Comment & Debate
Jack Shafer. “Don’t Refloat”. Slate. 7 Sept. 2005 – The call to rebuild New Orleans’ levee system may be mooted if its evacuated residents decide not to return. The federal government, which runs the flood-insurance business, sold only 85,000 residential and commercial policies—this in a city of 188,000 occupied dwellings. Coverage is limited to $250,000 for building property and $100,000 for personal property. Because the insured can use the money elsewhere, there is no guarantee they’ll choose to rebuild in New Orleans, which will remain extra-vulnerable until the levees are rebuilt.
Few uninsured landlords and poor home owners have the wherewithal to rebuild—or the desire. And how many of the city’s well-off and wealthy workers—the folks who provide the city’s tax base—will return? Will the doctors, lawyers, accountants, and professors have jobs to return to? According to the Wall Street Journal, many businesses are expected to relocate completely. Unless the federal government adopts New Orleans as its ward and pays all its bills for the next 20 years—an unlikely to absurd proposition—the place won’t be rebuilt.
“Putting Down New Roots on More Solid Ground”. New York Times. New York Times. 7 Sept. 2005 – In her 19 years, all spent living in downtown New Orleans, Chavon Allen had never ventured farther than her bus fare would allow, and that was one trip last year to Baton Rouge. But now that she has seen Houston, she is planning to stay.
“This is a whole new beginning, a whole new start. I mean, why pass up a good opportunity, to go back to something that you know has problems?” asked Ms. Allen, who had been earning $5.15 an hour serving chicken in a Popeyes restaurant.