What if your city befell New Orlean's fate?

[Hitro]

I guess this is different from person to person and not how long you lived there. I still live within 10km of my birthplace, but I'd have no trouble at all to move somewhere else (as long as it's not Zürich ). Some people obviously just have a stronger sense of home than others...

True, I guess.

 

[stormbind]

My current city is London, where the threat of sea levels breaching aged flood defenses is very real. The Thames Barrier undergoes continuous upgrades (£4bn or $7.5bn in 2002) to keep up with rising sea levels, and may need to be abandoned in favour of a new solution. London has been flooded before.

London has been destroyed by fire, and by bombs, but people were always quick to return. I think humans are generally very quick to forget (aka very stupid). They generally follow a philosophy of "lightning never strikes the same place twice".

Over a period of years, buying ruined property in New Orleans may prove to be exceedingly profitable. Some of the richest men in the world made their fortune by bidding on ruined land.

 

[IglooDame]

My current city is London, where the threat of sea levels breaching aged flood defenses is very real. The Thames Barrier undergoes continuous upgrades (£4bn or $7.5bn in 2002) to keep up with rising sea levels, and may need to be abandoned in favour of a new solution. London has been flooded before.

London has been destroyed by fire, and by bombs, but people were always quick to return. I think humans are generally very quick to forget (aka very stupid). They generally follow a philosophy of "lightning never strikes the same place twice".

Lightning does not ever strike the same place twice, because after the first time, the place isn't there any more. But seriously, I am okay with people getting government insurance payments to rebuild the first time around, but when they build in the same place (in an area prone to the disaster that required the rebuild) they shouldn't get a second/third/fourth payout at taxpayer expense.

Over a period of years, buying ruined property in New Orleans may prove to be exceedingly profitable. Some of the richest men in the world made their fortune by bidding on ruined land.

And some of the most gullible men in the world have lost their money by bidding on swampland.

 

[stormbind]

For the subject of appreciating land value in New Orleans, I would like to bring attention to permanent infrastructure.

If New Orleans is like the cities I knew in Florida, there are a lot of surface electricity cables and telephone lines which would need rebuilding. That would present added costs, but the infrastructure which does survive (roads, sewers & water supply) makes the land a cheap place to build when compared with untamed swampland.

 

[downtown]

The only thing that could rock my old town back home would be a tornado. Id stay and help rebuild it either way.

Now, if something happened in DC (which is possible. Hurricanes, Terrorists, etc), and my uni was shut down, id have to live. I cant afford to live there. If I still had a house, id stick around. and if I was the mayor, i would stick around no matter what. I have to do the job the people trusted me to do

 

[Evil Tyrant]

I would evacuate during the disaster, but once the hurricane is gone, I would start rebuilding. Definitley investing in stronger levees.

 

[IglooDame]

For the subject of appreciating land value in New Orleans, I would like to bring attention to permanent infrastructure.

If New Orleans is like the cities I knew in Florida, there are a lot of surface electricity cables and telephone lines which would need rebuilding. That would present added costs, but the infrastructure which does survive (roads, sewers & water supply) makes the land a cheap place to build when compared with untamed swampland.

Very true. On a related note, though - some official said a day or so ago that were the flooding rise a couple feet more, the city's water system would be permanently out of action. Does anyone have any insight to that?

 

[classical_hero]

Of course I would leave. If I were mayor of Perth, I would be very much like mayor Quimby and leave the city as quick as possible to a better destination whenever disaster strikes.

 

[Mise]

I don't feel particularly attached to my home town, or the city I live for half the year, so Yes I would abandon it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to be remembered as the mayor who let London sink though. Newport can drown for all I care....

 

[Oruc]

hell no i dont ever want to leave, i dont think Sunderland is in danger of flooding tho

 

[Babbler]

First, I would clear up a misconception -- by "befalling New Orleans' fate", don't just mean being flooded; I also mean other calamities where rendered the city, either in part or as a whole, uninhabitable.

Second, I would like to explain my answers. As a private citizen, I would be very temped to leave; on the one hand, it is dangerous to stay, and I would lost many friends and things, so staying maybe psychological distressing. But I try to stay, after all, I still have SOMETHING; and I have to assist the people who remain.

As a mayor, I would take as more abstract take on matters. The city must be rebuild; it would have never been built if the location didn't provide some benefits. Moreover, cities existing in difficult locales derive part of their mere existence; a mere willingness to tough it out, to survive what every the elements throw at it. There are a testament to humanity's ingenuity.

 

[farting bob]

Yes and yes. My town isnt very big, its not that important to me. I dont give a damn about culture, heritage, tradition or any other rubbish like that, i would take the opertunity to move somewhere more interesting.

 

[Marla_Singer]

Yes and yes. My town isnt very big, its not that important to me. I dont give a damn about culture, heritage, tradition or any other rubbish like that, i would take the opertunity to move somewhere more interesting.

I'm sorry the discussion has turned into this.

The problem is that we cannot compare any location as being the same. It's not the same case if St-Ambion-sur-Vauzelle, small town of 2,456 people is destroyed, and if Paris, metropolis of 10.5 million people is destroyed. That seems rather obvious.

And stop about that cultural crap. The main reason I've always advanced to not abandon the city was that it would be more expensive for the proud and selfish citizen we're all to move outside than to rebuild what's rebuildable.

 

[Singularity]

I would go back. If people think values are lost, imagine the potential values that New Orleans has. Jazz, Mardigras, multi cultural richness, sea food - and probably much more I forgot. Hell yeah, I would go back.

The values in the city are still there - granted it will take huge resources to make it functional and whole again. And the emotional wounds will linger for a long time as well for many people. But in the end it's all a matter of both metaphysical and physical reasons to rebuild what can be rebuild. And to mend the emotional wounds.

Abandoning the city will just make those emotional wounds fester I think. And it will also send a jarring signal to other locations that's in a voulnerable location to the elements of mother nature. It's a matter of both local, regional and national pride to rebuild New Orleans as safely and quickly as possible. Even globally through the cultural value of Jazz and the associations it has with New Orleans...

I say move back in, strengthen the defences against the elements. I would like to take a whole nation as an example to how important and defining it can be to make a stand against looming disaster and the will to rebuild. Japan is basicly the ABC of potential disasters. Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, the only two places where a nuclear bomb has been used against population centres on earth and even Typhoons. They're still going strong with a high population and a very high productivity. Deciding to stay and wether out the storm and rebuilding may be a valuable lesson compared to allways letting the world around you prod you in whichever way it's pushing...

 

[GenMarshall]

As a citizen, I would not return back to the ruined city. As mayor, I would not abandon my job as a mayor of a ruined city and will take steps to rebuild the city.

 

[Bluemofia]

I vote as a private citize, yes, because I don't like the city I live in. Too many stupid people that bother me.

I vote as a mayor, no, because the mayor of my city is consiered very attatched to the city, and probably won't abandon the city, unless if it was nuked.

 

[Marla_Singer]

As a citizen, I would not return back to the ruined city.

Just a question to all those who won't return to the ruined city. With which money will get the loan to buy a new house elsewhere ? What about the job ?

Of course your house is ruined and should be completely remade, however wouldn't you like to remake in order to make it valuable or again, or would you give it for free to anyone wanting it ruined ? Would you lose your job and try to find something probably less good in another city, or would you try to keep your job once the company will be back in business ?

I think it's a lot harder for people from New Orleans to leave the city than you imagine.

 

[Frodolives]

well, I live in Covington louisiana, which is not too far from New Orleans, my last place of residence was mandeville, which is just across the lake, and before that I lived in Marrero, which was just across the river from New Orleans, and I go to New Orleans several times out of the year, so my ties to the actual disaster area are quite frequent. I love New orleans, i think it's an incredible city, but if I were living there, I guess it depends.
Okay, I would be stupid not to evacuate, or rather dead if I didn't.
Actually, I guess I would leave for good, I wouldn't be able to get back to the city for six months, my house would have been destroyed or definatly ruined, and life must go on. I would probably move to Mandeville, Covington or Baton Rouge, get a job there and restart life. Now, I do love New Orleans, I mean it's got a heck of a lot of awesome stuff like Mardi-gras, Jazz, Seafood, The place where Jefferson Davis had his wake, really cool cemetaries, Cafe du monde, canal street, and a bathtub that was used by Napoleon Bonaparte, but
why wait 6 months for that? I would much rather Live than stay in a motel for that long. And maybe eventually I might move back, I don't know, I'm not in that situation.

Edit: Marla, Most people who work in New Orleans no longer have jobs, so they would have to get new jobs anyway(like my Dad)