[StBernard] Houses of Straw

[Westley Annis]

Editorial - The New York Times
Houses of Straw 
Published: April 14, 2006

Men and women, families with small children and elderly relatives who have
never lived outside of southern Louisiana are exiles in their own country
more than seven months after Hurricane Katrina made land. They want answers
about where and how to rebuild, and some, especially a vocal minority,
already know what they want said: just the way it was before. This page has
been heartened by the Bush administration's support for the rebuilding
effort, including generous federal financing for homeowners who want to
restore their old neighborhoods. But compassion needs to be leavened with
responsibility. Officials need to get the word out that things will not be
the way they were before.

As more and more reports about the sinking landscape of southern Louisiana
and the weakened system of levees and floodwalls come out, it is clearer and
clearer that it was never as safe as we assumed, even before the hurricane
punched holes in the storm defenses. 

Right now it appears that no one is making any of the hard choices about
which places are safe, which are unsafe and which can be made safe. On
Wednesday, federal officials came out with a set of rebuilding guidelines
that were far more lenient than anticipated. The guidelines are based on the
assumption that the Army Corps of Engineers will provide a better levee
system. The only real demand is that some structures will have to be raised
at least three feet off the ground. 

Many older houses will be grandfathered and require no elevation, some
because city officials took pity on their owners and lowered the damage
assessments in an arbitrary process meant to ease the burden on those who
would rebuild. Just a quick glance at the watermarks on the sides of damaged
houses in the city raises the question of why just three feet, when water
reached the second floors in many instances and sometimes even higher.
Allowing people to move back into deathtraps is not doing them a favor. Yet
it is a driving factor in the debate over the future of New Orleans right
now.

We appreciate the Bush administration's commitment to strengthening the
levees. But even the most optimistic assessment calls for that process to be
complete in 2010. That's an awful lot of "in the meantime" for returning
residents. 

Have we learned any lessons from Katrina if the plan is to move back into
the same houses and the same neighborhoods and trust the Army Corps of
Engineers? Just like the mayoral campaign, the rebuilding process has been
blurred by racial politics, especially the accusation of a bias against
rebuilding African-American neighborhoods. It will fall to the state body -
the Louisiana Recovery Authority - to use its buyout and reconstruction
money to build a safer city. If it doesn't have the will to do so, we could
see another disaster like Katrina.

Nature will make no distinctions by skin color when it sends its next blast
of wind and water at the city. It will not yield to good intentions. New
Orleans should surpass what is adequate and expedient. It should be built as
a model for how to protect our cities in the future, not a cautionary tale
about trying to dwell in the past.