Alright, blogland, help me out here. In my last post, I offered that Ray Nagin, mayor of NO, swallowed one foot speaking from le pulpit du cocoa and shot himself in the other by retracting his statements. Now, Nagin tells a Lakeview audience that he will oppose the four-month moratorium on rebuilding as proposed by the Bring New Orleans Back commission and that people should choose to rebuild where they see fit.
“I’m a property-rights person,” Nagin said. Of a scenario with gap-toothed neighborhoods vying for city services, he said: “It’s not something I would recommend, but I’m not going to be moving forward with a four-month moratorium.”
The Problem: The man has no feet left to destroy. We need a plan, even if it isn’t linear.
Not a big fan of immediate consensus, I’m down with Nagin’s right to dissent: he’s a businessman who sees the possibility of flight from a city that puts the brakes on the passionate momentum of its citizens. Additionally, I readily perceive that most of the economically better-off and already-locally-employed residents of Lakeview (and other parts of the city) want to get back to their lives and jobs, and have decided to rebuild on the sites of their old homes.
But, a plan, even a non-linear one, is better than none. Is it wise for Lakeview residents to be left to their own devices when a large part of their neighborhood lies 5 feet or more below sea level and are as susceptible to repeated flooding as parts of eastern Orleans Parish? Who will oversee how these homes are rebuilt as per post-Katrina standards, ones that don’t exist yet? Should the city spend money to provide utilities to the jack-o-lantern, “one resident [that winds] up the only person living on a block?” How can law enforcement work efficiently in the absence of a populated grid? What about next year and the year after that?
In his latest speech, Nagin also said that “neighborhoods that come to a quick consensus on their plans for rebuilding most likely will receive the best results from the city.” Unless Nagin and the commission stick to their guns on this Consensus Towards A Planned Neighborhood concept, what I foresee is summed up in two words: Shanty Town.
Houses begin to pop up everywhere, not up to code and outside the realm of where the city now functions well. While the haves rebuild with insurance money and contractors, how do the have-nots do it? Are they going to be able to afford new and stronger homes in condemned areas? Already poorly-insured, who’s going to insure them now? Speaking of “off the grid,” there will be nothing to stop the criminal element from setting up shop as they see fit. Minus a vibrant and vigilant community atmosphere and a fully-equipped police force, crime will only prosper with hodge-podge rebuilding.
This scares the hell out of me.
My Recommendation: The city should allow communities with solid plans (raised land, raised houses, paid flood insurance) to go ahead. As for the rest of the city, wait for a well-researched map with the most recent flooding and topographic data. Swallow the hard pill and make smaller the footprint of the greater New Orleans metropolitan area. No jack-o-lanterns. No homesteading or Little House On The Bayou. No living off the grid. If that’s what a resident wants, that resident pay higher real estate taxes and a premium for utilities and police patrol. It is every human’s right to live where s/he wants, but it is not the responsibility of the city and its tax-paying citizens to cover his/her behind should disaster strike again.
“What defines a neighborhood?” [Nagin] read from the list of Lakeview residents’ questions. “You,” he answered.
Willy Nagin to Willy-Nilly Nagin in one week. What a stressful life the guy must lead. He signed up for it, though, and he makes his speeches. Yes, Ray, “you” is important, but so is a viable future. “You” cannot go through this over and over again.
“God bless Chocolate City and its vanilla suburbs.” — Parliament
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