Comments on: Bad News For New Orleans’ Short And Long Term Future

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 02:30:26 +0000

Every—repeat—every successful reconstruction of a city after a major disaster in the United States has been managed, operated, and funded by the citizens of the city.

By: margaret Edgington

margaret Edgington — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 21:45:04 +0000

Neglecting the rebuilding of New Orleans is scandalous. A politicized Congress, overwhelmed Red Cross, National Guard, which is busy elsewhere, and an Army Corp of Engineers, which is exhibiting colossal incompetence, are building a memorial to failure on a national scale.

People who appear to be perfectly rational question whether New Orleans should be rebuilt after the devastating failure of its infrastructure to stand up to two catastrophic storms in one month. That is not a rational response to the desperate plight of New Orleans residents.

Here in Oregon we sit astride the mother of all subduction zone faults. We’re downstream from millions of gallons of radioactive material that’s moving at groundwater speed into the Columbia River. Downhill from Mount St Helens, an erupting volcano, we mistakenly feel safe in our little bastion. If the mountain had been pointing our way when the big one blew in 1980 hundreds of thousands of Portland residents could have been in the same sorry shape as the hundreds of thousands of wandering New Orleanians: waiting in some god-awful motel in Fresno or Pocatello to hear if our fellow Americans would care enough about our corner of our nation to come dig us out. The essence of our pact with our fellow Americans is this: “We’ll dig you out”.

By: Dennis Raines

Dennis Raines — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:48:28 +0000

Why would anyone live in San Francisco because of the earthquakes? Or Kansas because of Tornados? Or the entire Gulf Coast? Because IT’S THEIR HOME, this is Americans and deserve better than what is happening.

Also 10 Billions is what, almost a month in Iraq?

By: jim

jim — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:15:12 +0000

Time to look at restoring mother natures natural barriers that were there before. All the marshlands that were there before need to be in the mix. Mother nature really doesn’t give a crap how big and how strong you build something, she will always find a way to knock it down. Marshlands on the other hand should rise w/ the ocean levels in a natural way.
And why would anyone want to move back into an area that is so flood prone anyways?

By: Pyst

Pyst — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:31:34 +0000

The levees won’t matter much in about 20 more years when the ocean levels rise.

By: Elrod

Elrod — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:21:26 +0000

Imagine a $6 billion mistake. I can think of a $500 billion mistake. It’s called Iraq. And in a year or so it will be a $1 trillion mistake. What’s a few billion dollars thrown hither and thither on the New Orleans levees?