Say goodbye to New Orleans
AS WE NEAR the 100-day mark since Hurricane Katrina hit, it’s time we ended our national state of denial and abandon New Orleans for good.
We should call it quits not because New Orleans can’t be made relatively safe from hurricanes. It can be. And not because to do so is more trouble than it’s worth. It’s not. Instead, the hammers and brooms and chain saws should all be put away and the city permanently boarded up because the Bush administration has already given New Orleans a quiet kiss of death.
Although he has encouraged city residents to return home and declared “we will do whatever it takes” to save the city, President Bush last month refused the one thing New Orleans simply cannot live without: a restored network of barrier islands and coastal wetlands. </i>
Continue reading Giving up on New Orleans.
