ESPN and NO.

[bat123]

What's the point of luring people back if the next big storm floods the city again? I'd sure hesitate to rebuild in a city below sea level until the levees were built up.

I'd like to think people had more foresight than that, but I'm probably wrong.

Louisiana officials have begged for years for money to strengthen the levees to be able to handle a strong storm surge. Every time, they were turned down.

I'd have thought that the sight of one of our country's major cities in a third-world state would have shown the importance of the strength and integrity of the levees, but I'm probably wrong about that too.

Then why rebuild in the same spot?

 

[NYBamaFan]

I take it your major reconstruction strategy would be to lure people back to the city with the promise of no jobs?

Anyone that moved back into the city or repaired their homes when the levees have not been adequately repaired deserves whatever might befall them.

You cannot rebuild the city until you have made it safe to occupy; unless, of course, your citizens are stupid enough to re-elect Nagin.

But, hey, what do I know? Either way, NO will not see any of my cash again. That is, until the Federal Government bails them out again - with my money...

 

[jeremy]

You guys realize that you're mad at the media for just being the media, right? If theres a tragedy, they are going to exploit it. If theres drama, they are going to put it right in your face. The media will raise someone to the heavens and then break them down until they are nothing just as quickly. If the Saints dont make the playoffs, thatll be the end of it. Theyll forget about them and pack up their cameras into their little van and move on to the "next big thing".

 

[NYBamaFan]

You guys realize that you're mad at the media for just being the media, right? If theres a tragedy, they are going to exploit it. If theres drama, they are going to put it right in your face. The media will raise someone to the heavens and then break them down until they are nothing just as quickly. If the Saints dont make the playoffs, thatll be the end of it. Theyll forget about them and pack up their cameras into their little van and move on to the "next big thing".

The Saints have a very good team this year. They should make the playoffs. If they are smart, they will leverage their success into a move out of NO...

 

[jeremy]

The Saints have a very good team this year. They should make the playoffs. If they are smart, they will leverage their success into a move out of NO...

The Saints leaving New Orleans? They wont do it. At least not anytime soon. I can see the news headlines now: Bush sends hurricane, bombs levees, and makes the Saints leave the big easy.

 

[NYBamaFan]

The Saints leaving New Orleans? They wont do it. At least not anytime soon. I can see the news headlines now: Bush sends hurricane, bombs levees, and makes the Saints leave the big easy.

They just need to take a page from history and pack up the trucks overnight. Don't leave a forwarding address - just get out of town...

 

[Hankster2]

Anyone that moved back into the city or repaired their homes when the levees have not been adequately repaired deserves whatever might befall them.

You cannot rebuild the city until you have made it safe to occupy; unless, of course, your citizens are stupid enough to re-elect Nagin.

But, hey, what do I know? Either way, NO will not see any of my cash again. That is, until the Federal Government bails them out again - with my money...

I think the only accurate comment in your post is the first sentence of the third paragraph.

There are areas of the city that are occupiable and safe and areas that were never touched by flood waters. People are courageously moving back to New Orleans to rebuild and you're calling them "stupid". Good for you man. Great argument. Your pioneer spirit moves me. The Army Corps of Engineers admitted to screwing up on the engineering of the levees and you're bitter because some of your taxpayer money has to go to help rebuild (as it should) and you don't agree with who they elected for Mayor.

Lemme see if I'm following your logic correctly: if a Hurricane hit Tuscaloosa and damaged the stadium, you'd become a Tennessee fan.

Any city planner will tell you this needs to be done in phases. Restore a few levees, then get a few businesses to come back, then a few residents, then restore some more levees, then some more businesses, then... It doesn't happen overnight.

Is your idea to invest billions to upgrade all the levees then see if people will come back then (if they do) see if some businesses will come back to give them jobs? That's a bit of a gamble if you ask me, but then again I'm not a city planner.

 

[NYBamaFan]

LOL - you are entitled to your opinion...

 

[Hankster2]

Being born and raised in New Orleans I find myself easily provoked by this topic. Suffice it to say I disagree with many of the remarks made which clearly demonstrate that the poster has little to no knowledge of what is actually going on in New Orleans (not talking just about tragedy and human drama but also the infrastructures that are being rebuilt and the overall plans to bring New Orleans back online). New Orleans needs as much airtime as it can get and if it's inconvenient and you feel it's not your problem, then don't watch OUR team. I'm sure there's a basball game on some other channel.

I'm also not sure how Nagin's "Chocolate City" comment disqualifies New Orleans for federal aid. Is that in the Constitution somewhere?

I'll just say that I disagree and now I'm leaving the thread before I get myself in trouble.

 

[Hankster2]

Oh, and sorry if I've offended anyone... this topic just fired me up a little.

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Since my motion died for lack of a second...

It takes money to build things. The levee systems were designed by committee, built with public funds and maintained by people with no accountability whatsoever.

The National Football League is a business, ladies and gentlemen. It is designed to make money and so far, it is the single most successful professional sports organization on the planet.

You can get into the chocolate city bullspit if you want to. And drag in that idiot Nagin along the way. But the NFL used its business acumen to determine whether or not the league needed to return to the city.

You know the outcome of those deliberations.

You can either accept the fact that New Orleans is important to the NFL and the Gulf Coast, or you can reject the fact that the NFL knows what the [four stars] it's doing.

And by the Gulf Coast, I mean the area from Pensacola to Port Arthur. Not all of us have love for Nagin, or New Orleans politics, or the socialist disaster that fell apart so quickly when the storms hit. But the people here love the Saints and will fill the Dome to show their love. As long as they do, they're private sector money. And private sector money is what it will take to make that city great again.

New Orleans will be back. It will be a smaller, more affluent, more conservative and whiter city. Those are economic realities. But the Saints will be back too.

Last night was fun. Y'all should have been there.

 

[BocaLance]

Just think of what a REAL downer last night would have been had New Orleans been playing the Detroit Lions. :biggrin2:

 

[NYBamaFan]

Being born and raised in New Orleans I find myself easily provoked by this topic. Suffice it to say I disagree with many of the remarks made which clearly demonstrate that the poster has little to no knowledge of what is actually going on in New Orleans (not talking just about tragedy and human drama but also the infrastructures that are being rebuilt and the overall plans to bring New Orleans back online).

So you want to rebuild in spite of the fact that the levees are less safe than they were before Katrina? I guess that you are counting on the government to bail you out again if they fail again. Yeah, that makes sense - for you.

New Orleans needs as much airtime as it can get and if it's inconvenient and you feel it's not your problem, then don't watch OUR team. I'm sure there's a basball game on some other channel.

No city has received nearly as much air time as NO in the last year. No city has done less with the resources offered than NO. Drive up and down the MS and AL coast and see the amount of work done and being done, then drive back to NO. You will note a difference. NO is not safe, and even the clean-up is incomplete, but move back.

I'm also not sure how Nagin's "Chocolate City" comment disqualifies New Orleans for federal aid. Is that in the Constitution somewhere?

The government is funded by the taxpayers. Any money distributed to cities like NO comes from my pocket. I am supposed to have a say where it goes. I don't want a penny of my money going to a racist city that elects a racist mayor. I don't care if NO ceases to exist altogether. As for the constitution, there is no mention of helping a city rebuild after a disaster like this. Every city that has been destroyed in American history has been rebuilt using private funds until now. Why should that change?

NO is a perfect example of Americans slipping fully into dependance on the government. The next step is back into bondage...

 

[GulfCoastTider]

So you want to rebuild in spite of the fact that the levees are less safe than they were before Katrina? I guess that you are counting on the government to bail you out again if they fail again. Yeah, that makes sense - for you.No city has received nearly as much air time as NO in the last year. No city has done less with the resources offered than NO. Drive up and down the MS and AL coast and see the amount of work done and being done, then drive back to NO. You will note a difference. NO is not safe, and even the clean-up is incomplete, but move back.

Actually, as an engineer who consulted on the levee repairs, I can assure you that the levee systems are more safe now than they were prior to the storm (which explains my absence from this site for the first seven months of this year). Some of the problems were design-related and the ones that could be fixed were. Some of the other problems were maintenance-related, and almost all of those have been fixed. If another Katrina came the same result may or may not occur. But if a lesser storm were to follow the same path, the systems would probably perform quite well.

The government is funded by the taxpayers. Any money distributed to cities like NO comes from my pocket. I am supposed to have a say where it goes. I don't want a penny of my money going to a racist city that elects a racist mayor. I don't care if NO ceases to exist altogether. As for the constitution, there is no mention of helping a city rebuild after a disaster like this. Every city that has been destroyed in American history has been rebuilt using private funds until now. Why should that change?

This is not true. San Francisco was rebuilt using public and private sector funds after the 1906 and 1989 quakes. Galveston was raised using public and private sector funds after the 1900 Hurricane. Parts of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi Valley benefitted from public recovery funds after the flood of 1927. The Gulf Coast after Betsy, Camille, Frederic, Erin, Opal, Ivan. If you want to find constitutional blessing for those kinds of actions, google "general welfare." Besides, there's a naturally human and naturally American desire to help people in need.

You'll get no argument from me regarding Ray Nagin. The man is this close to insanity. The line between capable and incompetent was crossed long ago. Racist? No. He doesn't consider blacks to be superior. He is a bigot. New Orleans will recover in spite of him, not because of him. The same with Gov. Blank-o.

NO is a perfect example of Americans slipping fully into dependance on the government. The next step is back into bondage...

I'm not going to argue about the failure of the socialist welfare system that the city was addicted to.

However, when the government constructs a flood protection system and certifies it to be safe to live behind, and that system fails miserably, then the government has both a legal and moral responsibility to make the people whole again.

 

[NYBamaFan]

Actually, as an engineer who consulted on the levee repairs, I can assure you that the levee systems are more safe now than they were prior to the storm (which explains my absence from this site for the first seven months of this year). Some of the problems were design-related and the ones that could be fixed were. Some of the other problems were maintenance-related, and almost all of those have been fixed. If another Katrina came the same result may or may not occur. But if a lesser storm were to follow the same path, the systems would probably perform quite well.

Sorry, not true - the levees which sit on soft earth are more vulnerable than before. There was certainly some earth washed away that has not been replaced. Those levees are not safe. The gaps were filled, but the entire structures (for the earthen levees) need to be razed and reconstructed using modern technology.

This is not true. San Francisco was rebuilt using public and private sector funds after the 1906 and 1989 quakes. Galveston was raised using public and private sector funds after the 1900 Hurricane. Parts of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi Valley benefitted from public recovery funds after the flood of 1927. The Gulf Coast after Betsy, Camille, Frederic, Erin, Opal, Ivan. If you want to find constitutional blessing for those kinds of actions, google "general welfare." Besides, there's a naturally human and naturally American desire to help people in need.

LOL - do some research. Over 95% of the funds were private. I can't speak to 1989 because the city was not destroyed so I didn't look into it. The highways were, which is a government responsibility (as we have defined them)

You'll get no argument from me regarding Ray Nagin. The man is this close to insanity. The line between capable and incompetent was crossed long ago. Racist? No. He doesn't consider blacks to be superior. He is a bigot. New Orleans will recover in spite of him, not because of him. The same with Gov. Blank-o.

Anyone who wants a city of blacks, run by blacks, is a racist. They need not think that blacks are superior to be racist. They just need to show favoritism for one race over others in policy. Nagin has done so. He is a racist.

I'm not going to argue about the failure of the socialist welfare system that the city was addicted to.

This is exactly why NO should not be rebuilt...
However, when the government constructs a flood protection system and certifies it to be safe to live behind, and that system fails miserably, then the government has both a legal and moral responsibility to make the people whole again.[/QUOTE]

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Sorry, not true - the levees which sit on soft earth are more vulnerable than before. There was certainly some earth washed away that has not been replaced.

You must have examined a different set of boring logs than I did. The logs I saw showed core samples of solid compacted fill in all of the locations that did not fail. All the locations that did fail have been backfilled and compacted, with new sheet piles. The levees are safer now than they were before Katrina.

LOL - do some research. Over 95% of the funds were private. I can't speak to 1989 because the city was not destroyed so I didn't look into it. The highways were, which is a government responsibility (as we have defined them)

I could be wrong about the 1906 quake. I'm pretty sure about the Galveston project, the 1927 floods, and other disasters mentioned.

Anyone who wants a city of blacks, run by blacks, is a racist. They need not think that blacks are superior to be racist. They just need to show favoritism for one race over others in policy. Nagin has done so. He is a racist.

You say tomato. I say tomahto. I define racism as a philosophy that holds one's own race to be superior to all others. Nagin is a bigot, in my mind. An incompetent bigot, with questionable mental faculties. But still just a bigot.