Eagle photographer Travis Heying was in New Orleans covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He says that the thing that stands out most in his mind is people crying for help and no one coming. He also remembers walking down Convention Center Boulevard the Saturday after the hurricane hit and seeing a man driving a U-Haul filled with water bottles. The guy was an ordinary citizen who got tired of watching the misery on TV. He was one of the only people Heying saw handing out water that day.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Following on Phillip’s post below about whether to rebuild New Orleans: House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., caught hell when he wondered aloud whether it made sense to rebuild a city that is 7 feet below sea level.
But some urban planners and others are also asking these tough questions, and they deserve a hearing. Slate has a good online debate about the controversy here.
I’m certain New Orleans will be rebuilt, for many reasons, although it might be smaller. The problems for rebuilders still loom large, however: How will the unique character of the city survive? And how will future storm catastrophes be avoided?
Raising the levee, for instance, could simply make the bowl-like city more deeply inundated in the next Category 5 hurricane.
This will be an engineering and urban planning challenge of the highest order.
That said, just because New Orleans is vulnerable to natural catastrophe is not, by itself, a reason to abandon it. Under that thinking, San Francisco wouldn’t have been rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake — and today America wouldn’t have one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
George Friedman wrote an interesting piece for STRATFOR about the strategic importance of New Orleans, its ports and the Mississippi River. He wrote:
“The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products — corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port — including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on.”
As a result, he concludes: “New Orleans is not optional for the United States’ commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. The harvest is coming, and that means that the port will have to be opened soon. As in Iraq, premiums will be paid to people prepared to endure the hardships of working in New Orleans. But in the end, the city will return because it has to.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Fewer Boeing Machinists union members are striking now than during the last strike in 1995, though that’s because, with the sale of Boeing’s commercial division earlier this year, there are fewer Boeing employees. But the economic impact of the strike could still be costly, especially if it lasts very long. Already, Spirit AeroSystems has gone to a three-day workweek for most employees. Other local suppliers also may cut back. A long strike hurts everyone. Boeing and the union need to redouble their efforts to reach a labor agreement soon.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Even as the shock of Hurricane Katrina lingers and its survivors find their way to Wichita, life goes on in Kansas’ largest, most diverse and, we would argue, most interesting city. Just look at Tuesday’s agenda for the Wichita City Council. The proclamations to be made: “Wichita High School West Class of 1960 Day,” “Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month,” “Preparedness Month,” “Union Rescue Mission Week” and “Prostate Cancer Awareness Week.” The four speakers on the public agenda will address these topics: support for the arts, getting rid of pornography, how the city can help hurricane victims and help its own infrastructure, and “when there is no justice there is violence.” What a rich array of causes and thoughts.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
An Associated Press photo of a sign hanging from a wrought iron fence surrounding the St. Louis Basilica in New Orleans.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Andy Tompkins left his job as Kansas’ education commissioner in June and public schools opened in August, yet the State Board of Education continues to struggle to decide even how to replace him, let alone with whom. It deadlocked on two candidates in June. Then board members reportedly spent four hours in closed sessions Wednesday discussing how to rank candidates, with the conservative majority prevailing in a misguided move to value political or business credentials as highly as education experience. (Member Connie Morris had even wanted to give noneducation credentials five times the weight of other factors.) Tompkins is a tough act to follow, but this is getting ridiculous.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
