If New Orleans is destroyed again...isn't common sense that mother nature doesn't want a city there?

Question

I know many of you will say that other cities don't want to Orleans people, they have some of the highest crime rates of most US Cities, next to Detroit, D.C., they have also have the highest rates of dependency for government aide. It's sort of like nobody want these people...and I understand that but they have to go somewhere.

Maybe turn into a nature preserve.

your thoughts ?

Answer 1

"Oh why don't they ever learn...?"

California is no better, they keep building in fire zones, mud zones & earthquake zones. In L.I., NY, they keep rebuilding in West Hampton Beach & the eroding cliffs of the North Shore. Same with the cliffs of the Great Lakes. I'm sure there are many other areas people build where they shouldn't. Stupidity.

Answer 2

Its another sign that N.O. is a place like Sodom and Gomorrah... they need to clean up the sin in that city.

Answer 3

No it's more common sense that Mother Nature doesn't want a republican in office. The republican national convention is happening and mother nature is their to take them in and say no your not! I was kinda hoping they have it anyway that way it makes them either look worse than ever aka having a party while a huricane is happening or mother nature is there to take them to that god they so love.

Answer 4

I wouldn't necessarily put it that way, but I would think again about rebuilding there.

Answer 5

Mother nature does not have "wants".

Also, it is easily possible to have a city built below sea level.  It works elsewhere.  No reason to think it can't be done here.  

Your argument is a slippery slope that I don't think anyone wants to go down.  At least I hope they don't.

Answer 6

They should have just preserved the historic portions of the city and given the rest of it back to mother nature.

Answer 7

Actually, New Orleans does NOT have a high crime rate.  For example, the rate of violent crime in NOLA is half that of Boston.  New Orleans made the news after Katrina because drug dealers were killing each other over "turf", but the average resident (or tourist) doesn't have to worry about it.

In any event, rebuilding New Orleans is not optional. History, architecture, culture, and the fact the city is home to many people are usually mentioned when the topic of rebuilding is discussed.  However, those factors (while significant) are NOT why NOLA is important to the rest of the United States.

First, New Orleans is a metro area of almost 1.4 million people – not some small town that could be easily relocated somewhere else.

More than 35% of America's energy is either produced in Southeast Louisiana or imported through here, and the infrastructure is focused on New Orleans. What may be the largest oil field on earth was discovered offshore of Louisiana in 2006, and it will be exploited via New Orleans.

The Port of New Orleans is the largest or second largest port in North America each year (tons of cargo) and one of the top ports in the world each year. The Port of New Orleans is not replaceable.

More than 25% of America's petroleum refining capacity is in the New Orleans area. That percentage will increase due to a new refinery already under construction and the planned expansion of existing refineries.

A large percentage of America's non-petroleum chemical industry is here.

New Orleans is one of only three principal east-west transportation points for the USA, and the resulting convergence of water, rail, pipeline, electricity, and highway links is not replaceable.

A large percentage of America's ship building & repair industry is in New Orleans.

NASA builds essential parts for the space shuttle in New Orleans, and will build components for the next generation of spacecraft here. Other manufacturers (ex. Bell-Textron) have factories in New Orleans.

A large percentage of America's seafood comes from SE Louisiana, and the distribution network is focused on New Orleans.

And so on….

It is theoretically possible to move the industry and the population, but only at horrific cost. The Mississippi river, Gulf of Mexico, and the oil fields cannot be moved. To even attempt to replace New Orleans would cost Trillions of Dollars and the attempt would fail.

In contrast, New Orleans can be protected from future hurricanes with the expenditure of about $15 Billion (that should have been spent before Katrina) spread out over a period of a decade.

Note that New Orleans is NOT "prone" to hurricanes or being flooded. The last one to hit before Katrina was in 1965 and before that was in 1947. Neither of those flooded the city proper like Katrina, which was the strongest storm ever recorded to strike North America.  

There is a widespread myth that New Orleans is "built below sea level”, but that is not true.

Realize that nowhere is without risk. NYC and Miami are at more risk from hurricanes than New Orleans. Los Angeles and San Francisco are at risk from earthquakes and fires. Seattle is threatened by volcanoes and Tsunamis. The Midwest is hit by tornadoes every year. However, I don’t hear anyone claiming New York, Florida, California, Kansas, or Washington (state) be abandoned, or even not rebuilt after the next disaster.

However, people routinely claim New Orleans should be abandoned, or that we somehow don’t deserve help after Katrina.

Why is that?

  

Answer 8

Mediocre geography, mediocre people, mediocre mayor, mediocre police force, mediocre engineers. Give Atlantis back to Neptune.

Answer 9

Good question and logical considering they do have so much crime.

But where would they go?   I like the idea of a preservation and a state park but again where would all the people go??  I feel bad the good citizens who do have to live in poverty there where they are fearful of walking the streets and being robbed.  Many people were born and raised there and so many generations.  It is a shame that because of the corrupt government there, nothing gets fixed.  

Answer 10

U could build houses on stits and it's A good place to grow rice?..

Answer 11

Yes. But that wont play.

Nature preserve - excellent idea!  

Answer 12

Katrina was NOT the cause...it was the water after Katrina.  Bottom line, the republicans were more interested in a road to nowhere in Alaska....but Coleman stopped that legislation.  Funny that Palin would take credit...oh well, just more republican hype!  

The levees in New Orleans broke after Katrina went through...I don't agree with your assessment that nobody wants these people.  It is just the republican transfer of wealth to the wealth...this year it is New Orleans, it could be in YOUR city and state soon.  

Answer 13

They are fighting nature and Mother Nature is a lot more powerful.

It doesn't take much common sense to know you are asking for trouble building below sea level right on the coast.

New Orleans needs to be moved up stream.

Answer 14

I'm just glad I can get a good bowl of gumbo where I'm at.

Answer 15

this isn't a politics/election question.

Answer 16

Yes. Puny humans thinking they can control the most poweful woman on the planet.

She must have told McCain something.

They should let it revert to the swamp it is.

Answer 17

No one said these yanks were bright.

They gave the worst of their country to the poor...and keep sending them back there...hoping they'll get wiped out no doubt.

Their SHAME, and only their shame...got them moving to build new dykes...but they've dragged it on SO LONG that they are nowhere near ready.

THIS IS A SIGN...but people are so DUMB they wouldn't even recognize God if they met him at the Pearly Gates.

Answer 18

Who's the idiot that built New Orleans 25 feet below sea level.  I say just bulldoze the whole town and turn it into a wild life refuge.

Answer 19

The best thing that could happen to New Orleans is to let the gators and the mosquitoes have it back. A city should never have been built there in the first place.

Many of the people that made New Orleans the cultural centre that it once was have moved on. If more leave it will become an empty shell. The residents are beginning to realize that even their own Federal Government has abandoned them.