esrosedotblog

WSJ?OTD

"When will New Orleans fully recover from Katrina?"

I said NEVER (there were a range of possibilities) and so did 64% of the respondents.

Never mind what the other 36% said.

They are probably the same ones who believed bushie yesterday when he said it would all be OK in time.

Liar.

They only spent down 44% of the money alloted.

Well, OK. It is a lot of money

It was easy to figure. 40 billion out of 100 billion.

The reason that I said NEVER is that there is no way that the political will of the city and state will resolve the many impasses.

Let's begin with the basic fact that NOLA should never, ever been built there in the first place.

Then filter in the info on the rising waters; the loss of the delta. The global warming.

But deep down, the city will not have the will to rebuild something that was rotten to begin with.

The seething corruption of the establishment and the reeling poverty of the dispossessed made the place a human sewer.

We were there some years ago and were not captivated.

Downtown, the unfinished and bankrupt hotel and casino loomed over the city scape.

Welcome to downtown. It stayed that way for many years.

To describe the French Quarter (where we stayed) as seedy is a compliment.

At night you had to 'be careful' in almost all but the most crowded neighborhoods. The cops were unreliable. So were the hoods.

And we knew about urban caution. We lived with it every day at home. But we we were nervous in New Orleans.

It was a strange place and it still is.

The question now is should it recover? And all but the most sentimental idealists will have to hit the pause button before they answer.

What makes us think that all the money dumped into this cesspit will ever get to the right places?

What makes us think that, even if it is rebuilt to an extent, it will ever be safe from the waters again?

Those dikes are still weak.

And so on.

I like the free market. I can see that some will return and set up a good safe life in places that are secure from the storms.

I think that the diaspora is really good for a lot of people; they are finding themselves.

Of course, many will fall through the cracks. Many of these are the same people who would fall through wherever they are. And dry and poor is better than wet and poor.

I am sad for all that happened and I am angry that it was so miserably managed. But I do not believe that the resolution is to rebuild the same place and way. Say half what it was.