wheeling WV city planners knocked down some old buildings along the waterfront and built a mahvelous park instead. For the most part, only the park floods now. Maybe some basements of other buildings.

[SoCalDem]

12. EXACTLY

good for them

[phantom power]

7. I don't know if people are ready for the core principle: "No More"

No More building massive developments on the coast.
No More building in flood plains.
No More building massive housing developments in the desert.
No More population increase.
No More burning fossil fuels.
No More unsustainable economy.

We've taken enough. We've done enough damage. No More.

[Wickerman]

8. Indeed

They plan how to enrich developers.

[markus]

9. If you mean in New Orleans

That would be the entire city.

Why don't we ask everyone in Southern California to move 100 miles away from any fault line?

It's a nice idea, but it's not practical.

What we do need is an expenditure of several trillion dollars to do something about coastal erosion in Louisiana, starting with the currently-shelved plan to close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlent (which led to the flooding in St. Bernard, the Ninth Ward and NO East).

[ibegurpard]

13. Indeed

New Orleans is below sea level. It's one thing to have policies preventing development in at-risk areas but what do you do with a metropolitan area of over a million people that has been established for centuries that lies entirely below sea level?

[SoCalDem]

14. What you do?? At a time like this when it's been devastated,

you RE-Plan..and RE-locate if necessary..or you preserve what you can, and TAX the living daylights out of the ones who want to stay, and you somehow keep that 'extra rainy-day money' out of the hands of the politicians :shrug:

[markus]

19. Then don't come crying to me when the big one comes

Serves your right for livin there.

I mean, it's not like you didn't know it was coming.

[SoCalDem]

20. Okay, I promise

I don;t plan to be here much longer anyway:)

[romwriter]

16. N.O. is not on the coast

New Orleans is not a coastal city. You cannot see the Gulf from any of the high rise hotels. NO sits on a huge lake (Ponchartrain) and the miss. river and is at least a hundred miles away from the gulf. of course if nothing is done about our coastline, it could eventually be a beach town or maybe the beach will even be here in Baton Rouge.

[SoCalDem]

17. Coastal/or flood plain

:)

[theboss]

23. That's the entire country

Everything on the coast of California is just waiting for a disaster.

The entire state of Florida frankly shouldn't be there. It's just a very large sand bar.

The east coast north of Virginia is generally hurricane free, though New York City has been hit a few times and if a bad one ever did make it that far north, it would be a disaster. But generally speaking, Manhattan is very poorly planned. Millions of people on a small island with only a few means of escape.

In theory, we should move most of the country to Ohio and Indiana. But I'm not quite sure how that would work.

[romwriter]

24. coastal or flood plain, huh?

Your urban planning is to move every city back 10 miles from any body of water. That's a lot of moving. and NO is in a bend in the river, so at some points you can't even get 10 miles away from the river because you've run into the river again. I just saw some shots of destruction in Atlanta from Katrina (now that my power has been restored and I can actaully see what has happened.) shame on them for putting a mall where a storm might pass through.

[sam sarrha]

10. social programs in a Fascist state..???. Corporations rule everything

[porphyrian]

15. In Florida, coastal development is often determined by contractors...

...and OK'd by whatever city or county commission they have in their pocket, rather than the other way around. I'm sure it's similar everywhere that environmentalists don't have a strong enough voice. The thing is that a whole bunch of money is made building and rebuilding after storms like this, and, after all, development is about money, not people. Environmental restrictions are just seen as hurdles or as laws like speed limits which can be broken with impunity until they're caught.

[KittyWampus]

21. Agree 100%. Also, Population Sizes Need To Be Controlled. If You Can't

evacuate more than X number of people then there shouldn't be X+ people allowed to live in a city.

Developers will just keep building higher wider etc. regardless of practicality. Town Boards won't forgo the tax income.

[MsTryska]

22. yes they do......

i work at an agency that does that sort of stuff.


here's the deal - as someone uptop said - planners are akin to pinko commies.


you can come up with soem of the best ideas in the world - but selling it to local governmnet, and getting buy-in from developers is a whole different ballgame.