Four years and the media is remembering the aftermath of Katrina. The Lower 9th is slowly rebuilding, but are they safe for the next hurricane? I found this article interesting that the current New Orleans police commander urges people to leave the City in a future hurricane. Over 1,400 died as a result of the flooding of the City. The New York Times magazine did a long feature on the decisions made at the Memorial Medical hospital and explored the question of whether the individuals who died there were murdered or euthanized.
New Orleans lost most of its public housing and a large number of subsidized housing units. It lost a sizable portion of its poor population and many African Americans. There are still FEMA trailers, and a great deal of overgrown land. They never did get Memorial Medical hospital back, but at least the Saints came back. The levees are still not rebuilt to the point that they can withstand a major "storm event." There are vacant houses all over town much like the devastation wrought by the foreclosure crisis in Cleveland, but unemployment is 3 points below our fair city. And still we wait for the prosecutions for those who left the Big Easy so ill prepared. Do we need a truth and reconciliation commission for New Orleans? Someone needs to be held responsible for all of the destruction caused by the poorly constructed levee system, and the inability to evacuate the city. The City is still not restored after four years, and we cannot even tell the residents, "Never again."
Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment