Rebuilding New Orleans

what are your thoughts on it....

im kinda torn but im, i guess, a little more leaning towards not rebuilding.

that's NOT from not caring about the people or the culture... but unless they actually build the levees correctly.... katrina is most defiantly NOT the worst... it just seems kinda irresponsible to me.

call me a mean bitch.... cause ive heard people called that that arent for rebuilding but it's true.

 

I think the rebuild should be very limited. As insensitive as that sounds considering all of the culture and the people that lost their home - the city lies below sea level - we (humans) really don't belong there.

We have destroyed so many buffers along shore lines all across this country through unnecessary development. If nature takes back that land, as it did with Katrina, we should look to relocate communities, not rebuild them.

 

I'd really like everyone to read this , I've posted it in several diff. spots , but it hasn't gotten any replies , which really saddens me. I was living in Biloxi, Mississippi when Katrina hit , Gulfport & Biloxi were the WORST hit spots of Katrina's fury. Many people don't realize this, PleaSE Read On ...
I know that this is long , but it's worth reading , Please don't ignore what many people are going through at this time

From the Sun Herald (Biloxi, MS newspaper)


As Aug. 29 recedes into the conscious time of many Americans, the great storm that devastated 70 miles of Mississippi's Coast, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands, fades into a black hole of media obscurity.

Never mind that, if taken alone, the destruction in Mississippi would represent the single greatest natural disaster in 229 years of American history. The telling of Katrina by national media has created the illusion of the hurricane's impact on our Coast as something of a footnote.

The awful tragedy that befell New Orleans as a consequence of levee failures at the time of Katrina, likewise, taken by itself, also represents a monumental natural disaster. But, of course, the devastation there, and here, were not separate events, but one, wrought by the Aug. 29 storm.

There is no question that the New Orleans story, like ours, is a
compelling, ongoing saga as its brave people seek to reclaim those parts of the city lost to the floods.

But it becomes more and more obvious that to national media, New Orleans is THE story - to the extent that if the Mississippi Coast is mentioned at all it is often in an add-on paragraph that mentions "and the Gulf Coast" or "and Mississippi and Alabama."

The television trucks and satellite dishes that were seen here in the early days have all but disappeared.

While there has been no study to quantify the amount of coverage accorded to the plight of so many here or in New Orleans, it is obvious to any observer that the number of news stories on New Orleans is many times that of those focused on Mississippi.

So, why does that matter?

It matters first as it relates to journalism's obligations to cover human beings whose conditions are as dire as those that exist here.

The depth of the suffering and the height of the courage of South Mississippians is an incredible story that the American people must know. But, in the shadows of the New Orleans story, the Mississippi Coast has become invisible and forgotten to most Americans.

Could it be possible that the ongoing story of an Alabama teenager missing in Aruba has received more coverage on some cable networks than all of the incredibly compelling stories of courage, loss and need of untold thousands of Mississippians? Maybe a lot more coverage?

The second reason that the coverage matters is in the realm of politics. If the American people and their elected representatives do not truly know the scope of the destruction here, and if they are not shown the ongoing conditions afflicting so many, then there are consequences which are playing out even this week in Washington, where Congress will act, or not act, to relieve the incredible pain that has reduced the condition of so many American citizens to Third World status or worse.

If the people do not know, they cannot care.

We believe if they are shown the extent of the devastation and the suffering, they and their representatives will respond.

So the coverage matters. A lot.

The problem, to some extent, is that you have to be here and see it for yourself to comprehend the utter destruction that is so much like Berlin or Tokyo after World War II.

We would like to invite our news colleagues from across the nation to come and view the Coast with us. It is impossible to comprehend this disaster from afar. A television can display only a single screen of the damage. When you have driven mile after mind-numbing mile and viewed the complete nothingness where cities and homes and businesses once stood, only then will you begin to understand what has happened here.

Then you will begin to wonder, where are all the people who used to live on this beautiful shore? What has happened to their families and all of those shattered lives? That is when you will understand that the story of Katrina in South Mississippi isn't over, it has only begun.

On the third day after Katrina crushed us, this newspaper appealed to America: "Help us now," the headline implored. America answered with an outpouring of love and help. That response saved us then.

Our plea to newspapers and television and radio and Web sites across the land is no less important today: Please, tell our story. Hear the voice of our people and tell it far and wide.

We are here. Do not forsake us.

We are no footnote.

Katrina's toll in Mississippi

$125 billion Estimated dollar amount of damage caused by
Hurricane Katrina

231 Identified dead statewide

5 Unidentified dead

67 Missing

65,380 Houses in South Mississippi destroyed

383,700 Mississippi insurance claims filed
(Katrina and Rita)

$5 billion Claims paid (as of Nov. 21)

141,000 Insurance claims filed in South Mississippi

$1.3 billion Claims paid in South Mississippi

44 million Estimated cubic yards of debris in South Mississippi

21.8 million Cubic yards removed as of Dec. 5

20,447 Red Cross staff and volunteers in Mississippi

5,543,006 Red Cross meals served

42,768 People sheltered by Red Cross

229 Red Cross shelters opened

$185 million Red Cross money spent in South Mississippi as of Nov. 30

And one more thing...

Thank you. To every out-of-state volunteer, to every friend and family member who has sent supplies or prayers, we sincerely thank you.

And we ask that you do one more thing: Call your senators and your congressional representative and ask them to support additional aid for South Mississippi's recovery.

We couldn't have gotten off our knees without you. But we can't get back on our feet without federal help.

 

thanks for posting it.

i know it's true.

if i could do anything to help it- THAT- i would.

i understand to a sense the forgotten people but being that i have no car, etc.- i feel so helpless being that im enlightened enuf to understand and care

 

Balance, that's a lot of text... I might read it someday.

I say don't rebuild.

They are in a fucken valley. They're gonna rebuild and the same shit can happen in two years. Specially with all the climatic changes... I think they should build New Orleans on top of Mount Everest.

 

First things First , The Post isn't about New Orleans , it's about Mississippi & I guess when you guys have a major Natural Disaster hit in Canada...I don't know , like a terrible Earthquake , I guess I could say " Well , I'm Not Gonna Help ThOsE People , They Shouldn't Have Been Living In A Place Where That Happens !!"
The truth is , I'd Never say that & Natural Disasters happen Everywhere!!!

How 'bout You Just Read The Text , k

 

I wouldn't want to live there..... Of course, I wouldn't want live on the San Andreas Fault either....

 

We don't have much natural disasters in Canada. You'll u.s. take over Canada one for our own protection and to free us from ourselves...
Now, Mississippi, New Orleans, whatever - like the poster said, don't built on San Andreas... These places are at risk. Then the people in New Orleans are gonna say God 'tis a racis', God doesn't 'ike us nigs'... You know, if you build a sandcastle...make it with cement if you plan on having it there for a while...

 

uhh....... if we dont build in those places, where are all those people going to go?? the san andreas fault pretty much covers all of california, so you are saying everyone in california should leave and move somewhere else?? okay, then the people on the gulf coast should leave as well, because of the hurricanes, and pray tell anybody that builds around a volcano!! they shouldnt build there either..... what about any kind of floodland?? nope....... dont build next to a major river! better not build in tornado alley either, because a tornado may wipe out your whole town........ so what does that leave?? I mean, come on..... where is everyone going to live?? the population density in some places is crazy, and making them move somewhere else would make others suffer, because they are going to build somewhere other than new orleans.......

 

EXACTLY !!!!! Thanks , MadCrappie

 

Being a coonass myself, and having called New Orleans my home. You are a bunch of insensitive fucks who are ignoring the rich history, culture and magic of New Orleans. Rebuild and make better. It will take time, but damn, the New Orleans people are strong individuals and we won't let our culture be stomped down.

 

I don't really know... But many people I've spoken with have said they are not going back.. Perhaps it will be like Galveston? Be rebuilt, but never regain what it once had. I suppose that's good new for nearby area, such as Mobile, as business has to be rerouted elsewhere, can't just sit around and wait.. And no reason relocating again once they've become resettled. By the way, I think that last is why lots of people are in such a rush to rebuild.. I guess it's kinda get it done now or it'll never happen.

 

I would deifnitly consider moving back. I agree, it won't be the same, but I still feel it will be a wonderful city.

 

see and you know i love ya

but that is just why im afraid to voice what i believe

i say they take their culture and love it and celebrate it but else where

it could happen again

but yeah, that is why it sucks to have an opinion.. you get called insensitive

 

So you move the entire city somewhere else? Thats just not feasible.

When you move smaller groups of people, they assimilate and lose their culture.

I've moved around and I do bring my cajun ideals and pride everywhere, but there is nothing like going back to Baton Rouge or New Orleans and being in the smackdad of my coonnass roots. I love going to any resturaunt and having a choice of crawfish. I love hearing "Laisse le Bon Temps Roule" almost everywhere I go. I love seeing purple ang gold around me (LSU and Mardi Gras). I love hearing patois. I love that area. And there is no where else in the world like it. No where.

 

dude i hear ya
i really do

and i honestly dont have an answer for what should be done. that is why i made this thread...to hear opinions cause im not even sure what i think.

i just feel that being below sea level and that it could happen again... rebuilding could kill more people. i think if they do rebuild they would have to do a lot of work to make it safe.

 

I hear ya, it could happend again, thats why they should rebuild it with the proper levee systems in order.


But the point is, you never know what could happen.

The supervolcano in Yosemitie could blow tomorrow and wipe off pretty much all of civilization across the US.

You never know. But you can try and be prepared.

 

okay then i would be for rebuilding..

IF and only if the govey does it right which i dont count on.

 

well they also need to have better evacuation systems in place.


But, it will take a long time. And hopefully they will do it the best they can.

 

about this though imma pessimist

dont count on it

for real