I broke down for the first time in awhile today at work after reading the Bring New Orleans Back final report that was released this week. Their website is down up and running, and I managed to get a copy of the powerpoint presentation. Here it is converted to pdf. I guess it just hit me again how much of the city really will be lost, and how important it is to do it right.
This is a map of the city, with a key that shows the proposal for rebuilding:
Those purple areas scare me. The commission proposes to buy those purple “infill” areas from property owners at 100% of pre-Katrina value (minus insurance payouts, etc) to the tune of $12 billion dollars. The areas will be razed and rebuilt by developers. I keep seeing the Treme flattened and rebuilt with condos and apartment buildings, rather than the single-family shotgun homes it now has. The commission claims to want to keep the architecture of NO intact, but not once in the proposal did I see the words “single-family homes.”
I just know developers will want to turn large areas of the city into the popular “live-work-play” areas like Atlantic Station in Altanta. Altantic Station is a nice enough mall, in fact, it’s rather charming. But it is still a mall. And that’s all it will ever be. I couldn’t imagine living there.
I think the buyout is a great idea, but I want to see more proposals on what will be in there. Here is what they have in the powerpoint:
Notice how “medium-density housing” is labeled, but all other housing is merely “housing.”
Don’t get me wrong, I think alot of their plan is really great. There is a lot of potential in it. The transit idea is absolutely wonderful. There is so much opportunity to remake New Orleans better and stronger. I’m just afraid that it will be done at the expense of the history, culture, and charm that makes New Orleans what it is.
I don’t want to see the French Quarter made into a kind of Disneyland tourist attraction, and that’s what I’m afraid will happen.
I’m living and blogging in New Orleans and you’re right, it’s a bit scary.
But what the hell else can we do? We can’t just rebuild it back the way it was. We’ve got to take chances.
Peace,
Tim
There’s going to have to be hard decisions made (and soon) and I wonder about the mental/moral fortitude of those in charge in New Orleans to make the rigt decisions.
I work with a guy whose brother is a cop. I can assure you that the folks making those decisions have limited mental/moral fortitude. But that’s what built New Orleans in the first place. Not like the Treme was a paradise by any stretch of the imagination. Granted it did offer in-city housing for poor folks, but it was also dangerous, and not well maintained. I hate to say it, but it sort of reminds me of my brother, whose car was hit right before it broke down.