An Opportunity to Fix New Orleans

Other than extreme partisans or idiots, it should be clear to everyone that there have been failures at every level in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including FEMA and Bush. Mayor Ray "dont-blame-me-for-anything" Nagin and Governor Kathleen "when-and-how-should-I-ask-for-help" Blanco are equally culpable, if not more so.

This has been one of the most disappointing events in my lifetime, and there are loads of examples pointing to things most of us have known for decades about this country: the cowardice and failure of people in "public service" to plan for anything beyond their watch; the attentiveness of politicians in an election year contrasted with their unconcern when not up for re-election; the culture lawlessness a citizenry acquires when personal responsibility is zoned out and it's-not-your fault platitudes become the norm; the idiocy of not paying attention to obvious environmental problems in the name of progress...I could, of course, go on.

You can easily ascribe which ostrich holes one party or the other will stick their heads into, which is again a problem in itself: no one speaks for me, no one speaks for you, no one seemingly speaks for America. Most politicians only speak for themselves and their "base." Until we quit electing career politicians and start electing true public servants we will continue to have severe problems in crisis situations. 9/11 was different in a sense, because we actually came together as a country. With respect to New Orleans, all there seems to be is finger-pointing and Soviet-style blame-passing.

Since I try to follow my own advice of give solutions, don't just point out the problems, here goes:

1) Shoot the looters and the roaming gangs. Period. They're bad for the country and they're not going to be the ones rebuilding.

2) Ask for the resignation of FEMA Director Michael Brown. If he won't give it, fire him. This is not all his fault, but he's not blameless, and there are times that a leader makes a change to restore confidence to workers and constituents. FEMA isn't like being the ambassador to Sweden, or some other non-important cushy post; appoint someone with a job history of crisis management, not someone who needs a political favor.

3) Bush needs to apologize for the failure of FEMA and not split hairs about it. However, since lots of people seem to want to blame the federal government for not bailing them out all along, the federal government gets to have a very heavy hand in restoring the city. As in:
3a) Put Bernard Karik (or another corruption-reducing big-city police chief ) in charge of restoring the New Orleans police force. Fire the current idiot police chief who can't even speak the English language or accept any share of the blame. The idea is to permanently change the image of the NOPD.
3b) Create an enterprise zone to encourange re-development of the area that will be in place for a minimum of 5 years.
3c) Send the Army Corp of Engineers in to rebuild the levees AND reclaim the wetlands; they get to set the parameters after sending a contingency to The Netherlands to look at how people actually build dikes & seawalls that work. Houses and businesses in the former wetlands will have to be eliminated. (This is when eminent domain is not only acceptable but necessary.) That will upset both environmentalists and industrialists. Too bad.
3d) Impose 90 days of martial law. If you're in the city and out past sundown, you get arrested. If you resist, you get shot. That will hasten the evacuation a bit.

4) Tourism must be restored, and the first place to start is by imposing new rules on the French Quarter. It needs to be a safe place to bring your family. Mardi Gras will never be the same, but again...too bad. If you're that hard up for debauchery, go to Vegas and spend your money on gambling or a prostitute. At least you aren't likely to get rolled.

5) Create a new slogan for the city. No more "Big Easy." I don't have a name (nor am I qualified to come up with one), but it should harken to the history, the people, or the natural beauty. There are plenty of places to head with this (jazz, cajun, creole cooking, blues, the delta), but it needs a new feel and a new direction that isn't rotten and sodden.

6) Offer discounted (or even at-cost) housing to anyone who left the city and wants to come back to rebuild. This will take care of whatever insurance doesn't cover and/or encourage people to rebuild even better structures. In return, participants must sign up to work for the reconstruction of the city for a minimum period (2 years seems good). There will be lots of positions needed: construction workers, office workers, logistics people, even low-skill jobs like clean-up crews. Bottom line, if you're serious about working, the jobs will be there for you. If they are not completely filled up by people who were displaced, offer the same deal to outsiders so as to repopulate the city with fresh blood.

As bad as this situation is, here is a golden opportunity to improve an entire city, while showing the rest of the world as well as U.S. citizens what America can do when crisis strikes. Anything less is unacceptable.