Rebuild New Orleans?

[ctcf]

Not funny at all. I will die if New Orleans is not rebuilt. It is the birthplace of Jazz, and I cannot live w/o Jazz. Chicago jazz is no good. New Orleans jazz is the best.

 

Whats not funny? Newer Orleans or New New Orleans?

 

For the record I chuckled.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

There is much more to New Orleans than jazz. I appreciate your love for that part of its culture, but your rambling about it also trivializes many of the real reasons New Orleans should be rebuilt.

[frostwyrm]

The California analogy is not entirely accurate. No one will ever build a system that can protect California from earthquakes, so if you want to build in Cali there is no reason to wait. If NO is rebuilt, the water containment system will of course be upgraded to withstand cat 5 hurricanes. As a person looking to build a home or business in NO, your choices are to start construction now, or wait until the upgraded containment system is finished a few years from now. I'd bet the vast majority of people would rather wait a few years than gamble on the current levees.

[CuseCubFan69]

If the Towers in NY haven't been done in what...4 years? How quick can they possibly redo New Orleans? There will be too many people with their fingers in the pie for this to get done for a long time, if it ever does.

[hardcorecubfan]

New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz. I hope it is rebuilt. Chicago and New Orleans are great places for Jazz. I need Jazz or else I'll go insane.

 

Caracass venezuela ...excellent jaz clus

[frostwyrm]

If the Towers in NY haven't been done in what...4 years? How quick can they possibly redo New Orleans? There will be too many people with their fingers in the pie for this to get done for a long time, if it ever does.

 

Exactly, good example. That's what I was trying to get across in my post on the last page outlining some of the bureaucratic/political/technical junk that has to happen. By the way, I heard some NO residents on public radio who were evacuated to Texas saying they are staying there permanently. Barbara Bush also meant a bunch of people in Houston who said they are staying. Wait till the rebuilding drags out a few years. Even some of the diehards will start losing interest.

[wolf stansson]

New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz. I hope it is rebuilt. Chicago and New Orleans are great places for Jazz. I need Jazz or else I'll go insane.

And millions of people need homes that won't be destroyed again.

Not funny at all. I will die if New Orleans is not rebuilt. It is the birthplace of Jazz, and I cannot live w/o Jazz. Chicago jazz is no good. New Orleans jazz is the best.

Thousands of people have already died, one more won't hurt. Why so selfish? Maybe you just have a serious lack of perspective.

Hell will freeze over if New Orleans is gone. Jazz ain't the same w/o it. Same would happen if Chicago were blown apart. Jazz would never be the same if Chicago and/or New Orleans are gone. I hope New Orleans is rebuilt.

 

Bit of a jazz fan AC? I understand what you're saying, but jazz is hardly the issue. How about economic/geographic feesability? I'm a huge jazz fan, but there are more important issues to contend with.

[Roast]

Not funny at all. I will die if New Orleans is not rebuilt. It is the birthplace of Jazz, and I cannot live w/o Jazz. Chicago jazz is no good. New Orleans jazz is the best.

 

You know, you would think that one would realize that the Music, or style of music, rests in the musicians that play it, and not a group of buildings.

[imb]

they should rename it New New Orleans

 

Newer Orleans, IMO.

 

Orleans version 2.0

[wolf stansson]

they should rename it New New Orleans

 

Newer Orleans, IMO.

 

Orleans version 2.0

Wouldn't it be Orleans 3.0? Or New Orleans 2.0.

[OleMissCub]

Sitting in Cafe Du Monde eating beignets listening to the trumpet player 20 feet away and talking with friends and realizing that your shirt is now ruined for the rest of the day because of the sugar powder you have spilt all over yourself.

 

Getting a bowl of gumbo or jumbalaya and drinking a cold beer in a shady looking place off bourbon street and finding out that it is the best food you've ever had in your life

 

Standing next to the river listening to jazz musicians compete with the booming of the calypso's from the Natchez.

 

Watching streets gymnasts and mimes perform their craft

 

Having your fortune told after dark in Jackson Square

 

Wondering "could a place possibly be more muggy and humid than this damn place" but realizing it is ok because you are in the Big Easy and there is no place like it in the world.

 

Watching the Saints lose and break your heart in the superdome.

 

These are memories and experiences that have been passed down for several generations in my family and many other families in the deep south and elsewhere in America. I want to take my own children one day to New Orleans have them experience many of these same things. Sadly I know that no matter how well they rebuild it, it won't be totally the same. Hopefully though, they can keep some small semblance of this "vibe" or "aura" I get from the big easy so I can have my children experience it.

 

Sorry to be nostalgic, but I know that is how so many people in the area feel about the city. The thought of completely abandoning the town is just offensive.

[frostwyrm]

Sitting in Cafe Du Monde eating beignets listening to the trumpet player 20 feet away and talking with friends and realizing that your shirt is now ruined for the rest of the day because of the sugar powder you have spilt all over yourself.

 

Getting a bowl of gumbo or jumbalaya and drinking a cold beer in a shady looking place off bourbon street and finding out that it is the best food you've ever had in your life

 

Standing next to the river listening to jazz musicians compete with the booming of the calypso's from the Natchez.

 

Watching streets gymnasts and mimes perform their craft

 

Having your fortune told after dark in Jackson Square

 

Wondering "could a place possibly be more muggy and humid than this damn place" but realizing it is ok because you are in the Big Easy and there is no place like it in the world.

 

Watching the Saints lose and break your heart in the superdome.

 

These are memories and experiences that have been passed down for several generations in my family and many other families in the deep south and elsewhere in America. I want to take my own children one day to New Orleans have them experience many of these same things. Sadly I know that no matter how well they rebuild it, it won't be totally the same. Hopefully though, they can keep some small semblance of this "vibe" or "aura" I get from the big easy so I can have my children experience it.

 

Sorry to be nostalgic, but I know that is how so many people in the area feel about the city. The thought of completely abandoning the town is just offensive.

 

I don't mean to denigrate your sentimentality or nostalgia, but if the city is rebuilt I really think a lot of people like you will be disappointed with the finished product. It will have just as much of a phoney Disneyworld flavor as it will have of the old New Orleans.

[imb]

they should rename it New New Orleans

 

Newer Orleans, IMO.

 

Orleans version 2.0

Wouldn't it be Orleans 3.0? Or New Orleans 2.0.

 

Ugh, good catch.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Sitting in Cafe Du Monde eating beignets listening to the trumpet player 20 feet away and talking with friends and realizing that your shirt is now ruined for the rest of the day because of the sugar powder you have spilt all over yourself.

 

Getting a bowl of gumbo or jumbalaya and drinking a cold beer in a shady looking place off bourbon street and finding out that it is the best food you've ever had in your life

 

Standing next to the river listening to jazz musicians compete with the booming of the calypso's from the Natchez.

 

Watching streets gymnasts and mimes perform their craft

 

Having your fortune told after dark in Jackson Square

 

Wondering "could a place possibly be more muggy and humid than this damn place" but realizing it is ok because you are in the Big Easy and there is no place like it in the world.

 

Watching the Saints lose and break your heart in the superdome.

 

These are memories and experiences that have been passed down for several generations in my family and many other families in the deep south and elsewhere in America. I want to take my own children one day to New Orleans have them experience many of these same things. Sadly I know that no matter how well they rebuild it, it won't be totally the same. Hopefully though, they can keep some small semblance of this "vibe" or "aura" I get from the big easy so I can have my children experience it.

 

Sorry to be nostalgic, but I know that is how so many people in the area feel about the city. The thought of completely abandoning the town is just offensive.

 

I don't mean to denigrate your sentimentality or nostalgia, but if the city is rebuilt I really think a lot of people like you will be disappointed with the finished product. It will have just as much of a phoney Disneyworld flavor as it will have of the old New Orleans.

 

From most of the reports I'm getting, the French Quarter is pretty much unharmed as well as most of the area extending to the zoo area. There is some damage, and there will need to be some renovation, but much of Old New Orleans is still there and will be much like it always has been. Cafe Du Mond is still standing. Many of the old restaurants in the Quarter are still standing. Downtown New Orleans will need to be rebuilt. Many of the neighborhoods will need to be rebuilt. But much of the Vieux Carre is still there and will be just as we remembered it once the clean-up is complete.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

For those worried about losing the "heart and soul" of New Orleans, I suggest that you read this.

 

But the French Quarter was intact, most of the downtown looked easily repairable and the National Guard was establishing control.

 

 

And for details:

 

The area from the French Quarter to Audubon Park, from the river to four or five blocks on the lakeside of St. Charles, the historic core, was dry. Areas above that waterline were intact.

 

 

While there is going to have to be a massive rebuilding of some of the downtown areas and more particularly the areas that had build up along Lake Ponctatrain, the area along the Mississippi River which was the original area settled by the French remains intact. This isn't surprising considering the early settlers would have first settled on the highest ground.

[Derwood]

Sitting in Cafe Du Monde eating beignets listening to the trumpet player 20 feet away and talking with friends and realizing that your shirt is now ruined for the rest of the day because of the sugar powder you have spilt all over yourself.

 

Getting a bowl of gumbo or jumbalaya and drinking a cold beer in a shady looking place off bourbon street and finding out that it is the best food you've ever had in your life

 

Standing next to the river listening to jazz musicians compete with the booming of the calypso's from the Natchez.

 

Watching streets gymnasts and mimes perform their craft

 

Having your fortune told after dark in Jackson Square

 

Wondering "could a place possibly be more muggy and humid than this damn place" but realizing it is ok because you are in the Big Easy and there is no place like it in the world.

 

Watching the Saints lose and break your heart in the superdome.

 

These are memories and experiences that have been passed down for several generations in my family and many other families in the deep south and elsewhere in America. I want to take my own children one day to New Orleans have them experience many of these same things. Sadly I know that no matter how well they rebuild it, it won't be totally the same. Hopefully though, they can keep some small semblance of this "vibe" or "aura" I get from the big easy so I can have my children experience it.

 

Sorry to be nostalgic, but I know that is how so many people in the area feel about the city. The thought of completely abandoning the town is just offensive.

 

I don't mean to denigrate your sentimentality or nostalgia, but if the city is rebuilt I really think a lot of people like you will be disappointed with the finished product. It will have just as much of a phoney Disneyworld flavor as it will have of the old New Orleans.

 

Why are you so sure of this? What other major city has rebuilt itself in such a "phony" and "Disneyworld" way? Hiroshima? Dresden? Rotterdam? I'm not sure why you think that city planners would want to put up a gigantic tourist trap full of gift shops. Don't you think they would want to create a new city that reflects the dignity and history of that which has been destroyed? I know commercialism is rampant in this country, but I would be shocked and dismayed if the city ends up even remotely like you are picturing it.

[brinoch]

New Orleans will be rebuilt because it, and surrounding environs, has the 5th largest port in terms of export cargo in the world. It is aboslutely critical to oil imports, refining, and farm produce in the Midwest. As I recall, New Orleans and South Louisiana is the largest grain port in the US by a tremendous margin -- something like 56% of all grain exports go through NO.

 

Where there's a port of that magnitude, there will be a city.

[EricG]

Old New Orleans

does that make sense?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Old New Orleans

does that make sense?

 

In the context I used it, yes. Maybe I should not be so concise next time and instead say, the older parts of the city that is New Orleans has suffered relatively light damage considering the carnage that has been shown on the television.

 

By Old New Orleans, I meant the areas that were originally settled, primarily the Vieux Carre and Garden District areas that are nestled against the Mississippi River.

[XZero771679666304]

New Orleans will be rebuilt because it, and surrounding environs, has the 5th largest port in terms of export cargo in the world. It is aboslutely critical to oil imports, refining, and farm produce in the Midwest. As I recall, New Orleans and South Louisiana is the largest grain port in the US by a tremendous margin -- something like 56% of all grain exports go through NO.

 

Where there's a port of that magnitude, there will be a city.

 

I don't think the city has to be rebuilt in its' entirety to maintain the port. Most of the city was built in a terrible place, and it would be a mistake to restore in its entirety. This is the worst, but not the first time New Orleans has been badly flooded, and there is a reason for that. And it won't be the last. And even if it were rebuilt, it would never be the same.

 

I say salvage the Quarter and the higher areas that are still intact, but the destroyed areas should be razed and relocated. Sometimes you have to divorce yourself from sentimentality when making decisions like this. If not, this will all happen again at some point.

[frostwyrm]

What other major city has rebuilt itself in such a "phony" and "Disneyworld" way? Hiroshima? Dresden? Rotterdam? I'm not sure why you think that city planners would want to put up a gigantic tourist trap full of gift shops. Don't you think they would want to create a new city that reflects the dignity and history of that which has been destroyed? I know commercialism is rampant in this country, but I would be shocked and dismayed if the city ends up even remotely like you are picturing it.

 

Venice is largely a theme park. I've seen historical areas of German cities and I like how they were restored, but I wasn't familiar with them before the bombing in the 40's. As for New Orleans, maybe I'm cynical, but in America in the year 2005 I can't see any rebuilding project not having a cheezy commercial flavor. I've been to NO before the flood and even then I thought it was already overly commercial and touristy.

[Derwood]

What other major city has rebuilt itself in such a "phony" and "Disneyworld" way? Hiroshima? Dresden? Rotterdam? I'm not sure why you think that city planners would want to put up a gigantic tourist trap full of gift shops. Don't you think they would want to create a new city that reflects the dignity and history of that which has been destroyed? I know commercialism is rampant in this country, but I would be shocked and dismayed if the city ends up even remotely like you are picturing it.

 

Venice is largely a theme park. I've seen historical areas of German cities and I like how they were restored, but I wasn't familiar with them before the bombing in the 40's. As for New Orleans, maybe I'm cynical, but in America in the year 2005 I can't see any rebuilding project not having a cheezy commercial flavor. I've been to NO before the flood and even then I thought it was already overly commercial and touristy.

 

Ever think that you were probably in the commercial and touristy areas of the city?

 

Still, while I think they will definitely have to do something to entice people back to the area, I doubt that they are going to build a large scale version of Celebration, FL

[hardcorecubfan]

As a native of Louisiana and living only 60 miles to the west of New Orleans, I find the mere mention of the thought to be an incredible affront. I can't say more beyond that right now, because I need time to digest all that's been said in this thread before commenting further. Excuse me but this is an incredibly touchy subject. In short though: IT MUST BE RESTORED!!! And contrary to what most think, not all of New Orleans is a total loss. The city will not have to be entirely rebuilt.

 

would you be a nice compromise if it was rebuilt with the assurance from the locals that if it floods again the Fed. government is not remotely responsible for the cost of the repair?

[CDBears1259]

As a native of Louisiana and living only 60 miles to the west of New Orleans, I find the mere mention of the thought to be an incredible affront. I can't say more beyond that right now, because I need time to digest all that's been said in this thread before commenting further. Excuse me but this is an incredibly touchy subject. In short though: IT MUST BE RESTORED!!! And contrary to what most think, not all of New Orleans is a total loss. The city will not have to be entirely rebuilt.

 

would you be a nice compromise if it was rebuilt with the assurance from the locals that if it floods again the Fed. government is not remotely responsible for the cost of the repair?

 

I would have absolutely no problem with the government keeping their hands out. They have proven themselves to be very ineffective such efforts. The only government involvement I'd like to see would be help in the cleanup effort and tax breaks for those individuals and corporations that invest their time, money and effort into the repair/rebuild process.

[Careless]

As a native of Louisiana and living only 60 miles to the west of New Orleans, I find the mere mention of the thought to be an incredible affront. I can't say more beyond that right now, because I need time to digest all that's been said in this thread before commenting further. Excuse me but this is an incredibly touchy subject. In short though: IT MUST BE RESTORED!!! And contrary to what most think, not all of New Orleans is a total loss. The city will not have to be entirely rebuilt.

 

would you be a nice compromise if it was rebuilt with the assurance from the locals that if it floods again the Fed. government is not remotely responsible for the cost of the repair?

the feds just can't say that. People wouldn't stand for that suffering no matter how air-tight a "if you mve back heere and get hurricaned to death, we're not helping you" a contract got signed. It's a less likely scenario than how to manage dental care if magical fairies who distributed infinite amounts of hard candy popped up all over the ccountry.