Lack Of Political Will Points To 'Drenched Future' In New Orleans

Neal Peirce writes that there is a way to rebuild New Orleans in a responsible, sustainable way: make low-lying areas parkland, and build denser neighborhoods on higher ground. But there appears to be no political will to make it happen.

1 minute read

April 25, 2006, 5:00 AM PDT

By Michael Dudley

"What one sees, eight months after Katrina engulfed 80 percent of New Orleans, is neighborhood after neighborhood overwhelmed by mountains of debris, wrecked homes, buildings knocked off foundations, watermarks up to roof lines, holes in roofs where people chopped their way out. There are even lingering 'Possible Body' signs.

And the destruction isn't just in the Lower Ninth Ward, which has received most national attention; even sections such as Lakewood, with million-dollar homes, were heavily damaged..."

"...the Rand Corp. estimates that barely 50 percent of New Orleans' people are likely to be back in town by 2008. And there's a real question: Will a city government on the verge of bankruptcy be able to assure water, sewer and electric services to neighborhoods with just a scattering of occupied houses? The federal government is repairing the broken levees, but relying on levees in an intensifying hurricane cycle is a crapshoot at best."

FULL STORY: New Orleans' throttled future

Monday, April 24, 2006 in The Seattle Times

Government / Politics Louisiana

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