I hope that everyone hasn't already forgotten New Orleans. Parts of the city are coming back, but when you go anywhere outside the bubble it is still unbelievable. Everything was moving fast in the beginning and progress was being made....but now that it is not the top news on CNN...it seems that there is No progress at all.
I read that article too. This article really angered me... that this is how opinions have changed over the last three months. the article is completely insensitive.
There is so much racial tension in the city right now...for which areas should be rebuilt. I don't really know what to think.... but I know that this article really angers me. How the city I love be treated like trash. It was not a hurricane that caused the disaster it was a buracratic disater that hit new orleans.
Hurricanes hit florida every year! and it get rebuilt every year!
30 billion is NOT too much to ask !!!!!.... maybe 90 billion is too much for tax breaks!!
and maybe its just my proximity to detroit, but i doubt that america much cares if another city dies. the idea of a shrinking city is a very difficult one for many people to fathom. it presents it own set of problems but actually dealing with those tends to be clouded by emotional considerations that, if anything, further limits intelligent solutions.
personally, i feel it would be much wiser to direct some of the federal efforts to other cities such as houston, baton rouge, etc who have had to struggle with the influx of people. some version of new orleans will eventually emerge, but like the old cliche "rome wasn't built in a day"
I think it's unacceptable to imagine that we are wavering at spending $32 billion on a new levee system for New Orleans when we've already thrown away $300 billion on the "war on terror" in Iraq. Hundreds of years of culture and 500,000 Americans apparently are less important than a bunch of people who hate us and who happen to live on vast oil fields.
this is kinda weird but i almost want to see it disappear - at least in theory. we have such a false sense of permanence. major cities have disappeared from the face of the earth before. from a clinical standpoint it would be interesting to see/live thru such a dramatic change. the shame is that it is new orleans. why not cleveland?
Major cities have also been made stonger and more modern. I don't want the city to be rebuilt how it was... I want this to be a chance to make new orleans a modern current city.
When I decided to come back after the evacuation....it was mainly out of interest in the huge new projects our firm got. It seemed like a chance to see huge projects that could have never been considered.
But after two months of fast paced work and studies.... now, it has come to a standstill....
I'm giving it a year and next hurricane season... if there are no levees still I guess I will have to leave.
New Orleans is like no other place, it has so much life and so much soul. You can't even begin to compare it to houston or baton rouge. I hope that the decision to give up such a wonderful city isn't left up to the complete idiot gwb.
three examples of how cities have rebuilt (themselves) from catastrophic loss. what is strikingly different between those cities back then and new orleans today, frankly, is the idea that somebody else (state/federal government) is responsible for footing the bill. and let's not single out new orleans -- new york's congressional delegation had their hands out, too, after 9/11. if a giant mudslide covered LA it would be the same. the attitude is everywhere.
the second article (the one that i mentioned) talks about NO's leaders and their absolute refusal to consider anything less than total rebuilding...and its effects on NO's ability to extract ANY funding for reconstruction.
the mayor needs to be a true leader (yes, at the expense of his local political career) and verbalize what we all know deep down: that bienville's engineer was right, the city is in a bad location, and some locations in that city are worse than others. and that reconstruction has to focus on making the city livable for the number of people who want to come back. frankly, many do not. and that it is folly to reconstruct areas that are susceptible to re-innundation until they're not susceptible. there has to be urban triage going on, and it appears that NO's leaders don't understand that.
for that matter, it's also irresponsible to reconstruct "suburbs" that replaced vital wetlands.
I think the problem here is people. From the top to the bottom, we aint what we used to be. The day after the Chicago fire people were actully building structures with scrap material and opening up for business. That was the attitude, and if debris fell on you and you died well tough shit.
On CNN they showed Anderson Cooper go up to guy fixing his house, had all the branches in a pile on the curb waiting for pick up, and had squeegeed the mud off the sidewalk. Cooper and a national gaurdsman told the man he had to leave and when the man became enraged and violent about how no one else is going to clean this up, Cooper gives his commentary about the crazed mental state of those who stayed.
This man was a last American. No one is going to give him a hand out check. No one came to fix the facia on his porch he was repairing. No one told him to pile the debris to await pick-up. He just did it. And for that, he was called crazy on national TV. The American public has watched billions of dollars being poured into every imaginable "relief" program and yet the city is still mired in mud, while the citizen with the shovel is told to lay down, we'll take care of you.
How did we get here? Are we really this incompentent? And not as a government, but as people - can we actually no longer function productively as a group or community without Anderson Cooper or some bureucrat tellling what to do next? Have we become European?
amen, ep. life isn't fair, things don't always go your way, and unfortunately you aren't always going to have your wrongs righted even if you "deserve" it. personally, i think it would be insane to live in a place like NO without having basic survival skills, what with the weather and all.
but i'd say there were a lot of people who showed how tough they are, how tough average americans are. what i found interesting is that people were moving to new towns and immediately restarting again, sometimes a little further down than even when they were in NO. there was an article about katrina refugees in austin and how many just decided, you know, this is what life dealt me and so i'm gonna deal with it right back. actually, quite a few people found, as it were, new leases on life.
the only bright spots in this whole fiasco were how ordinary citizens got together as churches, as communities and helped those who needed it. it showed that screw the government, we can help each other. that is the american spirit, and i think it's still very much around us. it's a big middle finger to those in government who think they're the sole solution to our problems -- and those in media who think they're the sole arbiters of what to think
of course i f--king hate cnn, fox news, etc so i never watch them
New Orleans should have a Mardi Gras this year.
The heart of the city French Quarter, Downtown, Uptown, St Charles, Magazine St. are all fine. Streetcars will also be running again.
If tourists come to see for themselves, they may realize how important it is to build back ALL of New Orleans. The heart of the city is made by the community that surrounds it. The people who actually live here are the one who help give the heart of the city its soul and life. Without the people who actually live here in the surrounding neiborhoods...the french quarter even undamaged from the storm seems to have lost something...
The levees HAVE to be built to Cat 5. Insurance companies have to start paying what they owe to residents. That is the only way.
given that it's already december and new orleans is soon to be last year's news, maybe we should start speculating on which american city will die in 2006.
i've read that some geologists believe seattle could be a modern day pompeii given its location near the mountains of the fiery pacific rim...or maybe the emerging energy crisis will begin to squeeze those AC-dependent desert burbs like las vegas or phoenix.
it's soo fun to think about next year. i think i'll put my money on the the long-overdue, mythic southern cal earthquake. i also like the jean nouvel for the pritzker. and while i'm at it i'll give the nod to vince young for the heisman...and the usa to win the world cup!
New Orleans cannot survive without major reconstruction of the levees.
While expensive, the cost is miniscule compared to what we spend to
fight the war in Iraq.
I am living in Florence, Italy, a city that cherishes its cultural
heritage. Over the centuries, Florence has had an immeasurable impact
on art, science, literature, political thought, music, architecture,
etc. It has created an industry of attacting people from all over the
world to learn about these contributions to world culture. It is also
a living city.
New Orleans, my hometown, also deserves to live. Living in Florence, I
can't help but think every single day about what New Orleans has
contributed to the world--music, literature, architecture, food. Its
culture, unique within the United States, delights and enriches people
the world over. It is a repository of our American history, the
glorious and the painful, holding clues to stories yet to be told.
America also holds an irreplaceable piece of the world's cultural
heritage. We cannot let it die from neglect and inattention. New
Orleanians, the people who create and re-create this culture daily,
deserve a safe city to live in.
Write to Congress and urge that New Orleans' levees be upgraded to
21st century standards, to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. Congress
needs to know that the survival of New Orleans is not just about one
city. It has worldwide significance.
I'm headed back home to New Orleans next thursday. I've been looking forward to finally getting home, but now that its happening, I'm a little scared. I mean, I know a lot has been rebuilt, and my dad keeps telling me that around his house in River Ridge, life is back to normal (with the exception of 9 hour waits at restaurants). I'm a little bugged that Mardi Gras is only going to be 6 days long this year, and I had to order a scooter, because the streetcars aren't going to be back up for a year (although, when they added new lines to the streetcar, that took a year too...but that was a New Orleans year, which equals 3 regular years...) I keep hearing conflicting stories from everyone back home, and I just don't know what to believe. I guess we'll see. I do agree with lexi though, that maybe now that we're forced to rebuild, perhaps the locals will let go of the idea that delapidation=character and at the very least allow old structures to be restored if not rebuilt. Maybe we'll finally lose our fear of new building?
I'm headed back home to New Orleans next thursday. I've been looking forward to finally getting home, but now that its happening, I'm a little scared. I mean, I know a lot has been rebuilt, and my dad keeps telling me that around his house in River Ridge, life is back to normal (with the exception of 9 hour waits at restaurants). I'm a little bugged that Mardi Gras is only going to be 6 days long this year, and I had to order a scooter, because the streetcars aren't going to be back up for a year (although, when they added new lines to the streetcar, that took a year too...but that was a New Orleans year, which equals 3 regular years...) I keep hearing conflicting stories from everyone back home, and I just don't know what to believe. I guess we'll see. I do agree with lexi though, that maybe now that we're forced to rebuild, perhaps the locals will let go of the idea that delapidation=character and at the very least allow old structures to be restored if not rebuilt. Maybe we'll finally lose our fear of new building?
i've never lived in NOLA although i've been there before. i love the city in a way i don't love most cities in the US (or almost ANY other city in the US except maybe austin). my favorite part, by the way, was carrollton and i have no idea why except that it wasn't the french quarter. it made me extremely sad when the hurricane+aftermath hit, it was all i could talk about for days. and as i mentioned, i don't even live there nor ever have i.
and yet: what i mentioned earlier, and what needs to be mentioned again, is that for ALL of NOLA to rebuilt is to thumb one's nose in the face of nature, gravity, and water. if you think about it, it's extremely anti-environmental. and sorry, there ARE racial dimensions to what was on high ground vs. low.
urban triage. urban triage. urban triage.
spare what can be spared, let go what needs to be let go. base ALL decisions on such on unemotional, racially-unconscious analyses of individual building safety and neighborhood danger. contract the city inward and concentrate on housing (as i mentioned) whoever WANTS to be there in the safest places possible. focus on creating JOBS for people (there, um, weren't too many of those pre-Katrina). maybe also try to reform the police dept, the schools, and city government. return a lot of the surroundings back to the wetlands they were.
accept that man shall never win the final victory over nature.
NOLA will not be what it once was. like a beloved grandmother long deceased, pre-Katrina NOLA is not coming back. focus on retaining what can safely be retained -- and rebuild anew. and remember what was. always remember what was.
you live in florence now and you should know that florence was flooded in 1966 up to 9 feet of water.
in some streets there are marble slabs just above window shops to show the height of the water in that street during the flood.
florence has buildings made of stone and no big damages occured to the buildings, but fine arts works were strongly damaged. then, it was only a matter of reconstruction of the interiors and restore businesses washed by the water/mud.
New Orleans should definately rebuild, in the widen context it was lucky
Tropical Storm “URING†(Thelma) to hit the Phillipines in November 1991
5,101 – 8,000 + deaths
Track: Maydolong, Eastern Samar; Tacloban City and Ormoc City, Leyte; Northern Cebu, Northern Negros Occidental specifically Escalante, Murcia, Bacolod City, Bago City and Pulupandan; Southern tip of Guimaras; just south of Cuyo Is.; Roxas in Northern Palawan.
URING was a weak tropical storm that moved quickly through Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Negros. But because of the heavy precipitation, rivers swelled and landslides came down in a deluge in the mid-morning of November 5 at the upper areas of Ormoc City in Leyte. The river bisecting the city burst its banks and overflowed, drowning the whole city in more than 10 feet of water laden with mud and debris. Thousands were caught flatfooted and perished. The storm then moved over Northern Cebu flooding more towns and cities.
When URING arrived at Northern Negros by early afternoon, it dumped heavy rain flooding Northern Negros, wiping out houses from their foundations along rivers in Bacolod City and Victorias while leaving others marooned in the fast rising waters of the rivers. A section of a historic bridge across Bago River was swept by raging torrents. Late that night URING unleashed landslides in the mountainous southern town of San Joaquin in Iloilo Province and as far as Calinog in Central Iloilo where large rivers destroyed bridges spanning across them, cutting off some towns from their neighbors for a few days. Almost lunchtime of November 6, the storm crossed Northern Palawan through Roxas. The storm further weakened as it exited to the South China Sea at early evening.
Ormoc City and Northern Negros Occidental were scenes of devastation as the floods receded. Almost a quarter of Ormoc’s population drowned and their bloated bodies were littered everywhere in the city while other fatalities were numerously floating at Ormoc Bay and Camotes Sea being feasted by sharks and other fishes. Many journalists and eyewitnesses described Ormoc City as…
“…a scene from the Holocaust where dead bodies were stacked upon each other like logs or garbageâ€.
Even those watching from television footages could not help but gag, retch, get misty-eyed or even weep quietly for everything was…†truly sickening with the stench of death everywhere.â€
Due to the overwhelming number of dead bodies everywhere, there was a shortage of coffins, so authorities opted to collect the dead through dump trucks and buried in mass graves. It was considered the deadliest natural disaster of the country.
Most of my mornings begin when I awake and recall a night full of anxious flood dreams.
The last dream (earlier this week) actually was set in the Hartell Gallery where I presented my thesis project. I was building a barrier around myself that was made of copper sheets and clothing. As I heard the water in the distance coming closer and glanced down at my construction I realized I was not going to pass my thesis semester.
THE OCEAN, and other bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico, are much more voluminous and powerful than coastlines can challenge. Put New Orleans on the scrap heap of history, before my generation dies I predict a new kind of Hurricane, a Category 7...or, if you will, THE FIRST OF THE BIG ONES. After that it won't matter if we spend all the money and construction material in the world to make a super-levee, that many billions of metric tons of water will WIN. GAME OVER.
Ian McHarg, once said, " There is no such thing as a natural disaster,
it is man getting in the way of nature." We once again see this happening in New Orleans. If you look to the whole Mississippi River
Basin you will see a history of flooding. One of these years we should learn when we put ourselves in harms way, harm will come, maybe not today but some day. Buildings can be replaced lives can not. Sentimental thought takes hold after such a disaster look at all of our disasters....yet we rebuild in definace of nature.
Many high tech flood control systems around the world are a result of flooding disasters. The Japanese have superlevees. In London there is a 5 storey movable floodwall. The Venetians have huge floodgates which rise up from the sea floor to block tidal surges.
Holland would not exist without its levees and super floodwalls that swing to block flooding..
It is rediculous to even think of not rebuilding a major city like New Orleans. ...then all major cities close to various natural disasters should all perish?? If the levees do not get rebuilt into high tech super levees like others around major cities all over the world.. it would be just to pathetic.
If americans feel this way about their cities... then what would be the use fo moving to another city? should we all seriously think of moving out of this country??
I really hope no other disaters happen in other u.s. cities in the next few years ...it's too dangerous as long as gwb represents how americans feel.
the dutch tend to build the levees before the development, which is quite different from the case in new orleans. also, the north sea (right sea?) is to my limited knowledge far, far less susceptible to the kind of surge that topped the levees in NOLA.
the problem -- as illustrated in the article i had linked -- is that in the wake of the storm (pun certainly not intended) new orleans' leadership has not done a good job of coordinating a reasoned, step-by-step set of proposals for rebuilding the city in stages. i dunno, i'm an architect and i could have provided a vision for all this. frankly, what it takes is for a leader to arise and tell all the competing voices to shut up and work together. i know it's ever so incorrect to praise republicans in this board, but rudy giuliani was unquestionably leading NY after 9/11. ray nagin has probably already sealed his fate next year.
Ray Nagin was a Republican right up until he decided to run for mayor. He only switched parties to get elected, since NOLA is solidly Democratic.
I am starting to totally think that if NOLA was not a majority black Democrat city, we would not even be having this debate about "whether" to rebuild. My mother's side of the family is from there and my aunt is in Florida with family, she's 75 years old, has congestive heart failure, is chomping at the bit to go home-the only city she has lived in, and just rebuild the house-she's checked it out, it's salvageable, the insurance people are actually being reasonable with her. But she needs a place to stay while the repair takes place, so FEMA promised her a trailer, and she said great. That was *months* ago. She's still waiting. Sometimes I think they are waiting for her to give up on coming back. Or just die. Same with a lot of New Orleanians. I get more suspicious about this when only days after it happened, people were talking about people from New Orleans "settling into their new homes" They shouldn't have to relocate to Houston or Chicago or Atlanta permanently. What is so wrong with just rebuilding the city and giving them a stipend to head back? There are jobs there now-hell, Burger King is giving a 6K signing bonus! At this point, I could care less about building a better city-just rebuild it somehow, get the levees up, and give people the chance to go back to their home.
If the city remains dispersed, then the Republicans have control of Louisiana for a very long time. This really was "the perfect storm" for them.
Mississippi which got the direct hit from Katrina seems to be moving forward so much faster than New Orleans. It is mainly because of billions being spent by casinos to build grand casino resorts there. After Katrina, land based casinos are allowed.
I agree that American's have become fat and lazy and always looking for a handout. Where is our sense of individualism that built all our great cities? Not to pick on New Orleans but, as stated above, all cities and states would do it, ask for a handout.....but I don't think it's up to the Fed to keep New Orleans from dying. That should be up to the people of new Orleans...but reading this thread I just see complaining. Moaning about what we are spending in Iraq or the supposed cost of a tax cut.
The only reason that city might die is because of the residents and leadership of that city. Face it, most former residents don't want to return. Know a couple of those people myself. That story has been highlighted on news shows for months now. My displaced friends got new jobs, higher paying new jobs, etc...I don't blame them for not having much desire to move back. I'm sure there are thousands of stories like that.
Those that did return only want hand-outs it seems. Sounds to me like a lot of problems adjusting to a new smaller city.
Leadership is a joke in that state. Everyone is aware of the history of curruption there. Frankly, I'm not surprised there isn't much of a plan. Now I read that it's a republican conspiracy to kill the city. C'mon. I'm with puddles, nobody is crying that Detroit is dying...lost more population than New Orleans had pre-Katrina. Wonder where their federal billions are?
A Pick up your things and move to another city today... better yet leave your entire life and everything you own ... and leave town right now... this moment. no planning for a new job, forget your resume', portfolio, your existing house payments...
do you love the city you live in? do you have a life there?
During the evacuation the 2 months after the hurricane I was homesick. I rewrote my resume' and got 2 offers for jobs in other cities where I know no one.
I decided stay with firm and friends and New Orleans.
Asking Congress to rebuild a flood protection system is not a handout! This is the only thing preventing residents from reconstruction their own property at this point.
Entergy our crucial utility is bankrupt... and will charge resident 140% rate increases is not aski9ng for any more handouts that what NY got after 9/11.
$95 billion in tax cuts that immediately passed in congress is really a handout...
well, i do have to admit -- if i had a choice on how to spend $95 billion i would choose new orleans over tax cuts or iraq.
i think the issue is not whether to rebuild -- it's how much. just because new orleans isn't rebuilt out to its 2004 level doesn't mean it's dead. it's changed, yes, but then such is the nature of cities -- and new orleans changed to get to where it was in 2004 anyway.
something i find interesting is that another of my favorite parts of NOLA, algiers, is of course on the other side of the mississippi and had no damage whatsoever save power outages. but the federal government was forcing people to leave anyway. because it was in orleans parish.
in the end, a lot of people won't return. like in the 1920s, when new orleanians moved to chicago, detroit, and other northern cities after the floods. but those who do -- will love their city all the more, and my hope is that some of its endemic, intractable problems might become less endemic and intractable.
$95 billion in tax cuts isn't a hand out when it's already your money. If you are a tax payer, that isn't the government's money...it's yours. We can argue who gets the major benefit of a tax cut elsewhere, but the simple fact is you paid in, thus getting back isn't a hand-out.
I'm not against building proper flood protection. By all means any city in a location like New Orleans needs a good system in place. In many ways I think NOLA is unique compared to places like Venice and the Netherlands, thus rendering their systems less effective here than there. None the less, Americans have always innovated in the past and I think we have the ability to do so today.
My problem is that I think any money spent - federal, state, private - needs to be spent wisely. We need to ask questions about where the best places to live might be. I think it's without argument that the city is going to be smaller in both the short and long term. The city must come to terms with this and save what's worth saving and let go of what isn't. That second NYT article was very well written and should be taken to task down there.
Simple case study would be Grand Forks, ND from their flood of 1997. Parts of the city that were low lying near the river have been abandoned and turned into park. The levies were moved back behind that part of the city. So in New Orleans, if the 9th ward is low, let it become park, or wetland, but don't save the homes. They will only become the easiest fodder for the next storm.
I have sympathy for anyone stuck in the mess down there. It's not as easy as just moving to a different city, I'll grant you that. My friends who left moved where they had other old college friends, but still came with very little. Nor would I ask anyone to abandon their hometown. I just think that for most, at least in the short term, that has become the best option...and that shouldn't be blamed on congress or the rest of the american public.
Well this a touchy little topic now, isn't it... mostly I feel like I'm on the Noam Chomsky for President blog.
Although I realize that N.O. was built there before any of us -- had we been smart enough -- could have advised against it, we are all now faced with some hard choices. One choice is to simply rebuild behind an bigger federally funded flood wall. But few would argue that this is much of a sustainable solution for the future. The simple problem is money. The federal government can't continue to subsidize every lifestyle choice. Is it fair for me to establish my family home on a volcano, then demand federal help when it blows? I currently live -- by choice -- where there are tornadoes...should the Federal government rebuild my house if it gets blown down? Lexi is already making the kind of comparisons that inevitably follow when the Fed bails out one group, but not another. Hey, the helped the 9-11 folks, so now where's OUR help? Soon everyone has their own causes and demands which are then all laid at the feet of the federal government, who better damn well pay for them or they're just a bunch of neo-Hitlers. The Constitution guarantees no such benefits -- such projects were never intended as duties of the Federal government. I agree with A in that very little remains in the American mindset in the way of self-reliance.
So Lexi, A Federally-funded flood wall / total city rebuild IS a handout. Tax breaks are NOT handouts. Tax breaks are just the government taking YOUR money at a slightly slower rate.
i am not there(instead spent the semeter at UPenn) so i really don't have much of an explaination of the projects/proposals but thought you guys might be interested...
it will not be long before new orleans is part of the gulf. i think we should build a giant geodesic fishbowl around it so fututre generations of fish-people have a museum to visit.
Rim Joist,
No one is asking for the federal government to rebuild their houses or personal property.
But all levves, dams, and other protection systems have always been federally funded.
Most of the residents have insurance. The insurance companies are hesitant to pay people because the levees may not be rebuilt. People are hesitant to come back since there is no action being taken at the broken levees.
the parts of new orleans that remain unflooded this time may be flooded next time because the other levees and flood walls may also be weakened.
The lower 9th ward is not the only area devestated by the flood. many neighborhoods with multimillion $ homes were also destroyed.. NO east, Lakeview, midtown... most of New Orleans' residential areas.
a smaller tourist boutique town is not something that people who own houses want to hear. where would people live? in the french quarter, in the office tower in the CBD? I could... but most people with families prefer neiborhoods, yards, schools etc.
half of the people at our firm own houses that had water...it is not so easy as just telling them to move...
- people still have to pay for their house, flooded or not. this month many have three mortgage payments to pay at once.
- many are not getting cooperation with insurance companies to pay to repair their house before selling it to move somewhere else.
those who came back to new orleans are not lazy at all ... we want desperately to rebuild, to work on new architecture project, to reinvent this city.... but not until the current standing levees and the broken levees are safe. The money that is need from congress is 32 billion for reconstruction of an adequate flood prevetion system.
this is why it has come to a standstill.
This christmas people still are not home and still cannot move to a new home.
A good friend of mine visited New Orleans years before I did. Before I went I asked him about the place. Before he said anything good about the food, or culture, or architecture, he said - It's an un-natural place. I looked down the street and saw a boat passing by....above my head!
When I visited years later I couldn't get out of my head the potential for disaster in that city. So long as the city exists that potential will always be, no matter how much you throw at it. I'm just very skeptical that $32B will fix the problems.
Lexi - I assume you would like to see New orleans rebuilt to its pre-Katrina size. If that is indeed what you desire I just question how $32 billion and some new flood control systems will do it. The easy answer is abandon the city. Since you don't like that idea, what is your suggestion for fixing the city...aside from the $32b?
If money wasn't an issue what would your grand scheme be? I'm interested to hear it from someone who obviously loves their city. I love my city and have a million ideas for change and we've had no disaster. This could make a very interesting design charette.
taper off the oil production. all of the oil drilling in the gulf coast has caused much of the wetlands to sink. every 10 miles of coastal wetlands absorbes 10' of flood surge. A movable flood wall could be placed at lake pontchatrain such as the one in the netherlands. this would take some strain off the levees. engineers should start looking at different options.
I would like to see one of our major hospital campus be totally rebuilt. (this is in master planning right now)
I would like to see the charm of new orleans' historical buildings alongside totally modern new architecture.
Green architecture is something that is actually being discussed with our client now... when we never had the chance before. The superdome should be a total renovation now that the saints are coming back.
the neighborhoods should never be build back as they once were. there could be mixed-use residency. houses at fair market value. the housing projects and ghettos remain totally deserted.. and I do not feel that poor blacks should ever have to be trapped in circumstances like that again in New Orleans.
I support the idea of bringing a casino district to downtown new orleans.
I think New Orleans East could be a great area for a golf resort.
uptown and the garden district will come back on it's own. The schools need federal help to be reopened. this will also bring residents as well as buisnesses to new orleans.
Besides tourism, NOLA needs to attract fortune 500 companies to be a real city. schools are crucial for this. communications is key for this. Now for the first time NOLA is a wireless city. The highways leading into the city must be repaired (I-10 twin span). The airport should be rebuilt into a modern airport like the hong kong airport. also crucial is to get the port of new orleans up and running.
I would like to see the arts district bring int more innovative art. All the galleries opening since the storm have had much better art and paintings than before it seems!
I think this should be the chance architects and engineers have been waiting for to come up with solutions....
people here are emotionally up and down... because it is much more personal to talk about your close friend's neiborhood being turned into a park.
i heard one environmentalist say that without buidling a proper flood wall/system, nothing should be rebuilt. it's just throwing good money at a bad situation. these storms over the last decade have become more and more violent. what happens next year? this will be an even sadder situation, if it does not get dealt with properly.
Yesterday the Urban Land Institute (hired by Mayor Ray Nagin's recovery comission) released the draft of their recomended plan for the city. Haven't got through it completely but the recommendations are based on solid well-reasoned examoination of the situation.
As far as how to fund the recovery, I would bring up two issues.
First, there is a big differnece between asking the feds to foot the bill to rebuild the city and asking the feds to build adequate levee/wetland protection, it is afterall their making and responsibilty. However, if the feds won't do it, let Louisiana do it. How? By allowing us to keep %100 of our oil and gas royalties . Currently we get around %10. Texas gets %100. Why? History. Texas was annexed as a Republic able to nogotaite with the U.S. while Louisiana was purchased. Let us keep what is ours and we can do it ourselves.
Second, to help rebuild the city, please support HB 4100 which would establish the Louisiana ecovery Corporation. Here's the info:
Louisiana Recovery Corporation
H.R. 4100 Revised Language
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Legislation by Louisiana Congressman Richard Baker to offer financial stability to property owners and to facilitate community rebuilding
Why it’s needed
Following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, tens of thousands of property owners in Louisiana face fear and uncertainty about whether they can or should rebuild. For those with mortgages, beginning about December 1st, the 90-day forbearance period most banks granted borrowers before requiring loan payments again will give out, creating additional financial stress. Those who own their property outright also confront realities that insurance and other payments will be insufficient to rebuild, as well as uncertainty over what rights they will retain should their property be condemned.
All seek answers and assurance about what to do. Assisting them will require significant resources, while at present no system is in place to help.
How the Louisiana Recovery Corporation (LRC) will help
On a purely voluntary basis, the LRC will purchase the property from willing sellers, who will receive compensation on their equity, and, if they have one, have their entire loan obligation settled so that they have financial stability to be better able to plan for the future. Moreover, sellers will be provided options for how to rebuild in or return to the neighborhood they call home.
The LRC would then pay for the reconditioning of land and provide the infrastructure improvements necessary for it to be redeveloped, and facilitate the rebuilding of communities by contracts granted through a competitive bidding process.
Who does it help
Whether you live in Lakeview or the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly or New Orleans East, St. Bernard or St. Tammany parishes, whether you own your home or have a mortgage, the LRC will help set you on your feet again financially as well as offer you the opportunity to be part of your neighborhood again. Protections, options, and opportunities include:
The legislation will state clearly that the LRC shall have no powers of “eminent domain.â€
For a property owner, if you do not want to talk to the LRC, don’t – nothing will happen to you.
If you want to sell your property to the LRC, you may.
If you wish to retain a special option, or “first right of refusal,†to repurchase in your neighborhood, you will have it.
If you want to be a partner with the LRC in the rebuilding of your property, that’s an option, too.
All options are determined by the property owner, not the LRC.
The master plan for how communities are to be rebuilt will be developed through the guidance of state and local officials and the residents themselves, not by the LRC.
How redevelopment will work
Working in concert with state and local officials, the LRC will establish a competitive bidding process that will place a premium on proposals incorporating: (1) use of local suppliers and contractors, and job creation for Louisiana workers, (2) a community-based collaborative planning process, (3) effective land use management, including mixed-use development and historic preservation, (4) commitment of leveraging all pertinent resources and programs to enable broad homeownership opportunity, and (5) commitment of private capital.
The LRC as implementer of Louisiana’s plans
While the LRC itself contains a strong emphasis on urban planning in its structure and its redevelopment process, it is specifically designed not to compete with the urban planning teams assembled by state and local leaders or to make plans itself, but, just the opposite; its purpose will be to use the consensus vision created by state and local planners as a blueprint to pursue a plan crafted by Louisianians themselves. In the end, however, there will still need to be a way by which we bring those plans into reality, and the LRC, then, would serve as a essential funding and implementation mechanism to keep the collaborative process moving forward and make feasible our goals not only to rebuild, but to “rebuild better.â€
Funding for LRC responsive to taxpayers
Accomplishing its mission will require the LRC to bring to bear significant investment in Louisiana. However, once enacted into law, the LRC will require no subsequent Congressional appropriations. Instead, the LRC will be funded by bonds of the U.S. Treasury, issued at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Through the sale of property for redevelopment, the LRC would then utilize the proceeds of private investment toward paying back the bonds.
At present, no other recovery plan exists for channeling the tremendous amount of investment that will be needed to address the issues of destroyed property and community rebuilding. More importantly, no other plan exists that would provide such a level of fiscal accountability and responsibility, through a structure that would go some way toward paying for itself, repaying the American taxpayer, and requiring no “match†from the taxpayers of Louisiana.
How the LRC will be structured
The LRC will establish its headquarters in Louisiana and exist for a ten-year period. It will be governed by a seven-member board of pertinent background and expertise appointed by the President, two of whom will be nominated by recommendation of the Governor of Louisiana.
What you can do
To view the legislation, visit Congressman Baker’s website at www.baker.house.gov -- and if you have questions, suggestions, or wish to express your support for the plan, please contact the Congressman’s office at 225-929-7711 or 202-225-3901. Because time is of the essence, Congressman Baker plans to begin moving the bill through the legislative process quickly with action in the House Financial Services Committee, of which he is a senior member and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.
In the poor areas like the 9th ward. The state could help by raising houses that are salvageable to above 8'or flood level. Then the people who want to come back should be taught how to put together their houses.
there could be workshops and town meetings to discuss the architecture and construction of these historical shotgun houses.
A large building in one area of neighborhood would be a place to make doors, windows, get siding other materials. In this workshop, the older people could teach the younger generation how to make parts of the homes. all of the supplies would be ordered in bulk. It would really benefit the community..and give people who want to return a way to rebuild and at the same time keeping the integrity of the historical shotgun New Orleans style homes.
There really needs to be a way to save the poor people. It is not fair to trap people in ghettos and the projects. All the looting and bad crime that followed the hurricane...was so desperate...
throughout history...when situations get so bad that people don't know what to do anymore... all they can do is start rioting..
I drove past one of the worst housing projects yesterday on my way to a furniture store... and it was totally deserted. Not any of them wanted to return.
It is really clear that the only people who are here in New Orleans now are people who have jobs and careers.
how do you save people who have had a generation and their culture taken from them ??
death of an american city
I hope that everyone hasn't already forgotten New Orleans. Parts of the city are coming back, but when you go anywhere outside the bubble it is still unbelievable. Everything was moving fast in the beginning and progress was being made....but now that it is not the top news on CNN...it seems that there is No progress at all.
This article in NY times is sad.
death of an american city
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/opinion/11sun1.html
this was in the same issue (yesterday's)...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/weekinreview/11levy.html
comes at the issue just a little differently...
I read that article too. This article really angered me... that this is how opinions have changed over the last three months. the article is completely insensitive.
There is so much racial tension in the city right now...for which areas should be rebuilt. I don't really know what to think.... but I know that this article really angers me. How the city I love be treated like trash. It was not a hurricane that caused the disaster it was a buracratic disater that hit new orleans.
Hurricanes hit florida every year! and it get rebuilt every year!
30 billion is NOT too much to ask !!!!!.... maybe 90 billion is too much for tax breaks!!
like i said before, new orleans is over.
and maybe its just my proximity to detroit, but i doubt that america much cares if another city dies. the idea of a shrinking city is a very difficult one for many people to fathom. it presents it own set of problems but actually dealing with those tends to be clouded by emotional considerations that, if anything, further limits intelligent solutions.
personally, i feel it would be much wiser to direct some of the federal efforts to other cities such as houston, baton rouge, etc who have had to struggle with the influx of people. some version of new orleans will eventually emerge, but like the old cliche "rome wasn't built in a day"
I think it's unacceptable to imagine that we are wavering at spending $32 billion on a new levee system for New Orleans when we've already thrown away $300 billion on the "war on terror" in Iraq. Hundreds of years of culture and 500,000 Americans apparently are less important than a bunch of people who hate us and who happen to live on vast oil fields.
Our government is less than worthless....
this whole hurricane has been so bizarre.. one day your planning a long weekend... and the next your whole life changes..
this is kinda weird but i almost want to see it disappear - at least in theory. we have such a false sense of permanence. major cities have disappeared from the face of the earth before. from a clinical standpoint it would be interesting to see/live thru such a dramatic change. the shame is that it is new orleans. why not cleveland?
Major cities have also been made stonger and more modern. I don't want the city to be rebuilt how it was... I want this to be a chance to make new orleans a modern current city.
When I decided to come back after the evacuation....it was mainly out of interest in the huge new projects our firm got. It seemed like a chance to see huge projects that could have never been considered.
But after two months of fast paced work and studies.... now, it has come to a standstill....
I'm giving it a year and next hurricane season... if there are no levees still I guess I will have to leave.
New Orleans is like no other place, it has so much life and so much soul. You can't even begin to compare it to houston or baton rouge. I hope that the decision to give up such a wonderful city isn't left up to the complete idiot gwb.
chicago 1871
galveston 1900
http://www.1900storm.com/rebuilding/index.lasso
san francisco 1906
three examples of how cities have rebuilt (themselves) from catastrophic loss. what is strikingly different between those cities back then and new orleans today, frankly, is the idea that somebody else (state/federal government) is responsible for footing the bill. and let's not single out new orleans -- new york's congressional delegation had their hands out, too, after 9/11. if a giant mudslide covered LA it would be the same. the attitude is everywhere.
the second article (the one that i mentioned) talks about NO's leaders and their absolute refusal to consider anything less than total rebuilding...and its effects on NO's ability to extract ANY funding for reconstruction.
the mayor needs to be a true leader (yes, at the expense of his local political career) and verbalize what we all know deep down: that bienville's engineer was right, the city is in a bad location, and some locations in that city are worse than others. and that reconstruction has to focus on making the city livable for the number of people who want to come back. frankly, many do not. and that it is folly to reconstruct areas that are susceptible to re-innundation until they're not susceptible. there has to be urban triage going on, and it appears that NO's leaders don't understand that.
for that matter, it's also irresponsible to reconstruct "suburbs" that replaced vital wetlands.
man vs. nature...the road to defeat.
I think the problem here is people. From the top to the bottom, we aint what we used to be. The day after the Chicago fire people were actully building structures with scrap material and opening up for business. That was the attitude, and if debris fell on you and you died well tough shit.
On CNN they showed Anderson Cooper go up to guy fixing his house, had all the branches in a pile on the curb waiting for pick up, and had squeegeed the mud off the sidewalk. Cooper and a national gaurdsman told the man he had to leave and when the man became enraged and violent about how no one else is going to clean this up, Cooper gives his commentary about the crazed mental state of those who stayed.
This man was a last American. No one is going to give him a hand out check. No one came to fix the facia on his porch he was repairing. No one told him to pile the debris to await pick-up. He just did it. And for that, he was called crazy on national TV. The American public has watched billions of dollars being poured into every imaginable "relief" program and yet the city is still mired in mud, while the citizen with the shovel is told to lay down, we'll take care of you.
How did we get here? Are we really this incompentent? And not as a government, but as people - can we actually no longer function productively as a group or community without Anderson Cooper or some bureucrat tellling what to do next? Have we become European?
amen, ep. life isn't fair, things don't always go your way, and unfortunately you aren't always going to have your wrongs righted even if you "deserve" it. personally, i think it would be insane to live in a place like NO without having basic survival skills, what with the weather and all.
but i'd say there were a lot of people who showed how tough they are, how tough average americans are. what i found interesting is that people were moving to new towns and immediately restarting again, sometimes a little further down than even when they were in NO. there was an article about katrina refugees in austin and how many just decided, you know, this is what life dealt me and so i'm gonna deal with it right back. actually, quite a few people found, as it were, new leases on life.
the only bright spots in this whole fiasco were how ordinary citizens got together as churches, as communities and helped those who needed it. it showed that screw the government, we can help each other. that is the american spirit, and i think it's still very much around us. it's a big middle finger to those in government who think they're the sole solution to our problems -- and those in media who think they're the sole arbiters of what to think
of course i f--king hate cnn, fox news, etc so i never watch them
caffinejunkie has gone there to work with FEMA
doesn't america collect dead cities?
New Orleans should have a Mardi Gras this year.
The heart of the city French Quarter, Downtown, Uptown, St Charles, Magazine St. are all fine. Streetcars will also be running again.
If tourists come to see for themselves, they may realize how important it is to build back ALL of New Orleans. The heart of the city is made by the community that surrounds it. The people who actually live here are the one who help give the heart of the city its soul and life. Without the people who actually live here in the surrounding neiborhoods...the french quarter even undamaged from the storm seems to have lost something...
The levees HAVE to be built to Cat 5. Insurance companies have to start paying what they owe to residents. That is the only way.
given that it's already december and new orleans is soon to be last year's news, maybe we should start speculating on which american city will die in 2006.
i've read that some geologists believe seattle could be a modern day pompeii given its location near the mountains of the fiery pacific rim...or maybe the emerging energy crisis will begin to squeeze those AC-dependent desert burbs like las vegas or phoenix.
it's soo fun to think about next year. i think i'll put my money on the the long-overdue, mythic southern cal earthquake. i also like the jean nouvel for the pritzker. and while i'm at it i'll give the nod to vince young for the heisman...and the usa to win the world cup!
French Quarter, CBD, Marigny
Adolfo’s. 611 Frenchmen. 390-0095. Italian.
The Alpine. 620 Chartres. 523-3005. Creole.
»Arnaud’s. 813 Bienville. 523-5433. Classic Creole.
Attikio. 230 Decatur. 587-3756. Mediterranean.
»Bacco. 310 Chartres. 522-2426. Italian.
»Bayona. 430 Dauphine. 525-4455. Eclectic.
»Begue’s. 300 Bourbon. 553-2278. Contemporary Creole.
»Bennachin. 1212 Royal. 522-1230. African.
»Bombay Club. 830 Conti. 586-0972. Contemporary Creole.
»Bourbon House. 144 Bourbon. 522-0111. Seafood.
Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Company. 429 Decatur. 522-5800. Seafood.
»Cafe Adelaide. Loews Hotel, 300 Poydras. 595-3305. Contemporary Creole.
Cafe Amelie. 912 Royal Street. 412-8965. Neighborhood cafe.
Cafe Beignet. 311 Bourbon. 525-2611. Sandwiches.
»Cafe du Monde. 800 Decatur. 525-4544. Coffee.
»Cafe Giovanni. 117 Decatur. 529-2154. Italian.
Cafe Gumbolaya. 1000 N Peters. 523-7418. Creole. Seafood. Steak.
Cafe Pontalba. 546 St. Peter. 522-1180. Creole.
»Cafe Reconcile. 1631 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. 568-1157. Creole. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Central Grocery. 923 Decatur. 523-1620. Sandwiches.
Chartres House Cafe. 601 Chartres. 586-8383. Creole.
»Coffee Pot. 714 St. Peter. 524-3500. Creole.
Coop’s Place. 1109 Decatur. 525-9053. Creole. Cajun.
»Court of Two Sisters. 613 Royal. 522-7273. Classic Creole.
»Crescent City Brewhouse. 527 Decatur. 522-0571. Brewpub. Seafood. (11/29)
Crystal Room. Le Pavillon Hotel, 901 Poydras. 581-3111. Creole.
»Cuvee. 322 Magazine. 587-9001. American.
Desire Oyster Bar. 300 Bourbon. 586-0300. Seafood
Ditcharo's. 640 Carondelet. 529-7102. Sandwiches. Neighborhood Cafe.
Embers Steak House. 700 Bourbon. 523-1485. Steak. Seafood. Creole.
»Emeril’s. 800 Tchoupitoulas. 528-9393. Contemporary Creole.
Ernst Cafe. 600 S Peters. 525-8544. Seafood. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Fire. 1377 Annunciation. 566-1950. Contemporary Creole.
Frank's. 933 Decatur. 525-1602. Italian. Sandwiches.
French Market Restaurant. 1001 Decatur. 525-7879. Seafood. Creole.
»Gumbo Shop. 630 St. Peter. 525-1486. Classic Creole.
»Henri. J.W. Marriott Hotel, 614 Canal. 527-6712. Creole. Breakfast.
»Herbsaint. 701 St. Charles Ave. 524-4114. French.
»Hillery’s. 827½ Toulouse. 571-2888. Contemporary Creole.
Huey's Downtown Diner. 200 Magazine. 598-4839. Sandwiches. Breakfast.
Inter-Continental Hotel's restaurants. 444 St. Charles Ave. 525-5566.
»Irene’s Cuisine. 539 St. Philip. 529-8811. Italian.
Italian Pie. 417 S. Rampart. 522-7552. Pizza. Sandwiches. Pasta.
Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Cafe. 1104 Decatur. 592-2565. Bar. American.
»Johnny’s Po-Boys. 511 St. Louis. 524-8129. Sandwiches.
Kabby’s Sports Edition. New Orleans Hilton. 584-3880. Sandwiches. Salads.
»K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. 416 Chartres. 524-7394. Cajun.
»La Cote Brasserie. 700 Tchoupitoulas. 613-2350. French.
La Louisiane. 725 Iberville. 378-8200 . Creole.
»Le Citron Bistro. 601 Orange. 566-9051. Creole. Sandwiches.
»Liborio. 321 Magazine. 581-9680. Cuban. Mexican.
»Louisiana Bistro. 337 Dauphine. 525-3335. Contemporary Creole.
Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. 95 French Market Place. 522-9500. Pizza. Pasta.
Lucy’s Retired Surfer Cafe. 701 Tchoupitoulas. 523-8995. Mexican.
»Marigny Brasserie. 640 Frenchmen. 945-4472. Contemporary Creole.
Mena’s Palace. 200 Chartres. 525-0217. Neighborhood Cafe. Creole.
Meauxbar. 942 N. Rampart. 569-9979. Eclectic.
Mike Serio’s Deli. 133 St. Charles Ave. 523-2668. Sandwiches.
Mimi's In The Marigny. 2601 Royal. 942-0690. Tapas.
Mona Lisa. 1212 Royal. 522-6746. Pizza. Middle Eastern.
»Mona's Cafe. 504 Frenchmen. 949-4115. Middle Eastern.
»Mother’s. 401 Poydras. 523-9656. Sandwiches.
»Muriel's. 801 Chartres. 568-1885. Contemporary Creole.
»Napoleon House. 500 Chartres. 524-9752. Sandwiches.
Obee's. 920 Gravier. 589-0077. Sandwiches. Soups. Salads.
»Ohi'a. 2 Lee Circle (in Hotel Le Cirque). 528-2203. Asian. Tapas.
Orleans Grapevine. 720 Orleans Avenue. 523-1930. Wine Bar. Creole.
Original Pierre Maspero's. 440 Chartres. 524-8990. Sandwiches. Creole. Cajun.
Paillard's. 717 Orleans (Bourbon Orleans Hotel).. 571-4600. Creole. Breakfast.
»Panasia. 500 St. Charles Ave. 299-8004. Thai.
»Peristyle. 1041 Dumaine. 593-9535. Contemporary Creole
»Philip Chang's Asian-Cajun Bistro. 391 Decatur. 522-4964. Chinese. Fusion.
»Port of Call. 838 Esplanade. 523-0120. Hamburgers.
»Praline Connection. 542 Frenchmen. 943-3934. Creole. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Red Fish Grill. 115 Bourbon. 598-1200. Seafood.
Remoulade. 309 Bourbon. 523-0377. Creole.
»Restaurant August. 301 Tchoupitoulas. 299-9777. French. Eclectic.
»Rib Room. 621 St. Louis. 529-7045. Contemporary Creole.
»RioMar. 800 S. Peters. 525-3474. Spanish.
Samurai. 239 Decatur. 525-9595. Japanese. Sushi Bar.
Schiro's Community Cafe. 2483 Royal. 945-4425. Neighborhood Cafe.
Singha Thai. 413 Carondelet. 581-2205. Thai.
Snug Harbor. 626 Frenchmen. 949-0696. Seafood. Sandwiches.
Star Steak & Lobster. 237 Decatur. 525-6151. Steak.
»Stanley. 1031 Decatur. 415-4963. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Sukho Thai. 1913 Royal. 948-9309. Thai.
»Sun Ray Grill. 1051 Annunciation. 566-0021. Fusion.
Tchoup-n-Joe's. 870 Tchoupitoulas. 581-2858. Sandwiches. Seafood.
»Tommy’s. 746 Tchoupitoulas. 581-1103. Creole Italian.
»Tony Moran’s. 240 Bourbon. 523-3181. Creole Italian.
Tortorici’s. 441 Royal. 522-4295. Creole Italian.
»Tujague’s. 823 Decatur. 525-8676. Classic Creole.
»Ugly Dog Saloon. 401 Howard Ave. 569-8459. Barbecue.
»Wasabi. 900 Frenchmen. 943-9433. Japanese. Sushi.
»Windsor Court Grill Room. 300 Gravier. 522-1994. Eclectic.
Wolfe's Warehouse District. 859 Convention Center Blvd. 613-2882. Contemporary Creole.
»Zea. 1525 St. Charles Ave. 520-8100. Rotisserie. Eclectic.
Zoe. In the W Hotel, 333 Poydras Street. 207-5018. Contemporary Creole.
»Zydeque. 808 Iberville. 565-5520 . Barbecue.
13 Restaurant and Bar. 517 Frenchmen. 942-1345. Sandwiches.
Uptown
»Alberta. 5015 Magazine . 891-3015. French Bistro.
August Moon. 3635 Prytania. 899-5129. Chinese.
»Babylon Cafe. 7724 Maple. 314-0010. Lebanese.
Bangkok Thai. 513 S. Carrollton. 861-3932. Thai.
»Basil Leaf. 1438 S. Carrollton Ave. 862-9001. Thai.
»Bluebird Cafe. 3625 Prytania. 895-7166. Breakfast.
»Byblos. 3218 Magazine. 894-1233. Lebanese.
»Cafe Nino. 1519 S. Carrollton Ave. 865-9200. Pizza and Pasta.
»Cafe Rani. 2917 Magazine. 895-2500. Salads. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Cafe Volage. 720 Dublin. 861-4227. Creole French.
Cannon’s. 4141 St. Charles Ave. 891-3200. American.
Carrollton Station. 8140 Willow. 866-7290. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Casamento’s. 4330 Magazine. 895-9761. Seafood.
C'est Si Bon. 7457 St Charles Ave. 865-8636. French Bistro.
»Clancy’s. 6100 Annunciation. 895-1111. Classic Creole.
China Orchid. 704 S. Carrollton Ave. 865-1428. Chinese.
Cooter Brown’s. 509 S. Carrollton Ave. 866-9104. Sandwiches. Oyster Bar.
»Dante's Kitchen. 736 Dante. 861-3121. Contemporary Creole.
»Dick & Jenny’s. 4501 Tchoupitoulas. 894-9880. Contemporary Creole.
Domilese’s. 5240 Annunciation. 899-9126. Sandwiches.
Fat Harry’s. 4330 St. Charles Ave. 895-9582. Sandwiches.
Felix's Uptown. 4938 Prytania. 895-1330. Seafood. Oyster Bar.
»Flaming Torch. 737 Octavia. 895-0900. French Creole Bistro.
Franky & Johnny’s. 321 Arabella. 899-9146. Neighborhood Cafe.
Fresco Cafe & Pizzeria . 7625 Maple. 862-6363 . Pizza. Pasta.
GB’s Patio Bar & Grill. 8117 Maple. 861-0067. Hamburgers.
»Hana. 8116 Hampson. 865-1634. Japanese.
Igor’s Garlic Clove. 2135 St. Charles Ave. 522-6602. Creole. Seafood.
Juan’s Flying Burrito. 2018 Magazine. 569-0000. Mexican.
Jazmine Cafe. 614 S. Carrollton Ave. Vietnamese.
Joey K’s. 3001 Magazine. 891-0997. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Kyoto. 4920 Prytania. 891-3644. Japanese.
»La Crepe Nanou. 1410 Robert . 899-2670. French Bistro.
»La Petite Grocery. 4238 Magazine. 891-3377. American.
»Lebanon’s Cafe. 1500 S. Carrollton Ave. 862-6200. Middle Eastern.
»Lilette. 3637 Magazine. 895-1636. French.
Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. 615 S. Carrollton Ave. 866-5900. Pizza. Pasta.
Mango House. 8115 Jeannette. 862-5848. Caribbean.
»Maple Street Cafe. 7623 Maple. 314-9003. Contemporary Creole.
»Martinique. 5908 Magazine. 891-8495. French Caribbean.
»Mona’s Cafe. 1120 S. Carrollton Ave. 861-8174. Middle Eastern.
Nacho Mamas. 3242 Magazine. 899-0031. Mexican.
»Nardo's Trattoria. 6078 Laurel. 895-9441. Italian.
New York Pizza. 5201 Magazine. 891-2376. Pizza.
»Nile Cafe. 3100 Magazine. 897-0920. Ethiopian.
»Ninja. 8433 Oak. 866-1119. Japanese.
»Nirvana. 4308 Magazine. 894-9797. Indian.
»One Restaurant. 8132 Hampson. 301-9061. Contemporary Creole.
»Parasol’s. 2533 Constance. 899-2054. Sandwiches.
Phillips Restaurant and Bar. 733 Cherokee. 865-1155 . Pizza. Sandwiches.
Reginelli’s Pizzeria. 741 State. 899-1414. Pizza. Sandwiches.
»Riccobono’s Panola Street Cafe. 7801 Panola. 314-1810. Breakfast. Sandwiches.
St. Charles Tavern. 1433 St. Charles Ave. 523-9823. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Sake Cafe. 2830 Magazine. 894-0033. Japanese.
Saltwater Grill & Oyster Bar. 1340 S. Carrollton Ave. 324-6640. Seafood.
»Sara’s. 724 Dublin. 861-0565. Eclectic. Indian.
Savvy Gourmet. 4519 Magazine. 895-2665. Creole. Cooking School.
Slice. 1513 St. Charles Ave. 525-7437. Pizza.
Slim Goodies. 3322 Magazine. 891-3447. Neighborhood cafe. Sandwiches. Breakfast.
Surrey's. 1418 Magazine. 524-3828. Breakfast. Sandwiches & Salads.
Table One. 2800 Magazine . 324-9550. Mediterranean.
»Taqueria Corona. 5932 Magazine St. 897-3974. Mexican.
»Taqueros Coyoacan. 1432 St. Charles Ave. 525-9996. Mexican.
The Grocery. 2854 St. Charles Ave. 895-9524. Deli.
»Theo's Pizza. 4218 Magazine. 894-8554. Pizza.
»Upperline. 1413 Upperline. 891-9822. Classic Creole.
Vera Cruz. 7537 Maple. 866-1736. Mexican.
»Vincent's. 7839 St. Charles Ave. 866-9313. Creole Italian.
Other East Bank Orleans
(Everything but the French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse District, and Uptown.)
»Cafe Degas. 3127 Esplanade. 945-5635. French.
»Elizabeth’s. 601 Gallier. 944-9272. Neighborhood. Breakfast. Platters.
»Lola’s. 3312 Esplanade. 488-6946. Spanish.
»Ralph’s On The Park. 900 City Park Ave. 488-1000. Contemporary Creole.
Russell’s Marina Grill. 8555 Pontchartrain Blvd. 282-9980. Diner. Breakfast.
Schiro's Community Cafe. 2483 Royal . 945-4425. Neighborhood Cafe.
»The Joint. 801 Poland Ave. 949-3232 (not working). Barbecue. (Thurs.-Sat.)
East Jefferson E of David Dr., N of Airline
»Acme Oyster House. 3000 Veterans Blvd. 309-4056. Seafood.
»Acropolis Cuisine. 3841 Veterans Blvd. 888-9046. Greek.
»Andrea's. 3100 19th Street. 834-8583. Italian.
»Anselmo’s. 3401 N. Hullen. 889-1212. Sandwiches. Neighborhood cafe.
»Austin's. 5101 West Esplanade Ave. 888-5533. Creole.
Bobby Cure’s Beach House. 2401 Woodlawn Dr. 456-7470. Seafood.
Brooklyn Pizza. 2701 Airline Dr. 833-1288. Pizza.
Bravo! 3413 Veterans Bllvd. 828-8828. Italian.
»Byblos Market. 2020 Veterans Blvd. 837-9777. Middle Eastern.
»Cafe East. 4628 Rye. 888-0078. Chinese.
Caffe Fresca. 4441 West Metairie Ave. 887-2010. Salads. Sandwiches.
Carmine’s. 4101 Veterans Blvd. 455-7904. Italian. Seafood.
»Carreta's Grill. 2320 Veterans Blvd. 837-6696. Mexican.
»Casablanca. 3030 Severn Ave. 888-2209. Moroccan.
Cathay Inn. 6501 Airline Hwy. 733-8450. Chinese.
Chops Bistro. 111 Veterans Blvd. 218-8967. Steaks. American.
»Churros Cafe. 3100 Kingman. 885-6516. Cuban.
Come Back Inn. 8016 W. Metairie Ave. 467-9316. Sandwiches.
»Corky’s. 4243 Veterans Blvd. 887-5000. Barbecue.
»Cypress. 4426 Transcontinental. 885-6885. Contemporary Creole.
Deanie’s Seafood. 1713 Lake Ave. 831-4141. Seafood.
Dragon House. 3320 Transcontinental. 888-6791. Chinese.
»Drago’s. 3232 N. Arnoult Rd. 888-9254. Seafood.
Eggroll House. 3507 Veterans Blvd. 887-9364 . Chinese. Sushi.
»Fausto’s. 530 Veterans Blvd. 833-7121. Italian.
»Fury’s. 724 Martin Behrman Ave. 834-5646. Seafood.
»Galley Seafood. 2535 Metairie Rd. 832-0955. Seafood.
Gio's. 4941 W. Napoleon Ave. 885-3515. Italian. Pizza.
Great Wall. 2023 Metairie Rd. 833-2585. Chinese.
Hobnobber Cafe. 5928 W. Metairie Ave. 734-8448. Neighborhood Cafe.
Houston’s. 4241 Veterans Blvd. 889-2301. American.
»Impastato's. 3400 16th Street. 455-1545. Italian.
Italian Pie. 3002 Cleary. 780-7500. Pizza. Sandwiches. Pasta.
»Korea House. 3547 18th. 888-0654. Korean.
»La Thai Cuisine. 933 Metairie Road. 828-3080. Thai.
»Little Tokyo. 1521 N. Causeway Blvd. 831-6788. Japanese.
»Maple Cafe. 541 Oaklawn. 833-3317. Contemporary Creole.
»Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing. 2035 Metairie Rd. 832-8032. Pizza.
»Martin Wine Cellar Deli. 714 Elmeer. 896-7350. Deli. Sandwiches.
»Morning Call Coffee Stand. 3325 Severn Ave. 885-4068. Coffeehouse.
»Mr. Gyros. 3620 N Causeway Blvd. 833-9228. Greek.
»Nor-Joe Imports. 505 Frisco Ave. 833-9240. Sandwiches.
Parky's Ungulate's Cafe. 1880 Hammond Hwy. 524-0348. Platters.
»Phoenicia. 4201 Veterans Blvd. 889-9950. Lebanese.
Quarter View. 613 Clearview Pkwy. 887-3456. Creole.
»R&O’s. 216 Old Hammond Hwy. 831-1248. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Radosta’s. 249 Aris Ave. 831-1537. Sandwiches.
Red Eye Grill. 1057 Veterans Blvd. 833-6900 . American. Sandwiches.
»Ristorante Filippo. 1917 Ridgelake. 835-4008. Italian.
»Royal China. 600 Veterans Blvd. 831-9633. Chinese.
»Ruth’s Chris Steak House. 3633 Veterans Blvd. 888-3600. Steak.
»Sake Cafe. 4201 Veterans Blvd. . 779-7253. Japanese.
Sal & Sam’s. 4300 Veterans Blvd. 885-5566. Creole Italian.
Salvatore’s. 3528 18th. 455-2433. Creole Italian.
Sandro's Trattoria. 6601 Veterans Blvd. 888-7784. Italian.
Semolina. 4436 Veterans. 454-7930. Pasta
Serrano's Salsa Company. 4436 Veterans Blvd. 780-2354. Mexican.
»Shogun. 2325 Veterans Blvd. 833-7477. Japanese.
»Shortstop's. 119 Transcontinental Dr. 885-4572. Sandwiches.
»Sun Ray Grill. 619 Pink. 837-0055. Creole. Eclectic.
Swamp Room. 5216 Veterans Blvd. 888-5242. Hamburgers.
Sweet Fire and Ice. 701 Veterans Blvd. 831-3437. Cajun. Eclectic.
»Taj Mahal. 923-C Metairie Rd. 836-6859. Indian. (Nov. 28)
»Taqueria Corona. 3535 Severn. 885-5088. Mexican.
Tea Garden. 1918 Veterans Blvd. 833-9455. Chinese.
Tessie’s Place. 116 N. Woodlawn. 835-8377. Neighborhood Cafe.
The Rock. 5209 W. Napoleon Ave. 885-3762. American.
Timphony’s. 4644 W. Esplanade. 457-0207 . Italian. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Tower of Pizza. 2104 Veterans Blvd. 833-9373. Pizza. Pasta.
Two Jokers Grill. 3503 Division. 454 5101. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Vega Tapas Cafe. 2051 Metairie Rd. 836-2007. Mediterranean.
»Vincent’s. 4411 Chastant St. 885-2984. Creole Italian.
»Zea Rotisserie and Brewpub. 4450 Veterans Blvd. (Clearview Mall). 780-9090. Eclectic.
Kenner, Jefferson, Harahan, River Ridge
Plus Metairie West of David Drive
»Blue Tomato. 4401 Jefferson Hwy. 734-3000. Sandwiches. Mexican.
Cafe Roma. 910 W. Esplanade Ave. 467-8555. Pizza. Pasta.
»Chateau Du Lac Wine Bistro. 3901 Williams Blvd. 467-0054. French.
»Coffee Cottage. 5860 Citrus Blvd. 818-0051. Sandwiches. Platters. Desserts.
»Crabby Jack's. 428 Jefferson Hwy. 833-2722. Sandwiches. Platters. Seafood.
Dockside. 1820 Dickory Ave. 736-9666. Seafood. Oyster Bar.
Fong's. 2101 Williams Blvd. 467-9928. Chinese.
GG's Poor Boys. 9605 Jefferson Hwy. 737-8142. Sandwiches.
Harbor Seafood. 3203 Williams Blvd. 443-6454. Seafood.
Herb'an Spice Co. (Cellars of River Ridge). 1801 Dickory Ave. 734-8455. Deli.
»Hillbilly Barbecue. 208 Tallulah. 738-1508. Barbecue.
Italian Pie. 5650 Jefferson Hwy. . 734-3333. Pizza. Sandwiches. Pasta.
Italian Pie. 3600 Williams Blvd. 469-4999. Pizza. Sandwiches. Pasta.
Jazz Seafood and Steakhouse. 2722 Williams Blvd. 468-3237. Seafood. Creole.
Johnny Trauth's Seafood Bistro. 2121 25th. 471-0808. Seafood.
»Le Parvenu. 509 Williams Blvd. 471-0534. Contemporary Creole.
»Madrid. 2723 Roosevelt Blvd. 469-5599. Spanish.
»Mimi’s. 10160 Jefferson Hwy. 737-6464. Italian. Neighborhood Cafe.
Nicole's Italian Cuisine. 418 Maine. 834-8747. Italian.
»Pupuseria La Macarena. 4221 Williams Blvd. 464-4525. Central American.
Reginelli’s Pizzeria. 5608 Citrus Blvd. 818-0111. Pizza. Sandwiches.
»Ristorante Da Piero. 401 Williams Blvd. 469-8585. Italian.
Sclafini's. 6624 Jefferson Hwy. 738-0215. Creole Italian.
Seymour's. 2216 Hickory Ave. 737-3148 . Seafood.
Shimmy Shack. 1855 Dock. 729-4442. Sandwiches.
Smilie’s. 5725 Jefferson Hwy. 733-3000. Creole.
Smitty's Seafood. 2000 West Esplanade. 488-1647. Seafood.
Stingray’s. 1303 West Esplanade. 443-4040. Seafood.
»Taqueria Corona. 1827 Hickory Ave. 738-6722. Mexican.
TeCoRo's. 3525 Williams Blvd. 466-5550. Creole Italian.
Venezia II. 587 Central Ave. 734-3991. Italian.
Village Inn. 9201 Jefferson Hwy. 737-4610. Italian. Pizza.
Zea Cafe. 1655 Hickory Ave. 738-0799. Sandwiches. Pasta. Rotisserie. Eclectic.
West Bank
»Beef Connection. 501 Gretna Blvd. 366-3275. Steaks.
Cafe 615 (Da Wabbit). 615 Kepler. 365-1225 . Neighborhood Cafe.
Cafe DiBlasi. 1801 Stumpf Blvd. 361-3106. Creole Italian.
Cafe Ditali's. 2104 Manhattan Blvd. 361-0058. Creole Italian.
»China Doll. 830 Manhattan Blvd. 366-1111. Chinese.
Christina’s Empress of China. 429 Wall Blvd. 392-9393. Chinese.
»Cleopatra. 2701 Manhattan Blvd. 361-1113. Middle Eastern.
»Common Grounds. 335 Huey P. Long Ave. 227-2200. Neighborhood cafe.
Copeland’s. 1700 Lapalco. 364-1575. Creole. Cajun.
Double Dragon. 8236 LA. 23, Belle Chasse. 433-4333. Chinese.
Dry Dock Cafe. 133 Delaronde. 361-8240. Neighborhood Cafe. Seafood.
»Eastern. 1801 Manhattan Blvd. 368-0788. Chinese. Japanese.
Gattuso's. 435 Huey P Long Ave. 368-1114. Deli. Pizza.
»Hoa Hong 9 Roses. 1100 Stephens. 366-7665. Vietnamese.
»Juneau's Sandwich Shop. 4016 7th Street. 341-6879. Sandwiches.
»Kim Son. 349 Whitney Ave. 366-2489. Vietnamese.
La Fiesta. 1412 Stumpf Blvd. 361-9142. Mexican.
La Maison Creole Garden Room. 1605 8th St. 362-3908. Creole.
Lido. 1019 Avenue C. 347-8203. Italian.
Lil G's Kajun Restaurant. 9338 Highway 23. 433-0500.
MeMe's New Orleans Cafe, 103 Schlief Place , Belle Chasse, 392-9922.
»Mo’s Pizza. 1112 Avenue H. 341-9650. Pizza.
Mother's. 131 Huey P Long Ave. 368-8678. Neighborhood Cafe.
»New Orleans Food & Spirits. 2330 Lapalco Blvd. 362-0800. Seafood.
PaPanini's. 235 Derbigny. 371-5015. Sandwiches.
»Pho Bang. 1028 Manhattan Blvd. 365-0339. Vietnamese.
Pho Hoa. 840 Manhattan Blvd. 361-4370. Vietnamese.
»Red Maple. 1036 Lafayette. 367-0935. Steak. Creole.
»Restaurant des Familles. 7163 Barataria Blvd. at Lafitte-Larose Hwy. (LA 45 at LA 3134). 689-7834. Seafood.
Ruby Red's. 1525 Lapalco Blvd. 367-5496. Hamburgers.
»Salvo's Seafood. 7742 La. Hwy. 23. 393-7303. Seafood.
Semolina. 1121 Manhattan Blvd. 361-8293. Pasta.
Sister's. 7218 Hwy 23. 392-2837. Neighborhood Cafe.
Specialty Italian Bistro. 2330 Belle Chasse Hwy. 391-1090. Italian. Pizza.
»Sun Ray Cafe. 2600 Belle Chasse Hwy. 391-0053. Fusion.
»Tan Dinh. 2004 Belle Chasse Highway. 361-8008. Vietnamese.
Taqueria La Mexicana. 1160 Terry Pkwy. 433-4013. Mexican.
Tennou Sushi Bar. 1818 Manhattan Blvd. , Harvey. 366-3898. Japanese.
Tony Mandina’s. 1915 Pratt. 362-2010. Creole Italian.
Tout de Suite. 347 Verret. 362-2264. Sandwiches. Salads. Chef Pete Vazquez special menus on weekends.
Victoria Inn. 4707 Jean Lafitte Blvd., Lafitte. 689-4757. Creole.
»Voleo's. 5134 Nunez, Lafitte. 689-2482. Seafood.
Wego Inn. 501 Laroussini. 347-9187. Neighborhood Cafe.
North Shore and River Parishes
Abita Brew Pub. 72011 Holly St. 892-5837. Nouvelle Creole. Seafood.
»Abita Springs Cafe. 22132 Level. 867-9950. Breakfast. Sandwiches. Creole.
»Acme Oyster House. 519 E. Boston. 898-0667. Sandwiches. Oyster Bar. Seafood. Creole
»Annadele’s Plantation. 71495 Chestnut. 985-809-7669. Creole.
Back Porch Grill. 414 N. New Hampshire. 985-892-5252. Sandwiches. Salads.
»Bear’s. 128 W. 21st Ave. 892-2373. Poor boys.
»Bosco’s. 1770 La. Hwy. 59. 985-624-5066. Italian.
Boston Street Food & Spirits. 324 E. Boston. 985-898-2200. Seafood.
Broken Egg Cafe. 200 Gerard. 624-3388. Breakfast. Sandwiches.
Bull’s Corner. 1036 W. Airline Hwy., Laplace. 225-652-3544. Steaks. Seafood.
Camellia Cafe. 525 US 190. 985-649-6211. Neighborhood cafe. Sandwiches.
»Carreta's. 1200 W. Causeway Approach. 727-7212. Contemporary Mexican. Caribbean.
»Casa Garcia. 800 N. Causeway Blvd. 985-951-8226. Mexican.
»Coffee Rani. 226 Lee Lane. 893-6158. Coffeeshop. Salads. Sandwiches.
»Coffee Rani. 3510 U.S. 190. 674-0560. Coffeeshop. Salads. Sandwiches.
Columbia Street Tap Room. 434 N Columbia. 985- 898-0899. Sandwiches.
Copeland’s. 680 N. US 190 (Causeway Blvd.). 809-9659. Creole. Cajun.
»Courtyard Cafe. 101 Northpark Blvd. 871-0244. Breakfast
»Dakota. 629 N. US 190 . 892-3712. Contemporary Creole.
»Del Porto. 205 N. New Hampshire. 985-875-1006. Tuscan. Italian.
DeAngelo's Pizzeria. 318 Dalwill Dr. 985-624-8500. Pizza. Pasta.
DiCristina's. 810 N. Columbia. 985-875-0160. Neighborhood Cafe. Italian.
»Doug’s. 348 Robert Road. 649-1805. Creole.
»Etoile. 407 N. Columbia. 893-8873. Eclectic.
Fazzio’s. 1841 N Causeway Blvd. 624-9704. Italian.
George's. 1461 N. Causeway Blvd. 626-4342. Mexican.
Italian Pie. 4350 La. 22. 626-5252. Pizza. Sandwiches. Pasta.
»Jasmine. 1768 Front. 985-645-9700. French.
»Judice's. 421 E. Gibson. 892-0708. Sandwiches.
»Juniper. 301 Lafitte. 985-624-5330. Creole. Eclectic.
»Keith Young’s Steak House. 165 LA. 21. 985-845-9940. Steak.
»La Provence. 25020 US 190. 985-626-7662. Mediterranean French.
»La Rosetta. 2111 Gause Blvd. 985-649-9003. Italian.
»Latil's Landing. (Houmas House Plantation, Burnside). 225-473-9380. Contemporary Creole.
»Little Tokyo. 590 Asbury Dr. 727-1532. Sushi. Japanese.
»Longbranch. 21516 LA 36. 871-8171. Contemporary American.
The Loop Pizza Grill. 1119 N. Causeway Blvd. 985-624-8099. Pizza, Pasta.
Mawmaw's Northshore. 1461 N. Causeway Blvd. Frontage Road. 985-727-7727. Neighborhood Cafe.
»Middendorf’s. Manchac. 386-6666. Seafood.
»Mona's. 2820 East Causeway Approach. 624-8500. Middle Eastern
Morton’s Seafood. 702 Water. 845-4970. Seafood.
»New Orleans Food and Spirits. 208 Lee Lane. 985-875-0432. Seafood.
»Nuvolari’s. 246 Gerard St. 626-5619. Creole Italian.
»Pizza Man Of Covington. 1248 Collins Blvd. (US 190). 892-9874. Pizza.
»Sal & Judy’s. U.S. 190. 985-882-9443. Creole Italian.
»Sesame Inn. 408 N. Causeway Blvd. 985-951-8888. Chinese.
Sweet Daddy's. 2534 Florida, Mandeville. 985-626-0208. Also: 420 S Tyler, Covington. 985-898-2166. Barbecue.
Thai Palace. 1625 US 190. (985) 624-3057 . Thai.
»Thai Pot. 315 N. Vermont. 985-809-7886. Thai.
Times Bar & Grill. 1896 N. Causeway Blvd. 626-1161. Sandwiches. Hamburgers.
»Trey Yuen. 600 Causeway Blvd. 626-4476. Chinese.
»Vianne's Tea Salon and Cafe. 544 Gerard. 985-624-5683. Sandwiches. Salads.
Yee Chinese Restaurant. 300 Pontchartrain Dr. 985-649-1033. Chinese.
»Young’s. 850 Robert Blvd. 985-643-9331. Steak and Chops.
A friend of mine sent this email yesterday. She was born and raised in New Orleans.
"
Hi everyone,
Here's a link to today's New York Times' editorial about New Orleans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/opinion/11sun1.html?th&emc=th
New Orleans cannot survive without major reconstruction of the levees.
While expensive, the cost is miniscule compared to what we spend to
fight the war in Iraq.
I am living in Florence, Italy, a city that cherishes its cultural
heritage. Over the centuries, Florence has had an immeasurable impact
on art, science, literature, political thought, music, architecture,
etc. It has created an industry of attacting people from all over the
world to learn about these contributions to world culture. It is also
a living city.
New Orleans, my hometown, also deserves to live. Living in Florence, I
can't help but think every single day about what New Orleans has
contributed to the world--music, literature, architecture, food. Its
culture, unique within the United States, delights and enriches people
the world over. It is a repository of our American history, the
glorious and the painful, holding clues to stories yet to be told.
America also holds an irreplaceable piece of the world's cultural
heritage. We cannot let it die from neglect and inattention. New
Orleanians, the people who create and re-create this culture daily,
deserve a safe city to live in.
Write to Congress and urge that New Orleans' levees be upgraded to
21st century standards, to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. Congress
needs to know that the survival of New Orleans is not just about one
city. It has worldwide significance.
Do it.
Love,
Louise
Click for addresses of key members of Congress:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/news/content/congress112005.html
"
I'm headed back home to New Orleans next thursday. I've been looking forward to finally getting home, but now that its happening, I'm a little scared. I mean, I know a lot has been rebuilt, and my dad keeps telling me that around his house in River Ridge, life is back to normal (with the exception of 9 hour waits at restaurants). I'm a little bugged that Mardi Gras is only going to be 6 days long this year, and I had to order a scooter, because the streetcars aren't going to be back up for a year (although, when they added new lines to the streetcar, that took a year too...but that was a New Orleans year, which equals 3 regular years...) I keep hearing conflicting stories from everyone back home, and I just don't know what to believe. I guess we'll see. I do agree with lexi though, that maybe now that we're forced to rebuild, perhaps the locals will let go of the idea that delapidation=character and at the very least allow old structures to be restored if not rebuilt. Maybe we'll finally lose our fear of new building?
I'm headed back home to New Orleans next thursday. I've been looking forward to finally getting home, but now that its happening, I'm a little scared. I mean, I know a lot has been rebuilt, and my dad keeps telling me that around his house in River Ridge, life is back to normal (with the exception of 9 hour waits at restaurants). I'm a little bugged that Mardi Gras is only going to be 6 days long this year, and I had to order a scooter, because the streetcars aren't going to be back up for a year (although, when they added new lines to the streetcar, that took a year too...but that was a New Orleans year, which equals 3 regular years...) I keep hearing conflicting stories from everyone back home, and I just don't know what to believe. I guess we'll see. I do agree with lexi though, that maybe now that we're forced to rebuild, perhaps the locals will let go of the idea that delapidation=character and at the very least allow old structures to be restored if not rebuilt. Maybe we'll finally lose our fear of new building?
i've never lived in NOLA although i've been there before. i love the city in a way i don't love most cities in the US (or almost ANY other city in the US except maybe austin). my favorite part, by the way, was carrollton and i have no idea why except that it wasn't the french quarter. it made me extremely sad when the hurricane+aftermath hit, it was all i could talk about for days. and as i mentioned, i don't even live there nor ever have i.
and yet: what i mentioned earlier, and what needs to be mentioned again, is that for ALL of NOLA to rebuilt is to thumb one's nose in the face of nature, gravity, and water. if you think about it, it's extremely anti-environmental. and sorry, there ARE racial dimensions to what was on high ground vs. low.
urban triage. urban triage. urban triage.
spare what can be spared, let go what needs to be let go. base ALL decisions on such on unemotional, racially-unconscious analyses of individual building safety and neighborhood danger. contract the city inward and concentrate on housing (as i mentioned) whoever WANTS to be there in the safest places possible. focus on creating JOBS for people (there, um, weren't too many of those pre-Katrina). maybe also try to reform the police dept, the schools, and city government. return a lot of the surroundings back to the wetlands they were.
accept that man shall never win the final victory over nature.
NOLA will not be what it once was. like a beloved grandmother long deceased, pre-Katrina NOLA is not coming back. focus on retaining what can safely be retained -- and rebuild anew. and remember what was. always remember what was.
ether/louise_____
you live in florence now and you should know that florence was flooded in 1966 up to 9 feet of water.
in some streets there are marble slabs just above window shops to show the height of the water in that street during the flood.
florence has buildings made of stone and no big damages occured to the buildings, but fine arts works were strongly damaged. then, it was only a matter of reconstruction of the interiors and restore businesses washed by the water/mud.
PonteVecchio, 1966
Pre.
Post.
New Orleans should definately rebuild, in the widen context it was lucky
Tropical Storm “URING†(Thelma) to hit the Phillipines in November 1991
5,101 – 8,000 + deaths
Track: Maydolong, Eastern Samar; Tacloban City and Ormoc City, Leyte; Northern Cebu, Northern Negros Occidental specifically Escalante, Murcia, Bacolod City, Bago City and Pulupandan; Southern tip of Guimaras; just south of Cuyo Is.; Roxas in Northern Palawan.
URING was a weak tropical storm that moved quickly through Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Negros. But because of the heavy precipitation, rivers swelled and landslides came down in a deluge in the mid-morning of November 5 at the upper areas of Ormoc City in Leyte. The river bisecting the city burst its banks and overflowed, drowning the whole city in more than 10 feet of water laden with mud and debris. Thousands were caught flatfooted and perished. The storm then moved over Northern Cebu flooding more towns and cities.
When URING arrived at Northern Negros by early afternoon, it dumped heavy rain flooding Northern Negros, wiping out houses from their foundations along rivers in Bacolod City and Victorias while leaving others marooned in the fast rising waters of the rivers. A section of a historic bridge across Bago River was swept by raging torrents. Late that night URING unleashed landslides in the mountainous southern town of San Joaquin in Iloilo Province and as far as Calinog in Central Iloilo where large rivers destroyed bridges spanning across them, cutting off some towns from their neighbors for a few days. Almost lunchtime of November 6, the storm crossed Northern Palawan through Roxas. The storm further weakened as it exited to the South China Sea at early evening.
Ormoc City and Northern Negros Occidental were scenes of devastation as the floods receded. Almost a quarter of Ormoc’s population drowned and their bloated bodies were littered everywhere in the city while other fatalities were numerously floating at Ormoc Bay and Camotes Sea being feasted by sharks and other fishes. Many journalists and eyewitnesses described Ormoc City as…
“…a scene from the Holocaust where dead bodies were stacked upon each other like logs or garbageâ€.
Even those watching from television footages could not help but gag, retch, get misty-eyed or even weep quietly for everything was…†truly sickening with the stench of death everywhere.â€
Due to the overwhelming number of dead bodies everywhere, there was a shortage of coffins, so authorities opted to collect the dead through dump trucks and buried in mass graves. It was considered the deadliest natural disaster of the country.
I'm going to my home, New Orleans, for the first time since the storm, this Saturday.
Most of my mornings begin when I awake and recall a night full of anxious flood dreams.
The last dream (earlier this week) actually was set in the Hartell Gallery where I presented my thesis project. I was building a barrier around myself that was made of copper sheets and clothing. As I heard the water in the distance coming closer and glanced down at my construction I realized I was not going to pass my thesis semester.
THE OCEAN, and other bodies of water such as the Gulf of Mexico, are much more voluminous and powerful than coastlines can challenge. Put New Orleans on the scrap heap of history, before my generation dies I predict a new kind of Hurricane, a Category 7...or, if you will, THE FIRST OF THE BIG ONES. After that it won't matter if we spend all the money and construction material in the world to make a super-levee, that many billions of metric tons of water will WIN. GAME OVER.
Ian McHarg, once said, " There is no such thing as a natural disaster,
it is man getting in the way of nature." We once again see this happening in New Orleans. If you look to the whole Mississippi River
Basin you will see a history of flooding. One of these years we should learn when we put ourselves in harms way, harm will come, maybe not today but some day. Buildings can be replaced lives can not. Sentimental thought takes hold after such a disaster look at all of our disasters....yet we rebuild in definace of nature.
Many high tech flood control systems around the world are a result of flooding disasters. The Japanese have superlevees. In London there is a 5 storey movable floodwall. The Venetians have huge floodgates which rise up from the sea floor to block tidal surges.
Holland would not exist without its levees and super floodwalls that swing to block flooding..
It is rediculous to even think of not rebuilding a major city like New Orleans. ...then all major cities close to various natural disasters should all perish?? If the levees do not get rebuilt into high tech super levees like others around major cities all over the world.. it would be just to pathetic.
If americans feel this way about their cities... then what would be the use fo moving to another city? should we all seriously think of moving out of this country??
I really hope no other disaters happen in other u.s. cities in the next few years ...it's too dangerous as long as gwb represents how americans feel.
yes - you should seriously think of moving out of this country.
the dutch tend to build the levees before the development, which is quite different from the case in new orleans. also, the north sea (right sea?) is to my limited knowledge far, far less susceptible to the kind of surge that topped the levees in NOLA.
the problem -- as illustrated in the article i had linked -- is that in the wake of the storm (pun certainly not intended) new orleans' leadership has not done a good job of coordinating a reasoned, step-by-step set of proposals for rebuilding the city in stages. i dunno, i'm an architect and i could have provided a vision for all this. frankly, what it takes is for a leader to arise and tell all the competing voices to shut up and work together. i know it's ever so incorrect to praise republicans in this board, but rudy giuliani was unquestionably leading NY after 9/11. ray nagin has probably already sealed his fate next year.
Ray Nagin was a Republican right up until he decided to run for mayor. He only switched parties to get elected, since NOLA is solidly Democratic.
I am starting to totally think that if NOLA was not a majority black Democrat city, we would not even be having this debate about "whether" to rebuild. My mother's side of the family is from there and my aunt is in Florida with family, she's 75 years old, has congestive heart failure, is chomping at the bit to go home-the only city she has lived in, and just rebuild the house-she's checked it out, it's salvageable, the insurance people are actually being reasonable with her. But she needs a place to stay while the repair takes place, so FEMA promised her a trailer, and she said great. That was *months* ago. She's still waiting. Sometimes I think they are waiting for her to give up on coming back. Or just die. Same with a lot of New Orleanians. I get more suspicious about this when only days after it happened, people were talking about people from New Orleans "settling into their new homes" They shouldn't have to relocate to Houston or Chicago or Atlanta permanently. What is so wrong with just rebuilding the city and giving them a stipend to head back? There are jobs there now-hell, Burger King is giving a 6K signing bonus! At this point, I could care less about building a better city-just rebuild it somehow, get the levees up, and give people the chance to go back to their home.
If the city remains dispersed, then the Republicans have control of Louisiana for a very long time. This really was "the perfect storm" for them.
bricabrack, your dream story brought tears to my eyes.
Good luck with what you find at home Saturday.
Mississippi which got the direct hit from Katrina seems to be moving forward so much faster than New Orleans. It is mainly because of billions being spent by casinos to build grand casino resorts there. After Katrina, land based casinos are allowed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/business/14casino.html
I agree that American's have become fat and lazy and always looking for a handout. Where is our sense of individualism that built all our great cities? Not to pick on New Orleans but, as stated above, all cities and states would do it, ask for a handout.....but I don't think it's up to the Fed to keep New Orleans from dying. That should be up to the people of new Orleans...but reading this thread I just see complaining. Moaning about what we are spending in Iraq or the supposed cost of a tax cut.
The only reason that city might die is because of the residents and leadership of that city. Face it, most former residents don't want to return. Know a couple of those people myself. That story has been highlighted on news shows for months now. My displaced friends got new jobs, higher paying new jobs, etc...I don't blame them for not having much desire to move back. I'm sure there are thousands of stories like that.
Those that did return only want hand-outs it seems. Sounds to me like a lot of problems adjusting to a new smaller city.
Leadership is a joke in that state. Everyone is aware of the history of curruption there. Frankly, I'm not surprised there isn't much of a plan. Now I read that it's a republican conspiracy to kill the city. C'mon. I'm with puddles, nobody is crying that Detroit is dying...lost more population than New Orleans had pre-Katrina. Wonder where their federal billions are?
A Pick up your things and move to another city today... better yet leave your entire life and everything you own ... and leave town right now... this moment. no planning for a new job, forget your resume', portfolio, your existing house payments...
do you love the city you live in? do you have a life there?
During the evacuation the 2 months after the hurricane I was homesick. I rewrote my resume' and got 2 offers for jobs in other cities where I know no one.
I decided stay with firm and friends and New Orleans.
Asking Congress to rebuild a flood protection system is not a handout! This is the only thing preventing residents from reconstruction their own property at this point.
Entergy our crucial utility is bankrupt... and will charge resident 140% rate increases is not aski9ng for any more handouts that what NY got after 9/11.
$95 billion in tax cuts that immediately passed in congress is really a handout...
Save New Orleans! Or the result could be Luanda.
well, i do have to admit -- if i had a choice on how to spend $95 billion i would choose new orleans over tax cuts or iraq.
i think the issue is not whether to rebuild -- it's how much. just because new orleans isn't rebuilt out to its 2004 level doesn't mean it's dead. it's changed, yes, but then such is the nature of cities -- and new orleans changed to get to where it was in 2004 anyway.
something i find interesting is that another of my favorite parts of NOLA, algiers, is of course on the other side of the mississippi and had no damage whatsoever save power outages. but the federal government was forcing people to leave anyway. because it was in orleans parish.
in the end, a lot of people won't return. like in the 1920s, when new orleanians moved to chicago, detroit, and other northern cities after the floods. but those who do -- will love their city all the more, and my hope is that some of its endemic, intractable problems might become less endemic and intractable.
$95 billion in tax cuts isn't a hand out when it's already your money. If you are a tax payer, that isn't the government's money...it's yours. We can argue who gets the major benefit of a tax cut elsewhere, but the simple fact is you paid in, thus getting back isn't a hand-out.
I'm not against building proper flood protection. By all means any city in a location like New Orleans needs a good system in place. In many ways I think NOLA is unique compared to places like Venice and the Netherlands, thus rendering their systems less effective here than there. None the less, Americans have always innovated in the past and I think we have the ability to do so today.
My problem is that I think any money spent - federal, state, private - needs to be spent wisely. We need to ask questions about where the best places to live might be. I think it's without argument that the city is going to be smaller in both the short and long term. The city must come to terms with this and save what's worth saving and let go of what isn't. That second NYT article was very well written and should be taken to task down there.
Simple case study would be Grand Forks, ND from their flood of 1997. Parts of the city that were low lying near the river have been abandoned and turned into park. The levies were moved back behind that part of the city. So in New Orleans, if the 9th ward is low, let it become park, or wetland, but don't save the homes. They will only become the easiest fodder for the next storm.
I have sympathy for anyone stuck in the mess down there. It's not as easy as just moving to a different city, I'll grant you that. My friends who left moved where they had other old college friends, but still came with very little. Nor would I ask anyone to abandon their hometown. I just think that for most, at least in the short term, that has become the best option...and that shouldn't be blamed on congress or the rest of the american public.
Well this a touchy little topic now, isn't it... mostly I feel like I'm on the Noam Chomsky for President blog.
Although I realize that N.O. was built there before any of us -- had we been smart enough -- could have advised against it, we are all now faced with some hard choices. One choice is to simply rebuild behind an bigger federally funded flood wall. But few would argue that this is much of a sustainable solution for the future. The simple problem is money. The federal government can't continue to subsidize every lifestyle choice. Is it fair for me to establish my family home on a volcano, then demand federal help when it blows? I currently live -- by choice -- where there are tornadoes...should the Federal government rebuild my house if it gets blown down? Lexi is already making the kind of comparisons that inevitably follow when the Fed bails out one group, but not another. Hey, the helped the 9-11 folks, so now where's OUR help? Soon everyone has their own causes and demands which are then all laid at the feet of the federal government, who better damn well pay for them or they're just a bunch of neo-Hitlers. The Constitution guarantees no such benefits -- such projects were never intended as duties of the Federal government. I agree with A in that very little remains in the American mindset in the way of self-reliance.
So Lexi, A Federally-funded flood wall / total city rebuild IS a handout. Tax breaks are NOT handouts. Tax breaks are just the government taking YOUR money at a slightly slower rate.
Beat me to it there, A --
if you have a chance...take a look! Tulane School of Architecture is operating a satellite studio out of ASU:
http://www.asu.edu/tsa/
i am not there(instead spent the semeter at UPenn) so i really don't have much of an explaination of the projects/proposals but thought you guys might be interested...
it will not be long before new orleans is part of the gulf. i think we should build a giant geodesic fishbowl around it so fututre generations of fish-people have a museum to visit.
pride can be a bitch.
Rim Joist,
No one is asking for the federal government to rebuild their houses or personal property.
But all levves, dams, and other protection systems have always been federally funded.
Most of the residents have insurance. The insurance companies are hesitant to pay people because the levees may not be rebuilt. People are hesitant to come back since there is no action being taken at the broken levees.
the parts of new orleans that remain unflooded this time may be flooded next time because the other levees and flood walls may also be weakened.
The lower 9th ward is not the only area devestated by the flood. many neighborhoods with multimillion $ homes were also destroyed.. NO east, Lakeview, midtown... most of New Orleans' residential areas.
a smaller tourist boutique town is not something that people who own houses want to hear. where would people live? in the french quarter, in the office tower in the CBD? I could... but most people with families prefer neiborhoods, yards, schools etc.
half of the people at our firm own houses that had water...it is not so easy as just telling them to move...
- people still have to pay for their house, flooded or not. this month many have three mortgage payments to pay at once.
- many are not getting cooperation with insurance companies to pay to repair their house before selling it to move somewhere else.
those who came back to new orleans are not lazy at all ... we want desperately to rebuild, to work on new architecture project, to reinvent this city.... but not until the current standing levees and the broken levees are safe. The money that is need from congress is 32 billion for reconstruction of an adequate flood prevetion system.
this is why it has come to a standstill.
This christmas people still are not home and still cannot move to a new home.
A good friend of mine visited New Orleans years before I did. Before I went I asked him about the place. Before he said anything good about the food, or culture, or architecture, he said - It's an un-natural place. I looked down the street and saw a boat passing by....above my head!
When I visited years later I couldn't get out of my head the potential for disaster in that city. So long as the city exists that potential will always be, no matter how much you throw at it. I'm just very skeptical that $32B will fix the problems.
Lexi - I assume you would like to see New orleans rebuilt to its pre-Katrina size. If that is indeed what you desire I just question how $32 billion and some new flood control systems will do it. The easy answer is abandon the city. Since you don't like that idea, what is your suggestion for fixing the city...aside from the $32b?
If money wasn't an issue what would your grand scheme be? I'm interested to hear it from someone who obviously loves their city. I love my city and have a million ideas for change and we've had no disaster. This could make a very interesting design charette.
taper off the oil production. all of the oil drilling in the gulf coast has caused much of the wetlands to sink. every 10 miles of coastal wetlands absorbes 10' of flood surge. A movable flood wall could be placed at lake pontchatrain such as the one in the netherlands. this would take some strain off the levees. engineers should start looking at different options.
I would like to see one of our major hospital campus be totally rebuilt. (this is in master planning right now)
I would like to see the charm of new orleans' historical buildings alongside totally modern new architecture.
Green architecture is something that is actually being discussed with our client now... when we never had the chance before. The superdome should be a total renovation now that the saints are coming back.
the neighborhoods should never be build back as they once were. there could be mixed-use residency. houses at fair market value. the housing projects and ghettos remain totally deserted.. and I do not feel that poor blacks should ever have to be trapped in circumstances like that again in New Orleans.
I support the idea of bringing a casino district to downtown new orleans.
I think New Orleans East could be a great area for a golf resort.
uptown and the garden district will come back on it's own. The schools need federal help to be reopened. this will also bring residents as well as buisnesses to new orleans.
Besides tourism, NOLA needs to attract fortune 500 companies to be a real city. schools are crucial for this. communications is key for this. Now for the first time NOLA is a wireless city. The highways leading into the city must be repaired (I-10 twin span). The airport should be rebuilt into a modern airport like the hong kong airport. also crucial is to get the port of new orleans up and running.
I would like to see the arts district bring int more innovative art. All the galleries opening since the storm have had much better art and paintings than before it seems!
I think this should be the chance architects and engineers have been waiting for to come up with solutions....
people here are emotionally up and down... because it is much more personal to talk about your close friend's neiborhood being turned into a park.
I'm sorry.. 10' wetlands absorbes 1' storm surge.. that would be wonderful if it did
i heard one environmentalist say that without buidling a proper flood wall/system, nothing should be rebuilt. it's just throwing good money at a bad situation. these storms over the last decade have become more and more violent. what happens next year? this will be an even sadder situation, if it does not get dealt with properly.
FYI,
Yesterday the Urban Land Institute (hired by Mayor Ray Nagin's recovery comission) released the draft of their recomended plan for the city. Haven't got through it completely but the recommendations are based on solid well-reasoned examoination of the situation.
http://www.uli.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ProgramsServices/AdvisoryServices/KatrinaPanel/ULI_Draft_New_Orleans%20Report.pdf
As far as how to fund the recovery, I would bring up two issues.
First, there is a big differnece between asking the feds to foot the bill to rebuild the city and asking the feds to build adequate levee/wetland protection, it is afterall their making and responsibilty. However, if the feds won't do it, let Louisiana do it. How? By allowing us to keep %100 of our oil and gas royalties . Currently we get around %10. Texas gets %100. Why? History. Texas was annexed as a Republic able to nogotaite with the U.S. while Louisiana was purchased. Let us keep what is ours and we can do it ourselves.
Second, to help rebuild the city, please support HB 4100 which would establish the Louisiana ecovery Corporation. Here's the info:
Louisiana Recovery Corporation
H.R. 4100 Revised Language
Wednesday, November 2, 2005
Legislation by Louisiana Congressman Richard Baker to offer financial stability to property owners and to facilitate community rebuilding
Why it’s needed
Following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, tens of thousands of property owners in Louisiana face fear and uncertainty about whether they can or should rebuild. For those with mortgages, beginning about December 1st, the 90-day forbearance period most banks granted borrowers before requiring loan payments again will give out, creating additional financial stress. Those who own their property outright also confront realities that insurance and other payments will be insufficient to rebuild, as well as uncertainty over what rights they will retain should their property be condemned.
All seek answers and assurance about what to do. Assisting them will require significant resources, while at present no system is in place to help.
How the Louisiana Recovery Corporation (LRC) will help
On a purely voluntary basis, the LRC will purchase the property from willing sellers, who will receive compensation on their equity, and, if they have one, have their entire loan obligation settled so that they have financial stability to be better able to plan for the future. Moreover, sellers will be provided options for how to rebuild in or return to the neighborhood they call home.
The LRC would then pay for the reconditioning of land and provide the infrastructure improvements necessary for it to be redeveloped, and facilitate the rebuilding of communities by contracts granted through a competitive bidding process.
Who does it help
Whether you live in Lakeview or the Lower 9th Ward, Gentilly or New Orleans East, St. Bernard or St. Tammany parishes, whether you own your home or have a mortgage, the LRC will help set you on your feet again financially as well as offer you the opportunity to be part of your neighborhood again. Protections, options, and opportunities include:
The legislation will state clearly that the LRC shall have no powers of “eminent domain.â€
For a property owner, if you do not want to talk to the LRC, don’t – nothing will happen to you.
If you want to sell your property to the LRC, you may.
If you wish to retain a special option, or “first right of refusal,†to repurchase in your neighborhood, you will have it.
If you want to be a partner with the LRC in the rebuilding of your property, that’s an option, too.
All options are determined by the property owner, not the LRC.
The master plan for how communities are to be rebuilt will be developed through the guidance of state and local officials and the residents themselves, not by the LRC.
How redevelopment will work
Working in concert with state and local officials, the LRC will establish a competitive bidding process that will place a premium on proposals incorporating: (1) use of local suppliers and contractors, and job creation for Louisiana workers, (2) a community-based collaborative planning process, (3) effective land use management, including mixed-use development and historic preservation, (4) commitment of leveraging all pertinent resources and programs to enable broad homeownership opportunity, and (5) commitment of private capital.
The LRC as implementer of Louisiana’s plans
While the LRC itself contains a strong emphasis on urban planning in its structure and its redevelopment process, it is specifically designed not to compete with the urban planning teams assembled by state and local leaders or to make plans itself, but, just the opposite; its purpose will be to use the consensus vision created by state and local planners as a blueprint to pursue a plan crafted by Louisianians themselves. In the end, however, there will still need to be a way by which we bring those plans into reality, and the LRC, then, would serve as a essential funding and implementation mechanism to keep the collaborative process moving forward and make feasible our goals not only to rebuild, but to “rebuild better.â€
Funding for LRC responsive to taxpayers
Accomplishing its mission will require the LRC to bring to bear significant investment in Louisiana. However, once enacted into law, the LRC will require no subsequent Congressional appropriations. Instead, the LRC will be funded by bonds of the U.S. Treasury, issued at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury. Through the sale of property for redevelopment, the LRC would then utilize the proceeds of private investment toward paying back the bonds.
At present, no other recovery plan exists for channeling the tremendous amount of investment that will be needed to address the issues of destroyed property and community rebuilding. More importantly, no other plan exists that would provide such a level of fiscal accountability and responsibility, through a structure that would go some way toward paying for itself, repaying the American taxpayer, and requiring no “match†from the taxpayers of Louisiana.
How the LRC will be structured
The LRC will establish its headquarters in Louisiana and exist for a ten-year period. It will be governed by a seven-member board of pertinent background and expertise appointed by the President, two of whom will be nominated by recommendation of the Governor of Louisiana.
What you can do
To view the legislation, visit Congressman Baker’s website at www.baker.house.gov -- and if you have questions, suggestions, or wish to express your support for the plan, please contact the Congressman’s office at 225-929-7711 or 202-225-3901. Because time is of the essence, Congressman Baker plans to begin moving the bill through the legislative process quickly with action in the House Financial Services Committee, of which he is a senior member and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.
In the poor areas like the 9th ward. The state could help by raising houses that are salvageable to above 8'or flood level. Then the people who want to come back should be taught how to put together their houses.
there could be workshops and town meetings to discuss the architecture and construction of these historical shotgun houses.
A large building in one area of neighborhood would be a place to make doors, windows, get siding other materials. In this workshop, the older people could teach the younger generation how to make parts of the homes. all of the supplies would be ordered in bulk. It would really benefit the community..and give people who want to return a way to rebuild and at the same time keeping the integrity of the historical shotgun New Orleans style homes.
There really needs to be a way to save the poor people. It is not fair to trap people in ghettos and the projects. All the looting and bad crime that followed the hurricane...was so desperate...
throughout history...when situations get so bad that people don't know what to do anymore... all they can do is start rioting..
I drove past one of the worst housing projects yesterday on my way to a furniture store... and it was totally deserted. Not any of them wanted to return.
It is really clear that the only people who are here in New Orleans now are people who have jobs and careers.
how do you save people who have had a generation and their culture taken from them ??
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