Hurricane Katrina

[justabeachbrat]

What has me dumbfound is how badly the alleged rebuilding effort has gone in the whole region.
Both my brothers were history majors and say the "how to do it" is there in the history books.
The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority, I think) brought dams, flood control and power to rural towns.

Work programs in the depression resulted in major construction projects, and jobs. Two I can think of were the high school in the town I lived for awhile growing up and I believe one of the San Francisco Bay bridges.

After WW2, the U.S. basically led the effort and helped rebuild war ravaged Europe.

Many of the people who worked on these projects, coordinated them, are still alive. Sure, they are old. But that doesn't mean their minds are dead. I have several relatives in their 80s, and they put us young-ins in the family to shame when it comes to book smarts. Mobilize these people, get them out of retirement, away from seniors communities and put their know how to work, before it dies with them. If we can lead the rebuilding of Europe, there is no excuse as to why were can't rebuild New Orleans (one of my favorite cities, although haven't been there since prior to Katrina.)

Many of the prior projects most certainally were political. Time to put politics in a box and get it done. As far as money, if we can fund an apparently endless ongoing war, we can rebuild the Big Easy.

My younger brother's suggestion was for New Orleans to become its own nation, be deemed hostile, get invaded by the U.S. and then have its rebuilding funded by the occuping nation. (He is a tad more political).

A personal aside: One of the grad schools I was seriously considering was the University of New Orleans, and was at the school the summer before Katrina. A family emergency caused me to return home, thus causing me to rethink being that far from California.

I wanted to volunteer to help after Katrina but a charitable agency was not exactly organized as far as getting potential volunteers there, at least in the area of Oregon where I was visiting friends, at the time.

Instead, a friend and I hit Wal Mart and bought up all the crayons (yay, at 10 cents a box), paint in paint boxes, kids paint brushes, paper, chalk, etc. we could afford and fit into my Neon and made individual art kits so kids could paint and draw. We dropped them off at a distribution point for Katrina victims. I think we did about 75. Wished we could have done more.