Would it be smarter to turn New Orleans into Venice Italy? (Plaquemine: live in, safer)

[IloveNOLA]

Originally Posted by Vampgrrl

One report presented to Congress says that most areas in New Orleans have stopped sinking. If I could find it again I would...the Times Picayune carried it. And there is much of the city around the river area that is at or above sea level.

Only 2 big threats to New Orleans are wetland loss and crime.

You are thinking of the study done by Campanella. I'll have to look for it. He found that nearly half of the city is at or above sea level, and it isn't just the parts near the river, as there are numerous natural ridges running through the city and Lake Vista was reclaimed from the lake and built above sea level.

[Uc2it]

It appears, that this topic might hit a little too close to home for me to be objective. I'm actually not from the New Orleans area, but my family came into New Orleans during the 1840's. I guess do to lack of food in Ireland (potato famine), they originally settled in what's referred to as the Irish Channel section of New Orleans. To be more precise, 3rd and Chippewa Street. Back then the Irish were worth less then the slaves, and died in the thousands building canals by hand, etc. After the Civil War, we dispersed. Back to New Orleans, and Venice, Italy. I've actually even been there a few times. My problem is that, what happened to New Orleans was man made. For many years (over 30), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were warned that some of the levee's were defective. Like the 17th street canal. They did nothing. The MRGO (Mr. Go. or Mississippi River Gulf Outlet), was a real gov't mismanagement of funds. It also destroyed most of the St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward. We actually stayed thru the storm because we have too many pets, including 2 very old horses. I had a pretty elaborate weather station set up, that I got from the Pensacola, NAS. I just retired after 30 years in the reserves, and saw a good deal on some surplus items there. Most of New Orleans wasn't even hit by a Cat 3 hurricane. It was a very strong Cat 2, in reality. We had what is referred to as a 'camp', in Waveland, MS. Which was mainly just a small 2/2 house, up on stilts on a canal. Needless to say, not even the stilts remain. I guess why this topic is so near and dear to me, is because most of the country could care less about what happened down here. We applied for the lousy $2,000 FEMA money online. Our Postmaster opened the post office, and let us use his computer. I can't tell you how quickly we were turned down. So, I refused to pursue it altogether. I figured I had 50% disability after Vietnam and I didn't take that and my rational was, that I never asked a dime for anything until then. I obviously, will never make that mistake again. I understand the debate of, why should we rebuild a city below sea level? Then again, we just pissed away a half a trillion in Iraq for nothing. This is America, is it too much to expect we take care of each other and be companionate? I guess, that's a 'elitist' liberal agenda! Meanwhile in the presidential debate last night, 3 candidates disputed evolution. I seem to remember, that happened back during the Scopes Trial of 1925. I'm just blown away, that we'd even debate the need to have a New Orleans. I lost a 1st cousin in the 9/11 attack. He was up in the restaurant. His wife received a few million dollars from the gov't, in a pay off. It was to save the airlines from being sued. She (my cousins wife) actually signed a hold harmless contract. But, Harry Lee (the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish), finds it acceptable to block people on foot from crossing the Crescent city bridge to the Westbank using his police force. These people are taxpayers and American citizens, no different then you or I. Well then again, that's not entirely true. Some of their families were probably forced to come to America, long before ours came for freedom. Yet, Mitt Romney can't think of 1 thing wrong with America. As I starting out when I began, I guess this hits too close to home. I think, I'll probably stop adding my 2 cents to this debate. It's obvious, I only see red! I truly believe, 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' So America, I wish the same onto ya'll!

[triton1]

Originally Posted by SunnyKayak

I was watching of course some post Katrina special on TV and of course as usual it always about the problems and not the solutions.

So I was thinking wow New Orleans almost sounds like Venice with all the canals and topography in relation to all the lakes, river and ocean nearby why spend this money on flood walls but instead let the water in and build around it. The whole city doesnt have to be underwater but maybe the areas that are struggling to revive.

It would put a new meaning to New Orleans and be the most romantic city in the usa with all the tourist coming in wanting to ride gondolas

perhaps it would also have made more sense to just build New Orleans on higher ground.

[zaEUinLA]

That would be interesting!!!!

[holloway1010]

This is one of the stupidest threads that I have ever seen. First of all, all of Venice is right around sea level, so it being surrounded by water works, It does not work in a city where one spot may be 12 feet above sea level and another may be 8 feet below sea level. Second of all, the building's in Venice are built on water, while most of the houses in the lowest sections of New Orleans are on slab. Venice is not happy about it's current vulnerability to storms. If you watch stuff about it on the discovery channel they interview little old ladies who remember storms coming through and putting the city under 25 feet of water, worse than that even seen in most of New Orleans during Katrina, so as you can see, doing this would put New Orleans at even greater risk of flooding. If you look back in the history books, New Orleans has typically withstood hurricanes and stayed high (well not necessarily high), but dry nonetheless.

[Timmo]

Interesting idea!

The thing that's making most people vote against it is that you'd want to flood the city, which seems very irrational. But, there are areas, like Washington St and Palmetto, where you can create a Venetian ambience (with New Orleans flavor), so the canal doesn't look like a sewer drain.

What do you think of that idea?

[Vampgrrl]

Allowing water into streets is a very bad idea if they are inhibited.

Venice is built on islands.

Buildings are not islands.

Besides real business is conducted here, this still isn't a tourist trap only. I work in an office building on Poydras...

[tammyabear]

there are alot of pros & cons to this.

[Doogie]

To elaborate on a couple more reasons why not:

Downtown has power distribution underground, it would all need to be rewired above ground.

If you flooded the streets, it would be the neighborhoods that would have watery "streets", not downtown or the French Quarter (they are slightly above sea level). Are you suggesting that the tourists would want to go into neighborhoods instead of where they go now?

The water wouldn't "flow" as there is very little tide. Anyone from N.O. knows what happens when water stands in one place for more than a day - mosquitos (or should I say MORE mosquitos). Not exactly tourist friendly.

Unless, of course, you let the Mississippi River be the one that floods the area. If that were the case, the water would get very high in the spring and very low in the fall and winter. Which means sometimes you would have streets and sometimes you would have canals. That would be tough on transportation. Would you suggest having Hertz Rent-a-Boat?

If the city were open to flow from the lake or river it would still be vulnerable to storm surge. Let's see - the high ground (up to 8 feet above sea level) would need to be raised 17 feet to handle a 25 foot surge. That's almost two stories. In the low areas, up to about 15 feet below sea level, that means all of the structures would need to be 40 feet high. Not realistic for homes to be 40 feet off the ground. Even if you did do that, the tourists would get tired of looking up at all of the buildings.

Vampgrrl - Poydras office building, eh? Me too! I'll see ya at the - ummm - dock!

[GBee]

If they did that, only the French Quarter area would be dry.