Who was the one that thought that building a city below sea level was a good idea?

Question

Clearly billions of money for repairs and damage and countless lives loss was well worth it.

Answer 1

It's one thing to build it and then another to rebuild it again.

Geeeze!!!!

Answer 2

we should just give up.......

Answer 3

Way back when NOLA was settled it made perfect sense-- The city is inland from the Gulf ( check a map) and is on a navigable river. Both of these factors contributed to NOLA becoming an international shipping center, trade hub- not to mention the party capital of the free world !!!

Answer 4

Half of Holland is below sea level, and over the years they have managed to control the sea by using advanced technology. There are many places in the world that are in the same predicament, because cities  invariably evolve in low lying wetlands found often at the mouth of rivers. Cities evolve organically. Nobody points to a map and says here is where it should be. Only very modern places like Brasilia or Abuja have that distinction.

Perhaps after hurricane Katerina the city fathers should have called in the Dutch engineers to reconfigure the place.

Answer 5

Strange, but true: the Big Easy is, on average, eight feet below sea level. Tall levees to the north and south keep the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain from pouring into the center of the city. And an intricate system of pumping stations and canals keep the land dry, even after heavy rainfall.

Without this drainage system, much of the city would be engulfed in water. New Orleans occupies swampland created by millions of years' worth of silt deposits from the Mississippi River. As a result, the ground is wet and spongy, and prone to flooding from rainfall and hurricanes.

Ironically, all the pumps, canals, and levees that work so hard to keep New Orleans above water are actually causing the city to sink at a rate of three feet per century. Some scientists predict that by the year 2100, the "City That Care Forgot" will be under water. Does New Orleans have a deep-sea Mardi Gras in its future? Scuba gear or not, it's interesting to ponder.  

Answer 6

I don't know...why don't we ask Holland?

Answer 7

It was a democrat.  

Answer 8

Guess at one time they thought it to be a good idea, but of course now with the hurricanes coming so much it is now a different story