I don't think New Orleans should be rebuilt

[Pryderi]

With all that pollution, sewage and god-knows-what, I don't think it's safe to go back there.

I fear some sort of awful plague will spread from there...that or the Smog Monster will form, and Godzilla's all the way over in Japan.

<img src="">

I never realized how much the smog monster looked like Sigmund the Seamonster...

[kster]

1. I think it should

period

[tulsakatz]

13. I think it should too.........

.....New Orleans contains too much history not to rebuild.

[Erika]

2. Bush was there last night

-?-

[Bumblebee]

3. no, it was a Hollywood set :)

[Pryderi]

4. Satan is impervious to death and disease. eom

[Maple]

5. It's a major port

and on a major river.

[existentialist]

9. maybe it could be moved up river a bit

and rebuilt there.

[Maple]

11. And who owns that land?

I'm sure somebody does. Lots of somebodies in fact.

[Ignacio Upton]

21. You will have to kick out a lot of suburbanites

they won't give up their McMansions of cul-de-sacs easily.

[Journeyman]

10. We fought a Civil War in part. . .

to ensure the Mississippi would run unvexed to the sea and that New Orleans would be a port for the nation. We'll rebuild it. . . take a few more precautions against disasters that may befall it. . . and let the people of New Orleans re-establish the culture they desire.

[Erika]

12. You make an important point

that is a holding card. New Orleans is a port servicing all of our country.

[Kablooie]

6. Just give it to Disney,

they'll be able to cook something up.

Heck they've already got practice by doing New Orleans Square.

[barbaraann]

7. It should not be built under a Republican administration because

they will pervert the process. I think that it should be considered once we have a Dem President but it might not be feasible by the time that happens.

[existentialist]

8. rebuilding New Orleans

I won't argue one way or the other here for rebuilding New Orleans or not; the arguments to be made both ways are multifaceted and complex, and everyones emotions are in hyper mode over the issue just now, which is not necessarily the best way to make decisions.

I do wish to point out another difficulty that must be dealt with somehow before I could support rebuilding a city in the same location.

Somehow the continued sinking further and further below sea level, and the related loss of surrounding wetlands must be addressed, or else rebuilding there will simply be inviting another disaster, and--given global warming and its consequences, likely fairly soon, and likely at least as bad (even if the response is much improved which I believe all here pretty much agree it could and should have been.)

[raccoon]

16. Agree with you there. If it's rebuilt the problems you mentioned

need to be addressed.

Otherwise, it's just a matter of time, and with global warming, probably not much time, before it happens again.

[bluedawg12]

14. Don't forget the wet lands, and my dream plan>

http://www.exhibits.lsa.umich.edu/New/VirtualExhibits/Nat.Am./Northern_Forest/4A12-JPEG

[dhinojosa]

15. Eh, New Orleans has been destroyed so many times...

with the Fire of 1788, with the War of 1812, and hurricane after hurricane. It be a waste not to rebuild it again.

[nvliberal]

17. It HAS to be rebuilt.

NOLA is one of the largest, if not THE largest, seaport(s) in the country.

Much of the economy relies on the city.

What we need to worry about is not the fact it will be rebuilt, but HOW it will be rebuilt, WHO is going to profit from the rebuilding, and whether poor and working class NOLA residents will be allowed to return.

[StudentOfDarrow]

18. There will probably not be another hurricane like Katrina

for a long, long time. We just need to rebuild the levees stronger than before and the city will be as good as new.

[existentialist]

23. New Orleans' systemic problems

(1) With New Orleans sinking lower and lower a storm doesn't need to be as strong because New Orleans has been becoming more and more vulnerable.

(2) It is in part the levees that are causing New Orleans to sink lower and lower. It doesn't get the regular filling of silt (from small floods). Instead, with the levees much of the silt flows out into the Gulf.

(3) It is not just New Orleans itself. The Louisiana wetlands are diminishing at an alarming rate; without the wetlands between it and the ocean New Orleans has also been becoming more and more vulnerable because the ocean has been getting closer.

(4) Global warming predicts that there will be an increasing number of strong storms. For instance there was an article in Nature this week that has received some publicity that discussed this problem. There is still some disagreement on the point, and of course the Bush Administration has been doing everything it can to dispute, dilute, and cause the public to ignore the message--they do this with all science that points to problems or things they don't like--but I am persuaded that the science on this point is the best available at this time.

[Igel]

19. It's not a yes/no question.

It's possible to rebuild much of it, but not the parts most in danger.

But it's no longer a strictly planning or cost/benefits problem: it's now tied in with racial and class politics and subjective perceptions. It'll be rebuilt, all sorts of stupid promises will be made, and in 80 years there'll be another diasater because of unsound decisions taken today and next year.

[Pepperbelly]

20. It has to be ...

there really is not much choice.

It's all about the location.

[Ignacio Upton]

22. Disagree with you there

New Orleans is a major port and handles a large number of our raw materials. It is one of the reasons why the Midwest is such an exporting giant in food and agriculture.
This reminds me of the debate I had with people after 9/11 over whether or not to rebuild the WTC (which I support) in that people said "why rebuild when something will just happen there again." In both cases there is an economic necesity to rebuild and not leave land fallow and suffer economically.