The Wrong Ending for the New Orleans Story
Feb 16th, 2007 | 35 responses
The risk that New Orleans might not recover from Katrina was always there.
Even before the levees ever gave way, the city had horrific problems, and they’ve been magnified exponentially in the last 18 months. According to the NY Times, people in today’s New Orleans are getting overwhelmed — by the crime, the spiralling costs of far-too-little available housing, a lack of planning, unbelievable red tape, inexcusible funding bottlenecks, pathetic leadership at all levels, the unimproved levees…
Their reasons include high crime, high rents, soaring insurance premiums and what many call a lack of leadership, competence, money and progress. In other words: yes, it is still bad down here. But more damning is what many of them describe as a dissipating sense of possibility, a dwindling chance at redemption for a great city that, even before the storm, cried out for great improvement.
“The window of opportunity is closing,� Ms. Larsen said, “before more people like us give up and say it’s too little, too late.�
[snip]
For every household that, like this one, has given up, there is another on the verge.
New Orleans is a city that inspires great passion — an almost painful love that’s impossible to explain, deny, or (for the uninitiated) understand. Certainly it called to me after the storm, and I still don’t know how I managed to stay away, or if I did the right thing, ultimately, for my heart and soul.
So I understand those who stayed through the storm and those who went back after, those who came home from North Dakota or Austin to give their hearts and souls to the city… and those who find themselves making different decisions today.
But it doesn’t make this story any less heart-breaking.
It’s not too late yet, and certainly everyone isn’t leaving — but this is nevertheless a terrible, devastating glimpse of a possible conclusion to the New Orleans story.
Someone needs to get busy writing a different ending for this horrible American tale. I do not like the way this one is going.
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35 Responses to “The Wrong Ending for the New Orleans Story”
[...] It was that people would just give up. [...]
Like Iraq, it’s prob time to pull the plug and cut the losses.
cosmoetica — We’re not talking about a place halfway around the planet, but an American city. Pull the plug????
I have such mixed emotions about NO. I hope we can preserve most of what is special about that culture. But I don’t the rest of us to subsidize the rebuilding of communities that are doomed to repeated destruction.
Unfortunately we will have to face this choice repeated as the waters rise on coastal cities for the next 100 years.
If you sit around waiting for Kathleen Blanco, Ray Nagin and George Bush to solve your problems – this is the outcome you should expect.
Boy, oh boy, has the mood changed.
Pull the plug?
Why should the rest of us have to savrificed?
It’s about people, not just the place. And it’s about the whole region, not just New Orleans. Neither is it about the poor; it’s about a lot of middle class people, as well.
Governemt promises for loans to rebuild are not coming through.
Insurers like State Farm are denying claims on the grounds that sice there was flooding, then all damage was due to flooding – even other companies are honoring claims for wind damage.
A lot of the damage was in areas not even classified as flood endangered.
I’m wondering when being pragmatic turns into being callous.
hershblogger,
I am so tired of people blaming the victims of the disaster for the failure of the leadership on ALL levels of government. Have you ever heard of the word “empathy”? Educate yourself before throwing out such hurtful accusations. Do you expect the citizens to rebuild the levees? Do you expect them to be able to make government bureaucracy work any faster than it wants to? Do you expect the citizens to make the insurance companies live up to their legal obligations? We are fighting on all levels, even up to marches in the streets. The last thing we need, but we get in BUCKET FULLS, are people’s ignorant criticism. Try at least to be constructive here. What waiting around do you mean? The waiting of the COE to admit their fault in design of the levees? The waiting (7 months) for the COE to come out with new floodmaps , so people knew how high they needed to rebuild? The waiting for FEMA representative, insurance representatives, city permit representatives? The waiting for infrastructure? The waiting for FEMA trailers? The waiting for tourists to return? Be specific. Or is it that you think we are Uncle Remus sitting on the stoop waiting for the “massa” to do everything for us? If this is what you think your fellow Americans are made of, you are sadly mistaken.
“I’m wondering when being pragmatic turns into being callous.”
Domojot, it turned beyond callous a long time ago. It has broken my heart to see how hateful so called Americans can be. I see my hometown fighting, fighting, fighting for every small step forward. It is unreal to me that I can drive HOURS in LA and MS and see only destruction, while “America” worries to death over a drug addicted stripper. (Anna Nichol) When did the institutions of the media and the government go so wrong? When did the American heart become so dark?
It is a disgrace that there has been such poor follow-up to rebuild such a great, original American city. I agree that the public would much rather watch nonstop coverage about Anna Nicole than care about their countrymen. I also think its a disgrace that billions have been lost or mismanaged that were geared for the reconstruction of Iraq. My faith in the federal government has been shattered, and I have nothing but contempt for its incompetence and waste.
OK, let’s play my favorite role of Devil’s Advocate. But first, I have to say that NO has always been one of my favorite places to visit. But my trip there over the summer was truly depressing.
Now, there are a few truly relevant things to consider. First, pre-Katrina, NO was a dying city. Crime was horrible, the population base was already shrinking, especially among more the educated and professional classes, corruption was (and is) rampant at the local level, unemployment was among the highest in the nation, and as NO itself isn’t really a key part of the Mississippi river/Gulf or Mexico shipping system anymore, and tourism was becoming the last remaining viable business sector. But even that was getting seedier (although that has accelerated beyond belief since Katrina), and the tourism industry is not a high-wage industry anyway.
second, NO is below sea level, and the levee system is stop-gap measure that will eventually fail completely under any long-term prognosis you want to discuss.
Third, the Mississippi River wants switch to the Atchafalaya River channel (this has been known since the 50′s), and despite the best efforts of the Army Corps of Engineers to prevent it, that battle against nature will eventually be lost as well.
Another reason it isn’t rebounding is besides the people who were going to leave anyway for the reasons above, many who may not have left, when displaced by Katrina, realized that NO had been holding them back in life. They liked where they ended up better, and do not want to return, and would not return even if it was fixed up better than it was before (which really isn’t possible)
Cities die, or become mere shadows of themselves, after major natural disasters all the time. Just ask Galveston, Texas, the main commence city of the Gulf coast, and one of main ones of the entire United States, until a hurricane hit it it 1900. Houston took in a lot of the residents, and most of the business, and never looked back. Galveston never recovered.
The difference between Galveston and New Orleans is CULTURE. There is the survival of a culture at stake here. It is a culture that does not worship at the alter of the almighty dollar. It is a culture where, even though a class system exists, races know how to get along and enjoy their community together. It is a culture that participates in things together. It is a culture that realizes you have only a limited time on this Earth and you better enjoy the time that is given to you. For all of her problems, New Orleans has so much to teach this nation, MY nation. I actually feel sorry for the heartless time obsessed bottom line America I have learned about since the storm – an America that punishes people for being different. (a concept unimaginable to a New Orleanian.) What a sad, sad existence. An America that is working so hard for material things that they don’t have time for their friends or even family joys. I would rather die amid the rubble of my city than live in your world. That America was fine with the destruction of my world is when I knew I was a New Orleanian and not an American. Let me keep the 40% of my income that I send to Washington D.C. that is used to rebuilt and save foreign countries like Iraq, and let me use it to save MY country of south Louisiana: to rebuilt the wetlands and the city. Then I will never again have to see horrfic pain and sadness in my citizens eyes again.
AustinRoth presents the pragmatist’s view.
According to his crime statistics, then,large parts of our major cities should just be razed. Eliminating an area does not make the criminals evaporate, it just makes them move. Our societal ills wait to be addressed all over the nation.
Different parts of NO have different challenges. I don’t think anyone imagines that the city can or should be recreated to exactly what it was pre Katrina. There are a number of plans that take that into account.
Corruption? No is hardly the only city or area plagued by it.
We don’t kill patients because they have a disease. We try to cure the patient.
NO wasn’t just a city; it was a whole culture. Cultures die, as do languages. But every such death is a loss, and as lonb as there are members struggling to keep it alive, they deserve help.
As I said, this isn’t just about NO alone. It is about the whole affected region.
I remember Bush’s words: “Whatever it takes…”
I find it humorous that so many “propgressives” are upset that all of their governmental reforms such as urban planning, environmental assessments, stake holder hearings are now making it virtually impossible for government to take actions.
Virtually all governmental reforms that have occured in the last few decades were designed to make it hard for government to take action, so of course New Orleans is going to rebuilt slowly. Look at how long it had taken NYC to do anything about the WTC due to the same laws.
Of course, the reactions of many of the residents of NO and the surrounding area have made it harder to be sympathetic to them. They re-elected an incompetent mayor, many of already commit fraud, they have preyed on each other. And the state governments seem more interested in putting insurance companies out of business instead of rebuilding.
“I find it humorous that so many “propgressivesâ€? are upset that all of their governmental reforms such as urban planning, environmental assessments, stake holder hearings are now making it virtually impossible for government to take actions.”
That’s total nonsense. The same system was in place during the Clinton administration. They faced their share of desasters, and they didn’t screw up. Bush had lots of time before Katrina to improve the system, to change problematic laws. He didn’t. There’s one reason for the Katrina desaster, everybody knows that, but I wonder if superDD will ever admit it, or if he even can spell it:
REPUBLICAN INCOMPETENCE.
AustinRoth was absolutely right (earlier comment) when he said the city was in decline before the storm. That is perhaps the aspect of all this that makes me maddest — because it was an opportunity to repair some of the systemic problems that had plagued the city for so long… and it’s being squandered.
However, playing the partisan blame game, as the last two comments seem to do, is not only counter-productive, it’s incorrect. It’s a complex situation that can’t be distilled to a soundbyte. What happened to New Orleans over the last couple of generations that led to conditions there pre-Katrina vs. the disaster itself (and immediate aftermath) vs. the rebuilding debacle and current situation are not the same thing. There is no single causal factor, much less a political party, to blame.
Saying, though, that anyone “deserved” the situation (then or now) demonstrates an astonishing ignorance. There are thousands and thousands of people there, working against all odds — and working hard – to save themselves and their city. This “let em eat cake” attitude is right in the face of folks who’ve been doing their level best to move heaven and earth (and governmental deadweight) to get the wheels turning. Blanket condemnations insult them in a profound, and personal, way.
Gray,
I work in environmental compliance and I can tell you that the laws are designed to make big government projects very hard to do. They were hard under the Clinton Administration and they are even harder under the Bush Administration. During the Depression, it took the government about five years to plan and build Boulder Dam. It is estimated that the Environmental Impact State alone would take over a decade and the project would take over 20 years.
Also, all reform laws are designed to make the goverment decision cycle very slow. Clinton did not attempt many things because of this such as a true downsize of the military. Look at the BRAC process and you will find that the 1993 BRAC process had not been comleted by 2000.
Currently, N.O. is trying to rebuild in a flood plain in violation of government funding regulations and trying to do it without an EIS. How are private builders suppose to get contraction loans to rebuild in a flood plain? People complain about the EPA and other environmental regulationns but thos agencies are not allowed to consider economic hardships when deciding policy and regulatory implementation. That is something that “progressives” and environmentalist insisted upon.
If you have a specific case where the Clinton Admnstration rushed through the the flood plain compliance, the clean water act compliance, and the EIS process, I would love to hear it but I doubt that you can find one.
I also find it racist that many people have argued that the blacks in NO just cannot help themselves. So are Republicans in the federal government suppose to come in, override local control, and treat the blacks in NO like children who are just not smart enough to stop fouling their own nest?
“Currently, N.O. is trying to rebuild in a flood plain in violation of government funding regulations and trying to do it without an EIS.”
That’s interesting, would you pls elaborate on this? Afaik, judging by the reports from NO bloggers, there isn’t much of a rebuiling effort, diue to lack of funds. Where exactly is the city rebuilding in violence of government regulations? The main problem seems to be that most property owners still haven’t received any moneys from FEMA. That’s not the fault of NO.
“If you have a specific case where the Clinton Admnstration rushed through the the flood plain compliance, the clean water act compliance, and the EIS process, I would love to hear it but I doubt that you can find one.”
Could you pls reword this, so a foreign reader can understand it? What are you speaking about, the Clinton administration ‘rushing through’ a law (= supporting it in the House), or ‘rushing through’ actions, in spite of those laws?
“I also find it racist that many people have argued that the blacks in NO just cannot help themselves.”
If someone would argue that the blacks need help, and whites don’t this would be racist, indeed. But I suspect you’re building a strawmen here, since you’re the only one I have ever seen making this arguement. Really, where are the people who say only the blacks cannot help themselves? There are poor white folks in NO, too, who lost their house and haven’t received any help for rebuilding. This isn’t about black or white folks, it’s about all the victims.
“So are Republicans in the federal government suppose to come in, override local control, and treat the blacks in NO like children who are just not smart enough to stop fouling their own nest?”
They are supposed to come in, work together with local authorities, and treat all victims equally, regardless of race, but considering the need, and help them overcoming the consequences of Katrina. This smear arguement about children and “fouling their own nest” is just something you inserted to divert attention from the failure of the feds to live up to Bush’s promises and to their own mission statement.
I checked on info about “flood plain compliance” and found this (emphasis mine): “This 1977 Executive Order directs federal agencies to avoid to the extent possible the long- and short- termadverse impacts associated with the occupancy and modification of flood plains and to avoid direct or indirect support of development in flood plains wherever there is a practicable alternative. Each agency is responsible for evaluating the potential effects of any action it may take in a flood plain.”
This one of the compliances you talkin’ about, suprDD? It’s an executive order! Bush can change this with a stroke of a pen. Why didn’t he do this, if this really is a hurdle for the reconstruction? Well, maybe because it isn’t. It’s talking about development, not about rebuilding already developed areas. And is there any practicable alternative in this case? Maybe forcing the residents to rebuild in New Mexico (much lower risk of catastrophic floods there)???
Did you know that Washington DC is in a flood plain? Most cities situatated on rivers are. How could those people in the White House be so stupid as to live on a flood plain!
“Did you know that Washington DC is in a flood plain?”
Before posting the ‘tongue in cheek’ idea of rebuilding in New Mexico, I checked the internet. There are flood plain plans even for New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona! Looks like you’re nowhere save from the flood in the US.
Gray,
You should look at http://www.floods.org/home/default.asp . There are a variety of regulations and enforcement mechanisms for compliance with flood plain regulations. In addition, section 304 of the Clean Water Act would define any flood plane as a “waterways of the United States” and would especially apply to any areas below sea level.
Also, for the government to take actions such as changing flood plain regulation, the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and the EPA would have to conduct an Enviromental Impact State IAW the National Environmental Protection Act. Those take years to do and are currently designed to give activist the maximum ability to slow things down. Also, local zoning regulations and local master planning regulations have to be complied with before rebuilding can begin.
It is different when someone wants to rebuild their own home in Florida after a Hurricane since virtually all homeowners in Florida carry hurricane insurance.
The problems in NO are compounded in that many of the residents were renters and rebuilding a rental property is much harder than rebuilding an existing single family home and since many people in NO (and the entire Gulf Coast) opted not to have flood insurance. Flood insurance is not something that is normally included in a homeowners policy but has to purchase separately and is purchased directly from the government.
Interesting info, superDD, thx. And while I admit that I’m not on the same level of information as you, normal common sense begs some valid questions:
Why hasn’t there been executive and legislative initiatives to correct laws and regulations that are hampering the reconstruction effort? This should be a no brainer!
The numbers for FEMA reconstruction efforts are devastating, only a few hundred house owners received moneys, thousands are still waiting, almost 18 months after Katrina? What’s gouing wrong there and why doesn’t Bush weigh in?
In the light of the experiences from Katrina, where are the bills trying to correct the known problems, for instance that flood insurance is only optional? Isn’t the US running the risk that exactly the same scenario may happen this year?
Have to run now, but I will be back to the discussion. CU l8r!
Polimom: ‘We’re not talking about a place halfway around the planet, but an American city.’
Holy cow- do you realize how callous AND provincial that is?
Look, Glaciers are sliding off of Greenland 4x as quickly as previously believed, and Antarctica is similarly melting. NO has been a cesspool for years- I worked with a few dozen NO refugees in Austin, and most ain’t going back- life’s better elsewhere.
As for culture- in NO vs. Galveston. Culture is never a place, but the people, it can reassemble anywhere. But the USA shd not waste trillions of $ for Netherlands style dams that may not forestall rising seas, and will do nothing against atmospheric storms.
NO is also, unlike Manhattan and parts of Long Island, built upon bedrock, but alluvium.
Pull the plug, and move the city a few hundred miles up the Big Muddy.
Correction- NO is NOT built upon bedrock but alluvium.
cosmo, So you hate your fellow Americans. Tough luck. We are still here fighting to rebuild our HOME. For the others, another barrier to the recovery has been the Stafford Act. It says that the local governments have to come up with 10% to15% matching funds to qualify for the federal infrastructure rebuilding funds. EVERY other disaster in the past years has been exempted from this Act. 9-11, Andrew, ALL. Not with Katrina. The local governments don’t have these matching funds so nothing happens. The politicos can say “Look at these billions we allocated!” making the locals appear lazy and corrupt, while all along no money is making it to where it needs to get. Sleep well America.
Why not? They did and it’s a fantastic system. NO below sea level? Big deal! It’s not 15 meters below sea level!
Doc: ‘So you hate your fellow Americans. Tough luck.’
Another fine example of strawmanning- arguing against something that was never claimed nor hinted at. It makes the rest of yor post piffle.
Davebo: Two things against NO that Holland does not have to deal with- 1) the output of the Mississippi 2) Gulf storms. If you actually read the latter part of the selection you quoted, that wd have explained away yr point.
Two things against Holland that NO does not have to deal with- 1) the output of the Rhine and the tide of the North Sea 2) North Sea storms.
cosmo,
Here is some more pillf (whatever that means) for you to ignore.
http://ashleymorris.typepad.com/ashley_morris_the_blog/2006/11/for_our_new_gov.html
Yes, these are the actual flood walls we have toprotect us. Thamkyou Uncle Sam!
Thx for the link, doctorj. Imho this doesn’t need further commenting.
I love it when opponents actually make my points.
Gray: Per http://www.rev.net/~aloe/river/
The Mississippi has a cubic meters per second watre discharge of over 17,500, vs. the Rhine’s 2200. The Big Muddy is almost 8x as powerful. That’s a ‘no contest’ in anyone’s book, and why New Orleans is far more dangerous a place to live. Also, the power generated in the warm Gulf Of Mexico dwarfs those of the cold North Sea. I’ve known Brits who’ve lived through American hurricanes, and there’s no comparison.
Doc, still strawmanning. Your photos prove my point. The other places do not experience hurricanes nor tornadoes! Against them, the pictured structures would be utterly useless! New Orleans has experienced floods from both directions, cause by storms from behind, as well as the Gulf below.
It was built in a dangerous place, and the time has come to admit it.
Doc:
it’s spelt PIFFLE:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=piffle
Main Entry: 1pif·fle
Pronunciation: ‘pi-f&l
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): pif·fled; pif·fling /-f(&-)li[ng]/
Etymology: perhaps blend of piddle and trifle
: to talk or act in a trivial, inept, or ineffective way
Now, it would be a first if Gray and Doc crooned a collective ‘D’oh!’ C’mon, guys. American Idol awaits!
cosmo,
You remind me of the bully in the school yard. So your arguement to to blather. Misdirected blather at that. You would make Rush proud. I have no respect for you. You are the ignorant person that has become the face of America all over the world. Just sad. Your days of power in this contry are numbered because most Americans have something you can’t begin to identify -compassion. In your book, a couple of million people should just move. We should probably move Florida and California and any number of other of states also according to your plans. Where do you live? I don’t suppose it is North Dakota? I have met a number of people in North Dakota with similar outlooks to yours. Old skinheads I think.
One two three four: D’oh! (damn, I think Doc missed the cue)
However:
“The Big Muddy is almost 8x as powerful.”
That’s why I mentioned the tide. About 0.8 feet (~0.25m) vs. 1.7 m or so. The North Sea is almost 7 times as powerful
“The other places do not experience hurricanes nor tornadoes!”
No, we call that kind of storm “Orkan“:
“A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic storm that tracks across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months. These storms usually track over the north coast of Scotland towards Norway but can veer south to affect other countries including Ireland, Wales, England, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland. As these storms can generate hurricane-force winds (and sometimes even winds at the strength of major hurricanes), they are sometimes referred to as hurricanes, even though very few originate as tropical cyclones.”
“New Orleans has experienced floods from both directions, cause by storms from behind, as well as the Gulf below.”
D’oh again! North Sea Islands are surrounded by water on all four sides, but they have adequate flood protection, and the buildings are on artificial knolls. Also, you may want to study the location of Netherland city Amsterdam on a map
Well, nice try, Cosmo, but I suggest next time you better check your facts first before engaging in a pi…, uh, in an ‘american idol’ like contest…
Doc- actually, this country and world are in such trouble because folks like me- sane, realistic moderates, are outnumbered by about 9,999 to one by folk like you. And when your lack is pointed out, the PC screams of bully/bigot/misamthrope/racist/antiSemite, etc. go up, and lead only to the Boy Who Cried Wolf Syndrome. It’s actually compassion for humans that is behind not wasting time and money to save something that was always on borrowed time to begin with, and that even a good portion of the residents are glad is gone. But, again, hurl names, and touch yourself softly in your dank little hole….if that comforts you.
Gray: Your link only makes the point, with only a handful of the storms topping 100 mph. That’s not near a Katrina nor the big storms that regularly track across the Caribbean, and that does not include the hundreds of tornadoes in Tornado Alley, at which Louisiana is at the southern tip of.
Also, tides are a force that is diffused across the whole of a coastline, thus has less impact than water gushing out of a delta- or single source, and with cubic feet, if Ole Miss’s volume is 8x the Rhine, its energy is 64x.
So, to summarize. NO is at the base of a river system dozens of times stronger than the Low Countries, is wracked by tornadoes and cyclonic storms that dwarf Europe’s, and is built upon allvium. That the city has lasted this long is miraculous. It’s a sinkhole, literally and financially, and I don’t want my money wasted on another project the gov’t will screw up- another factor!
Keep making my points for me, but the payroll’s kind’a thin!
Another point, Gray. Literally, Hollanders have no options to building their works, unless they want to become German citizens- or French. NO has many options; I’m suggesting the best and least wasteful.