The New York Times has an interesting editorial on the rebuilding of New Orleans. Got me thinking…

So should New Orleans be rebuilt? I’ve wavered on this one. The pure pragmatist in me says this location should be let go. Then a much smarter pragmatist realized that the last thing anyone needs is that huge an expanse of land with old buildings and nothing else on it. Just as bad would just be a plowed off mass of nothing. None of that is cool.
But the question posed by the Times is whether areas that were hit hardest by Katrina–and would presumably be hit harder if another storm were to hit–should be rebuilt.
It’s hard to put on the pragmatist’s hat because I know too many people that are from that area. Too many would bean just one, but I know a couple of others. Until you’ve heard the way people talk about their homes in that area and their affection for that area, I don’t think you have a clear picture of all the relevant issues. The intangible concept of a home changes the way I feel about this.
But I don’t think it changes what I think. It seems totally irrational to rebuild something that’s in perpetual peril. Remember, emotions are irrational. That’s neither good nor bad in that context, but emotional decisions aren’t too good for public policy.
But here’s where things get bad–those areas are primarily populated by poor black people, and i’m not keen on their displacement. I’m not cool with most gentrification, and I was afraid that post-Katrina was going to become the ultimate example of gentrification. Instead of rich folks coming back to a couple of areas, there was a chance they could have taken the whole damn city and turned into something between Las Vegas and Shangri-la. That wasn’t too cool.
Is it any better to turn that into some sort of park that would help wiht drainage? That there’s a tough one. that would serve some practical purpose, but we’d still be dealing with displaced folks.
As petty as it sounds, I think this is what I’ve come up with–I’m only okay with folks not being allowed to move back to that area if regular rich folks don’t come up as a result. Of course someone’s gonna get paid for building this park or whatever, but I think it’s pretty clear what I mean. Even though I’m not saying it clearly.
This is just a no-win situation for everyone but friends of Bush and Cheney. Would I prefer black folks to live in the eye of hurricanes or would I rather see their homes erased?
I’m not too keen on either. So for now, I’m leaning toward the solution that makes the most sense.