Thursday, August 20, 2015

This Is My Minority Report


I didn’t realize when I traveled to New Orleans last week that the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina was just around the corner.  On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, causing over $1 billion dollars and damages, flooding over 90% of New Orleans, and ultimately killing close to 2,000 people.

Earlier this quarter, we watched a video on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Although I’ve seen that video countless times, I’ll be honest when I say that I wasn’t really thinking too much about it prior to traveling there.  I knew the government had been agonizing slow in its initial response to the disaster.  Even several years later, the lack of full-scale recovery efforts was obvious, but after all this time I just assumed they were pretty much back to normal – but I was wrong.

There have been many improvements since Hurricane Katrina hit.  The levees have been repaired and improved upon, and the city claims their water pumps can now pump millions of gallons of water out of the city in a mere matter of minutes. Job growth is up, crime is down and along the 9th Ward – where the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was most devastating, you can see re-building going on.

That being said, what I found was a city – a most importantly a people – who have still not quite recovered.  Signs of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are still found everywhere – from the fading water lines you can still see on many public buildings, to the FEMA markings left on homes that designated whether or not a body had been found there.  There is literally water everywhere.  Lake Pontchartrain, which famously began draining into the city when the levees broke, is so much larger than I imagined.  It many places, the water table is just 16 inches below the ground! Almost every single native person I spoke to brought up Hurricane Katrina.  Many asked me to write my legislature and ask them to support recovery efforts.  For most of the people who had lived through Hurricane Katrina, the effects of their nightmare were still evident in the way they spoke about what life had been like before, and in the sincere fear in their eyes when they thought about the approaching hurricane season. 

New Orleans the city is older than America.  There aren’t too many cities in America that have more of our national history wrapped up within their city limits than New Orleans – certainly on par with Washington D.C. and Boston.  For a history junkie like me, it was hard to imagine our country without the multi-cultural, historic vibrancy of New Orleans.  It was also easy to see how we could lose New Orleans.  No matter how much I heard and saw about the levee improvements, I couldn’t get over the fact that we were literally on the edge of America.  The ocean is one of my favorite places on the planet, but even I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that it wasn’t “safe” to be living in New Orleans.  So my question to you this week is, “Do you think we should be investing more into the recovery in New Orleans?  If so, who should be responsible for it – the federal government (our tax dollars), or private donations?”  Answers are due no later than Wednesday, August 26th, 2015.    

25 comments:

  1. There is a lot to still be done after the devastation of hurricane Katrina hit. We should consider the possibility of it happening again but who is responsible it is up to everyone to decide to make it known of using precautions and taking that step to get things in order and organized in case.

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  2. i think we should put more money into helping fix it. but not just New Orleans but other spots that have been damaged due to hurricanes. after watching that video i didn't realize how bad it was, because i was in 6th grade when it happened.

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  3. Personally, I'd agree that it isn't safe to be at that land level so close to the water table. Much is still to be done in this city. It will take both private attention and federal efforts to not only reinforce the fortress but to reclaim New Orleans back from fear. Major advancements in their defense against these storms need to go through strenuous regulation standards. Then these people surrounded by water can feel safe.

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  4. I personally think that the federal government should be responsible to help New Orleans more with recovery and prevention. However, other places get hurricanes too, so I think the government needs to help them as well, to prevent other cities going through what New Orleans went through. I never knew how bad hurricanes really were and how much damage they cause, long term. It is so sad that all of those people went through hurricane Katrina because they will never forget about it.
    Brianna McGee

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  5. I don't really have an opinion on whether taxpayers money should be used. I think that there are two sides of the coin and there are many different possibilities. I think private donation is definitely a route to go but I think that the federal government should have provided a more efficient and better response to the needs when Katrina hit. I really feel that more could have been accomplished and provided for the citizens there at the beginning and in the few years following that there shouldn't be as much that needs to be done 10 years later.

    I don't think it is just Katrina though; any city that experiences natural disasters should be able to find aid from the government. It's as simple as putting yourself in their shoes, what would you want to see happen? What would you need provided for you? Anyone who goes through a crisis should have someone there for support and it isn't any different in disasters such as these. I think there should be a certain amount of federal help especially for the reconstruction and maintenance of all of the dams and preventive measures to ensure the safety of those living there.

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  6. After watching that video I had no idea of what was really going on in New Orleans. It really made me angry and sad at the same time that the media showed dead people floating in the water. I do believe there should be more investigation going on. Like where do they go wrong with all the communication? I believe the President at the time should be held accountable because watching of watching that video. Times like that the whole world should be reaching out to help.

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  7. After viewing the video and reading your findings after ten years later o the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I don't believe the Government should keep trying to fix up the city of New Orleans. After seeing what happened ten years ago with the government failing to aid all the victims after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, people shouldn't want to live near the city. Even though the city has alto of history, present and future lives are more important. Our tax dollars shouldn't be wasted on building new projects when there are still a lot of homeless victims from Hurricane Katrina not just living in New Orleans but in America. Instead of patching up a broken city that is in possible danger again, help the other poor cities and area in the United States. The entire government is responsible for making these decisions so the entire government should be paying the cost.

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  8. I believe that the personal government should be responsible for the effects of Hurricane Katrina without our tax dollars. I know that it might be hard that way but there are ways around everything. From watching the video how can you sit there and let those people live in filthy while you are off somewhere traveling doing whatever you like and then come in at the last minute like you have the upper hand. You should have took in effect that things where going to get bad like they do almost every year for the people in Florida and other places that might flood surrounded by water. I feel that the government didn't care what happened to the city because it was a lot of poor people that were left and they felt they weren't as important as the people who are considered upper class. As donations go how can you look at a video like that one and not want to help the people there. It is sad everybody doesn't have a good heart because if they did I think everything would run a lot smoother.

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  9. We as a nation owe responsibility to the whole of our nation to be complete and functioning. If we aren't going to help other states, why even have a federation? I think it would be fine to have taxes put towards the recovery of new orleans. Hell, I think we should have federal government helping to get detroit back on it's feet too, but who am I to say that's actually a good idea. I just feel like we owe it to our nation to keep all parts of it strong and capable.

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  10. New Orleans should be rebuilt because it's a historical city loved by many people, I'm pretty sure most victims of Katrina want the place they call home back to the way it was before the disaster of hurricane Katrina. The government should pay for the city to get rebuilt, we pay enough taxes to fund the restructure of New Orleans. There are also many rich people in the U.S that can donate money to help rebuild the city, but they would rather spend their money on stupid things.

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  11. I think if we were to recover New Orleans still it should be private donators than using tax dollars. I say that because out tax dollars should be going to a bigger issue. I still believe in helping people, but during these ten years there should of been people who is willing to build someone a new home. I think that the people who is running for the president should take this into consideration and help them get back on there feet by having there people who donated for their campaign should donate to New Orleans.

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  12. I think we should have tried to recover as much as New Orleans as we could that was funded by the government. It would also have helped if there would have been private donations, but every bit help. I think a lot of places need recovering though not only New Orleans, it should have been fixed and surely made its way back to normal, and we should have started working on other states. We could use some of the tax dollars to fix the states but not all.


    Macy Wilson

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  13. I agree with what you are saying about New Orleans and it having a lot of history, but why should we poor in money to something that can and may be lost again. I think we should worry about documentation and taking pictures so if it is destroyed we can remember what once was. Even if we did restore the city to what it once was it still isn't the original. You can never recreate something as good and authentic as the original. So our main focus should be trying to get historical things away to safety.

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  14. I definitely think that it is up to the federal government to put our tax dollars to good use and assist with rebuilding New Orleans. Although progress has been made in the 10 years since Katrina, there still is so much more to be done. Not only is it important to restore such a historical part of our country, but it is even more important to help the residents of New Orleans to feel safe and supported after experiencing such a tragedy.

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  15. With New Orleans having so much history around its walls, I would also have to agree that our tax dollars should be put towards funding the repairs of the city. I think that's what we should have done immediately after the hurricane. It's ridiculous how its been 10 years and they still have so much damage to the city that hasn't been restored and fixed. Also with the money to repair the city, there should be money given to the families who lost their homes and belongings.

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  16. I really have no opinion on the matter. The city is below sea-level so there will always be a chance flooding will happen again. The federal government is suppose to have oversight over all large disasters such as this so I guess they should be taking care of the clean up. Our taxes already go to so many things, I'm not sure where it should be coming from. What about the insurance companies? Where are they in all this? I know not all people had insurance, Katrina hit a very poor area, but if you are living in a city where you could be flooded and you have insurance, then flood coverage should be apart of your policy. Katrina from start to finish shows how ineffective our government can be.

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  17. Firstly, I would like to say it's nice to read that you were so observant about the current "feel" of New Orleans and its people when you were on your trip.
    For me personally, Katrina feels like nothing more than a distant memory at this point, so it is interesting to hear how its aftermath still has such a strong effect on the people there.
    As for the question, I'm a little confused. Is the state not working on more fortification with tax money? I think that's great if people donate but I thought it's the states job to work on things like roads and weather related fortifications. I would think the federal government's job would be to have a better disaster relief strategy that is uniquely designed for the city.

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  18. I think we should help with the recovery in New Orleans. I think there should be private donations to help out. I also think there will always be something that happens in New Orleans.

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  19. New Orleans is a city that is home to a good chunk of people, so obviously money should be spent to help with the recovery of the city. It would be stupid to just let it crumble away into nothing. The question of who should be fixing it is the more difficult one, however. Certain things, like the levees, infrastructure, and the like of the city should be covered by the government. Anything else, such as rebuilding churches, community centers, or houses should be covered by private donations.

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  20. I feel like we should help them, whether we are terrified that it will be taken away, or not. But it is a place that people visit, so we should help put it back together, but will the government go threw with it? Don't know. We should take care and help with things. We can't just leave it whether its too tough to fix, nothing is too tough, we just gotta set our minds to it and need to help. New Orleans is a popular place, make it a better place.

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  21. Yes. They spent days with people literally dying in the streets. They had no doctors to help because they all left. The government should help with the recovery. There are wounds that might not ever heal because they where basically left for dead. The bus came when the president came to take a look for himself. If feel like the government should finish what they started. There is still a ton of damage that still needs to fix. I guess the government doesn't care about minority states.

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  22. We should absolutely be investing the recovery of New Orleans and it should be our tax dollars that need to be the main source. They can use our tax dollars for building jail cells and paying these whack police officers but can't recover one of the most horrific events in US history.

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  23. every cities goal after a natuaral disaster is to get back to normal. more should be invested into New Orleans until is as stable as it was before and functioning well.

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  24. I believe that the federal government should take responsibility for it, but donations are useful take make it happen. If the land is really that bad the people shouldn't be staying there until it is cleaned up and organized for a good lifestyle.

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  25. I do think we should invest more in to New Orleans recovery but, by donations not using our tax dollars.I feel like because hurricane Katrina was a natural cause we should help fix but with the with the private donations of others not taxing us more to help fix their problem.

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