"New Orleans Cries For Leadership
Decision 08
The New York Times had a scathing editorial today bemoaning the imminent ‘loss’ of New Orleans:
We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.
We said this wouldn’t happen. President Bush said it wouldn’t happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, “There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans.” But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.
There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don’t believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.
At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president’s liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words “pending in Congress” are a death warrant requiring no signature.
The Times makes its position clear: New Orleans must be rebuilt.
And of course, on some level, it will be; the port is too important to our commerce for any other outcome. Whether it will ever be the same city is another matter entirely, and I suspect it won’t.
New Orleans was a failed city before Katrina hit; now, many refugees from that storm don’t want to be found, and many that have been have no intention of returning. At best, the city’s population will be cut drastically. And yet, the Times has a point; I have no doubt that many, many dedicated, talented people are working diligently on returning the city to its pre-storm levels, but the bigger questions cry for a national dialogue of some sort, it would seem.
Questions like: should the areas of the city below sea-level be declared off-limits to reconstruction? If not, how much are we prepared to spend on improving the levees? What will the cost be? What are the alternatives to rebuilding as it was? What are the timelines, the relevant milestones?
It’s not that these questions aren’t being considered, it’s that they aren’t being considered loudly enough. There was pressure, in the immediate aftermath of Katrina, to appoint a high-profile ‘reconstruction czar’, someone with the name recognition and authority of a Rudy Giuliani. It’s still a pretty good idea.
At the very least, President Bush needs to devote a considerable chunk of time in his State of the Union address to updating the American people on the progress of efforts and giving a glimpse into what is being done. The Times is right about this much: no one wants to see an American city die from inertia. This is more than a local decision; it’s a matter of national importance.
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