Escape from Hurricane Katrina + Live Blog from N.O. Hell

[Rel]

True. Very true, Kane. Maybe I should just stop visiting news sites. They can be *so* depressing.

I know what you mean, Queen D. I crave information but every time I sit down to watch the news I get so depressed that I feel rotten. I'm trying to just focus on what I can do to make the situation better. It isn't much but this weekend I'm going to package up some clothes to take to donation sites and I'm going to have Samantha get together some toys to donate to the kids who have lost everything.

 

[Crothian]

I'm trying to just focus on what I can do to make the situation better. It isn't much but this weekend I'm going to package up some clothes to take to donation sites and I'm going to have Samantha get together some toys to donate to the kids who have lost everything.

thats the way to do it. i made a donation to the red cross, just do what you can. it does help

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Who's going to rebuild their house when there's no jobs? Who's going to rebuild a business when there are no people? It may be a self-fullfilling cycle. Not to mention that, at any minute another storm could come and wreck it all again. Even with massive protection, the city will still be sinking every year at, if I'm remembering properly, around 1/3 inch per year.

At this point talking about rebuilding in some ways is like talking about picking out new furniture when the firemen are still putting out your house fire. But what the heck.

It's going to be rebuilt. There's way too much natural gas and oil in the area for anything else to happen. It'll have lost some of the charm of course because you can't build on that scale without building bland. But it's going to be rebuilt. It'll probably return to it's old "crescent city" status that it had before the levees and whatnot were constructed.

A few solutions have been tossed out. One is to give tax credits or exemptions to companies that start up or relocate to NO, you could scale the size of the credit/exemption based on the number of jobs created. It'd turn NO into a tax shelter, not unlike Delaware (where New York City "lives" as a corporation!)

But it's more likely that the Big Easy is going to turn into a version of 1970s Pittsburg. But who knows? Maybe it'll come back as a tourist attraction. Goulish glass-bottomed boats and whatnot. One never can tell.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

this weekend I'm going to package up some clothes to take to donation sites and I'm going to have Samantha get together some toys to donate to the kids who have lost everything.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but hold off on that for a week or two. Supply lines need to be open for food, water, and medicine.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Here's something positive:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.impact/index.html

 

[jgbrowning]

At this point talking about rebuilding in some ways is like talking about picking out new furniture when the firemen are still putting out your house fire. But what the heck.

It's going to be rebuilt.

I really don't know. We'll have to wait and see what springs up where N.O. used to be.

joe b.

 

[Crothian]

It was only a mtter of time, but glad to see it starting

 

[jgbrowning]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but hold off on that for a week or two. Supply lines need to be open for food, water, and medicine.

You're not being a jerk. Right now people need food, water, and medicine more than anything else. It's far better to donate money than supplies as that money can turn into what's needed, when it's needed, and where it's needed. Donated supplies actually reduce the value of the donation as they require infrastruction, time, and manpower to manipulate.

And in case I sound harsh, it's far better to donate something than nothing.

joe b.

 

[Crothian]

I really don't know. We'll have to wait and see what springs up where N.O. used to be.

joe b.

it'll be rebuilt. That's what people do, they rebuild. it won't be the same and some areas might be leveled and not rebuilt but in some form New Orleans will be back.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

it'll be rebuilt. That's what people do, they rebuild. it won't be the same and some areas might be leveled and not rebuilt but in some form New Orleans will be back.

That's what I'm hoping for. New Orleans has such a rich and beautiful history that the thought of *not* rebuilding makes me feel sick. Though, I've never had my home destroyed...