August 2007 is month 24 since Katrina. As we approach the two year
anniversary you might think it would be getting old to still be talking
about a hurricane that sideswiped us two years ago, but it is not.
August and September are the most deadly months of the hurricane
season.
We are not protected against even a minimal storm. Every one of us worries about this potential.
Even
as we worry, the population "floods" back into the city. Recent utility
estimates are that 274,000 people now live in Orleans. Unflooded areas
have returned to their 2005 populations. But returning residents are
not just building on the high ground. Encouraged by the city's unstated
"
Rebuild Everywhere First"
policy, New Orleans East now has a third of its population back. Even
the Lower Ninth Ward has almost 1,000 residents. They are rebuilding
all over the old footprint of the city supported by FEMA funded
infrastructure repairs, cash from the Road Home and eligible for
federally subsidized flood insurance. FEMA inpired flood plain maps
depend on levees that would withstand a 100 year storm.
New maps released this month show the flood risk in 2011 after $7.6 billion in improvements. We are building to code, but the levees aren't ready and won't be until at least 2011 if ever.
Under
new commanding General vanAntwerp and for the second month in a row the
Corps seems to be changing for the better. Last month they decided to
close MrGO. Now they want to build new pumping stations at the mouths
of the three outfall canals. They are even examining more of the BNOB
commission recommendations like sealing the Industrial Canal at the
lake and placing a weir and floodwalls in the Intracoastal Waterway
just west of the MrGO on the eastbank. This would complete the most
critical (non-Cat5) recommendations for the eastbank. Floodwalls in the
Intracoastal Waterway at the Hero Canal plus a one mile section of
levee would protect the westbank and have also gotten recent attention.
The Public Schools high stakes test results for 2007 were released in August.
We've been digging through these to find out what has been happening in the schools. Not
surprisingly the Recovery School District schools fared poorly. Public
Charters did better. Private schools and public magnet schools remain
world class.
A four hundred foot section of interstate highway
bridging in Minnesota collapsed and triggered a national infrastructure
review this month. You might not be surprised to learn three New
Orleans area bridges are judged to be in worse shape than the Minnesota
bridge was (at least before it collapsed). The twin spans and the US
highway 11 bridge between Slidell and New Orleans are both on the
troubled list. Both were damaged by the storm and temporary repairs
left them vulnerable. The US 11 bridge is just plain decrepit. A
hurricane proof replacement to Slidell is currently being under
construction. The real surprise on the list is the I-310 Mississippi
River bridge near the airport at Luling. Corrosion on this relatively
new (1984) suspension bridge is giving engineers real headaches. The
CCC, Huey Long, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, I-10 Bonne Carre Spillway
and I-10 Industrial Canal high rise must all be OK as they were not on
any list.
In another unthinking move, assessors released the
first major update to property assessments in 40 years. Values
increased by an average of 50% across the unflooded portions of the
city. Legislators vaguely indicated they would reduce millages to
prevent a tax windfall but there was no effort to coordinate their
activities with the assessors. In typical New Orleans fashion the
process, resources allocated and deadline to appeal assessments was
not modified . This provoked more long lines and frustration.
Yet
another New Orleans politician has been caught up in the contracting
scandals that marked the Morial Administration. Oliver Thomas, one of
the two at-large council members and a frequently mentioned name for a
higher posting has been convicted in the ongoing federal investigation.
He pled guilty to taking $15,000 in bribes from Stan "Pampy" Barre in
2002. He apologized, characterizing the bribe as an "inappropriate
gift." He asked for forgiveness and resigned from the city council.
Listening to Thomas, like so many others before him, and considering
the timing of his confession, it seems like he is most saddened to have
been caught. He has proposed nothing that he will do to make
restitution to the citizens he injured through his actions. Given his
influence in the community, there is much he could do. Interim
appointee Michael Darnell will fill his seat until the Oct 20 election
replaces Thomas.
August 2007 saw National Geographic publish a piece called
"New Orleans A Perilous Future"
In six short pages, the author does a pretty good job of recapping the
past and laying out the hazards. It ends with a question that should be
on every mind in the city, "What do we do now?" Time Magazine did a similar piece "
The Threatening Storm." Reason Magazine Online didn't mince words although it did fudge the math a little. Reason suggested in "
Resisting the Obvious in New Orleans" that instead of building levees, just use the money to pay the residents to leave.
The failure
of initiative that led to Katrina's impact is apparently still at work
across America. To mark the anniversary at the end of this month rather
than just partying in the street, you might want to reread the
Congressional and Executive reports on Katrina and determine which if
any of the lessons learned have been taken to heart and whether the
nation is still unprepared.