The Case Against Rebuilding New Orleans

Jack Schafer argues that Katrina may amount to "creative destruction," and that "[o]nly a sadist would insist on resurrecting this concentration of poverty, crime, and deplorable schools."

1 minute read

September 8, 2005, 2:00 PM PDT

By Miles

The cases for and against the rebuilding of the city rest on deep issues of social justice. For whom will it be rebuilt? In whose interests will it be rebuilt? And will the poor of New Orleans find a better future in a rebuilt New Orleans or scattered about the surrounding areas?

"Nobody can deny New Orleans' cultural primacy or its historical importance. But before we refloat the sunken city, before we think of spending billions of dollars rebuilding levees that may not hold back the next storm, before we contemplate reconstructing the thousands of homes now disintegrating in the toxic tang of the flood, let's investigate what sort of place Katrina destroyed."

Thanks to Miles Hochstein

Read the full story: Don't Refloat

Thursday, September 8, 2005 in Slate

Infrastructure Urban Development Louisiana

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