I think it will never happen.
Re-building something that was destroyed has a high symbolic meaning that goes beyond economical matters.

California has been hammered with fires, earthquakes, and mudslides, but people still live there, so I guess Lousiana will stay fully populated. We Americans are kind of like ants in that respect. If someone kicks in our hill, we get busy to build it back up in the same place as quickly as possible.

Lots of other places are hammered repeatedly. The west coast by earthquakes, the southwest and southeast by droughts, the midwest by tornadoes, many places by floods. Weather and nature are a part of life.

They are cyclic.

If you’re asking for opinions (rather than answers) then it is my opinion that it will never happen.

I don’t know why anyone would stay in an area that has so many corrupt politicians and KKK members.

The only real good thing about the state, is the awesome food, and all of those yummy-looking breasts, during Mardi Gras…

September 4, 2008, 4:16 PM EDT

Never. Everywhere you go there will be hardships.Floods, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes and crazy killers there are no perfect places. Louisiana currently has a great economy. Unemployment is low and jobs pay well in comparison to the cost of living. We are the sportsmans paradise.We have mild winters which are great for hunting. We play instead of shoveling snow. We have great food, music, people, and the best festivals you have every been to in your life. Come pass a good time with us sometime and you will see for yourself. “Lez le bon temps rouller”(Let the good times roll).

Remember the Canadian family that moved to the Falkland Islands, because they were worried about getting caught up in a war living so close to the U.S.?

I wondering who were the geniuses that decided on establishing a city that is primarily below sea level. Maybe they couldnt realize that a port city on the banks of the Mississippi and a stones throw away from the Gulf isn’t the best location if it is underwater for the majority of the time. Granted that New Orleans a key area of commence for the river but the land is basically marshes and delta.

@ Jack do they really have any politicians that are not corrupt? I think our new govonor Bobby JindaI is the best! Iam not in the KKK nor do I know any members. Always consider your source before bashing anothers persons home. By the way where do you live?

@indy318, http://levees.org/factsheet and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wln_iq5bc8k

@Indy318 New Orleans was founded long before it was part of the US. It is probally the most important port in the US. Do you realize how much stuff goes up the Mississippi a day? If not for New Orleans this country would be in a world of hurt. You think you pay too much for your gas now just let the superport get destroyed.

personally if I lived in Louisiana, and I would see myself getting tired of the hurricane hits after probably 1 season. I don’t think I’d stay for another season. I guess everyone is right though, there is probably no hardship that would absolutely force everyone out of the state. I would move to the midwest….like say somewhere like….Columbus, Ohio (I live there now for those who don’t know).

@gooch: My source is David Duke, a ball of scum who actually ran for the LA state legislature and got elected, even after being roundly condemned by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and even his own GOP (including Pres. Ronald Reagan, who told the Press, “Even though he is a Republican, I would not vote for him.”)

I have cousins who have lived in a Parish all of their lives, and the stories they have told me, if published here, would be deleted by a moderator (especially the ones told about Jerry Lee Lewis & his infamous, slimeball cousin, Jimmy Swaggart)

According to what I have heard others say about the “Sportsman’s Paradise,” the only residents who DON’T get drunk and party every night on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, “are the Alligators.”

No offense to you, personally, of course.

September 4, 2008, 4:41 PM EDT

I finally was able to visit New Orleans a year ago. What a fantastic place—even though half of the city is destroyed. Interestingly, there are old maps that show the low lying areas (the parts that were flooded out), with warnings not to build on those areas, since they will always be flooded. I suppose the levees are there to stop the flooding, but really, you can’t fool mother nature.

Keep the city alive and vibrant, and just don’t build the poor folks’ homes where it floods.

When you live near a river, build the houses on high ground.

@Jack David Duke is only one slimeball whom I do not know personally. What I do know is he ran in the late eightys if I recall correctly I hope you don’t think he represent the other five million people in this state.
I can also state for a fact as a 40 year resident “we are the Sportsmans Paradise” we have great hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, watersports and the national champion LSU football team”.
Again where do you live? I am sure I could find a few slimeballs from your home state.

@gooch: MY state has many MORE slimeballs, than are in LA.

You are indeed right about that!

LA has one thing that the rest of the planet does not, and wishes they DID have:

TABASCO®! A food group, all to itself.

September 4, 2008, 5:31 PM EDT

Being able to stay so close to family, our Cajun traditions, great food and music and the lifestyle and friendliness of the Cajun people are reasons I would never want to move away. We have no mountains or pretty beaches, but Louisiana is a pretty state in it’s own way. It’s really green. A swamp, with all of it’s animal life and vegetation is beautiful. There are beautiful plantations dotting river road. New Orleans is a very diverse place. It’s full of partying on one hand and loaded with history on the other. There is great music from zydeco to Cajun to jazz. We have the national champs, LSU and my favorite… The Saints! We have crawfish boils and fais do do’s! We have gumbo! If you have never had gumbo cooked by a Cajun, you are really missing out!

I have traveled many many places and have seen beautiful things. I would love to have a small home in Utah to visit often, but Louisiana with it’s hurricanes and evacuations will always be my beloved home.

Louisiana, especially southern Louisiana, is a fantastic place to visit and a terrible place to live. Yes, Gooch, I’m sorry—many, many of the politicians are horribly corrupt. Many of the legal systems and systems of doing business, especially in the New Orleans area, are horribly corrupt. And yes, I did grow up there. Frankly, with stories from things my family encountered alone, I can talk about a corrupt legal system, police, and education system. My mother had to FIGHT our public school to make them hire a math teacher! And I grew up in one of the best public school systems in southern Louisiana.

I love the area I grew up in, but I cannot simply be blind to the horrible problems it has. And if you really want to get into it, I’d be more than happy to discuss the problems with the state of Louisiana.

Having said all of that—I am fully behind the rebuilding of New Orleans and Louisiana every time a hurricane comes. Natural disasters happen everywhere, you cannot escape them entirely. And southern Louisiana is too full of history to be left to rot.

@EmpressPixie: I am well aware of the problems in Louisiana. I home school my daughter because the schools are so poor.

Look around the country and see how many other places are built on or near below sea level. Parts of Florida for example?

My one visit to New Orleans makes it clear to me why people go back. It is dripping with history, regional flavors, musical power. Perhaps, however, they could rebuild on high ground. I think I wrote on Fluther before that a historical map showed the area that gets flooded regularly, and that is what got washed out.

I left a very corrupt Chicago for a just as corrupt New Orleans, and couldn’t be happier. One of the differences is that nobody here has any b.s. illusions about the corruption; we aren’t being fooled or lied to about it.

There is a solid community here of people who enjoy each other and support the local economy by fostering entrepreneurial growth and supporting local businesses. The cost of living is lower – and yes, my own earnings took a relative dip as well – but the trade-off was a better quality of life with amazing neighbors, fantastic food, a huge yard…and I now work 3 or four days a week in my career instead of six or seven…because I CAN. I no longer “burn out” or feel the need to take vacations every two to three months: I am living my working vacation, and it is awesome.

As you can see by the map below, many of the historical parts of New Orleans are NOT below sea level. We are close, though. We are, at times, subject to the rise and fall of the Mississippi, but guess what… those floodwaters came from the wild blizzards and crazy deathly freezes as far away as Fargo/Moorehead, where my family originated. And when those places thaw…they flood, too, but you don’t often hear anyone saying they need to stop living in Fargo. http://mckaytomlinson.com/neworleans2008/NewOrleansIsBelowSeaLevel.jpg

I love this town for its strong sense of history and its full grasp on Living and the human condition. Part of really understanding and appreciating Life is understanding its fragility, which we all do here. So, the schools suck, and the politicians are corrupt, and sometimes the weather blows. I had that before. At least now I am part of a community trying to better itself through solidarity and progress, where even the people who work at the Post Office and airports are nice. Seriously. And, I have never had so many strangers just…share with me.

And yes, we know how to have a good time…with or without the alcohol. I’m not a drinker, but I still enjoy all the good times and history this town has to offer.