(Not sure if this belongs in GD or GQ, but given the potential for heated speculation, I’ll try GD for now…)
My understanding is that a lot of the homes that got destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing levee break belonged to folks in lower-income families; well-to-do areas like the French Quarter were spared because they were located on higher ground. Assuming that the city isn’t written off as a complete loss, will homes be rebuilt as they were for the folks who originally lived in the damaged areas? Or (and here’s where we veer into GD territory) will this be an opportunity for rich land developers to pick up prime riverside property at discount prices and build luxury hotels/condos/casinos/whatevers, thus further screwing the folks who are already getting screwed by this entire mess?
I’m not going to argue with your basic tenet, but wouldn’t it be nice if they found some place on higher ground to build those people respectable housing, etc. and give the low ground to the developers? Having prime real estate on the beach sure didn’t help those fancy casinos in Biloxi, did it? If they’re smart they will trade their beachfront for space on the bay or farther inland. Supposedly they were built on barges so that they could be towed back into the bay. That didn’t happen, of course.
A more direct answer is that everyone knows that there isn’t another city with a more corrupt government than New Orleans. Some others may be neck and neck with them, but they are among the leaders.
It’s my understanding that the casinos in Mississippi cannot be on land but must be on navigable waters. (Link is to pdf of Mississippi gaming regulations)
Yep, the governor of Mississippi was on the Meet the Press today saying that he will recommend that the laws be changed so that the casinos, like the hotels, can be built on land.
It has been my impression (subject to correction) that the riverfront property has always remained well-to-do or commercial and that the poorer neighborhoods that have been wiped out are back from the river and lake in filled bayou land where housing was always built for the working class.
This is not to say that there is no danger of what you suggest, but it is not going to be a matter where someone in a three-room shotgun had a beautiful view of the Mississippi (or levee base) and will be given $12,000 so that Mariott can make several billion over the next 20 years.
(One thing, not directly connected to the OP, that some people seem to keep missing has been that no Mississippi levee failed. The primary failure was on the lake and the two secondary failures were of levees designed to compartmentalize damage within the city.)
The idea that casinos can only be built on the water is a dumb idea and as I stated one of the justifications was that they could be moved to a safer place.
In our part of the state we have the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The powers that be decided that it wasn’t a natural water system and therefore we could not build any casinos. That is fine with me, but still makes no sense whatsoever. :dubious:
How are they being screwed? Even if they manage to get back into a city, the poor won’t have insurance on their houses to get them repaired. Sure, the rich get richer, but the poor will get some money in their pockets as they start anew elsewhere assuming, of course, that they’re not one of the 40% of Orleans’ population that rents (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050725/ai_n14800587).
Its a call to arms! Replace ever last hovel, shack and hut! Replace the grim and dirt exactly as it was! We want not one less…NOT ONE LESS YOU HEAR ME!!!..not one less poor or downtrodden citizen in our city! We have counted every poor and down trodden wretch and so we want a one for one replacement! Hell, we want MORE poor and down trodden! We want no new jobs created…no new businesses brought in!
God damn stinking rich capitalists! They are trying to raise our standard of living, give us cleaner schools, better housing, and more jobs! And they are trying to get rich…RICH I SAY…off doing it! Their sole motivation is GREED GREED GREED! WE ARE NOT GOING TO STAND FOR THIS!
Yes, xtisme, the only thing that’s kept the wealthy folks of New Orleans from improving the city in the first place were all those good-for-nothing poor people who were already there. :rolleyes:
And unlike the incident with GWBush and Rangers Stadium, the victims of Hurricane Katrina won’t have a wealthy Mathes family to help them try to recoup some of their losses…
What I don’t see is: How is it even possible to keep poor people out of a city? One of the almost implicit features of cities is that there are poor people in them.
Its not possible…and its not going to happen. Nor is it even implied in the cite you quoted. Its a fevered fantasy from our beloved OP. What they are talking about doing is, since the city is pretty much devastated, rebuilding and infusing new capital and industry into areas that didn’t have it before. But its not like the poor are going to be barred from entering the city on pain of death or something…well, at least not in this reality. In rjungs head? Yeah…could happen. (see, I can strawman too :))
Well, sure they could have rjung. What was in it for the ‘god damn capitalists’ though?? Besides which, you are kind of moving the goal posts from what we were discussing earlier, ehe?
Interesting…I haven’t actually looked in much depth at the issues and possibility of NOT rebuilding NO. I assumed it would simply happen…mostly because of its economic and strategic location. Some food for thought there…thanks Furt.
Riverfront property is the high ground there, and is already occupied by hotels/touristy areas. Houses of the downtrodden are back away from the waterfront, as tomndebb mentions below.
Besides which, you are kind of moving the goal posts from what we were discussing earlier, ehe?