[Leica] RE: PAW Week 3 Jeffrey---Nagin

[puff11 at comcast.net (Norm Aubin)]

Greetings Sonny and Feli, and others as well,

I knew when I spouted a contrary view point for discussion I was grabbing a
tiger by the tail.  Since I receive journals rather than individual mailings
I have taken the liberty of combining my response to several comments. 

Sonny, I apologize if I wasn't clear in my comment - when I said  "Everyone
involved at all levels of government and civil positions for decades pooched
it, as did many citizens on the street."  I was trying to say that I don't
for a minute think that there weren't individuals to blame, and at all
levels of government and civil authority.  This pending disaster should have
been obvious to everyone, especially given the decades long awareness of the
potential events just waiting to happen.  What I was trying to say is that
there were so many individual and collective failures over so much time,
that there is simply no constructive purpose in finger pointing and name
calling.

The economic value of the port and the oil/gas industry to the nation or to
the local economy is not in doubt.  I am convinced that the infrastructure
that is run for profit by major businesses; the docks, the oil and gas
facilities, are all being evaluated for repair, expansion and enhanced storm
proofing.  Every one of those businesses has a great deal of money tied up
in that infrastructure, and they are all doing the calculus to determine
what further investments will yield a return, and which won't.  They will
make those decisions based on probable return to the shareholders, future
value, risk, etc.  Romance will not enter into that decision, but rather
pure good old-fashioned business acumen.  That's not an evil thing - we
built much of this nation's infrastructure that way.

I think the Netherlands makes my point.  If you look at the history of it,
you see that the Netherlands has spent over a 1000 years attempting to
reclaim land from the ocean, yet even so the 1953, and later the '93 and '95
floods showed that this is not sustainable in absolute terms.  Even the
Dutch government has now has indicated that the approach to this has to be
completely revised.  They will have to relinquish space to water - and not
take back open space.  They are now fighting a holding action, if not a
strategic retreat.

That they have attained world pre-eminence in this activity is not
surprising; their very national existence necessitates it.  According to
John de Ronde of the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management in
The Hague  "...it's relatively simple for us to cope with sea-level rise
because we already have [U.S. $2.5 trillion worth of] existing
infrastructure."  Likewise Jeroen van der Sommen, managing director of the
Delft-based Netherlands Water Partnership says  "There are floodplains that
are inhabited that should not be",  "We have to change our thinking and say,
'If you don't want to get your feet wet, you need to get out!'"

The thinking and the approach is changing over there; the Dutch will admit
that some of the most difficult policy decisions facing them now are the
decisions about what level of protection is necessary, acceptable and cost
effective for each area.  In other words, it can't go on like it has.  The
ocean levels are rising, the winter rainfall precipitation rates are
increasing and the ground is subsiding.  It is at best a race condition to
retain the status quo, at worst a death spiral.

I marvel at their accomplishments - they have made choices and as a people
they are willing to commit major effort to attain those goals.  Then again -
it's not optional - some 2/3's of their land and some 70% of their GDP is
produced at or below sea level.  They are committed out of necessity.
That's not a model that I endorse though.

I feel that we Americans are faced with a much more open ended choice.   At
this time the more humane and, to me more constructive solution is to spend
the money on people, not on the edifices.  There are a large number of
destitute and displaced persons, and a large number of suffering people who
are still in the muck and mire, and they need help.  They need money to see
doctors, they need education to rise them out of the poverty they lived in
while trapped in that socio-economic prison.  Many lost their jobs, their
possessions, even loved ones.  Those people need help finding new jobs and
replacing lost possessions.  They need help to relocate if they choose, and
they need an opportunity and time to heal and to grow. 

Once that need is met, once that human crisis is addressed, then they or
anyone else who wants to build a city there, using Dutch or other
approaches, should be  encouraged to have a go at it.  The rebuilding of a
city in that place should be the choice and action of those who want to live
there, knowingly choosing to face those risks.  Having the government fund
and execute the rebuilding at this time and in this state of affairs is
potentially condemning a large amount of the populace to return to the
poverty and risk filled life that they now have a chance to rise above.

Even if I accepted that there are transcendental reasons why the city must
be rebuilt - I then have to ask - at whose expense?  Should I pay anything
for this?  To be more explicit - should my tax dollars go to this venture?
Why?  I'm not convinced that there is a reason for me to want to do this,
given my preference for spending the money on helping the victims directly,
rather than in funding a city renovation.  I'm not being obtuse - I really
want to understand, from folks who have a vested interest in the outcome:
why should I want to fund this?    

On Tuesday, the 24th of January Jeffery Smith was lamenting about the
emotional turmoil he is in while photographing the ruins.  I truly feel that
photographing the aftermath is a very important sociological and
anthropological record, and those who can do so are contributing to cultural
knowledge and to the historical record.  I believe that those who love that
city are the best suited to do so, they have a point of view and an interest
in conveying a message about something they love.   I am sorry that you see
those feelings as a pat on the hand and an exhortation that it will be all
right.  I meant nothing so demeaning and trite.
  
The failure in New Orleans is the decades or century long combined failure
of the political and civil leaders, the designers and builders, the people
who built and lived there, and changes in the world itself.  This was a cat
3 hurricane after all; the new season will be here in 5 months, and the
weather patterns are worsening every year, at least by some reports.  A cat
4 or 5 is possible, if not soon, then in ten or fifty years, and no one
knows or can predict this for sure.   The city and the levee's are not in as
good a condition as before, will not be ready in 5 months, and it may get
worse fast.  Whose lives are we risking here - and to what end?

Best of light,
Norm

P.S. - on a more emotional level I agree with Sonny - I am an ex-pat  New
Yorker, born in Manhattan, raised just outside of downtown, and when the
towers went down I was devastated.  How dare you destroy any part of my
city!  I feel nothing but anger towards those who failed to protect us and
to those who would harm us, and very strong conflicting emotions as to
whether we should do an "in your face" and re-build, or as I have now come
to accept, build a memorial.  My eldest son has recently returned from a
year of enforcing American justice on the perpetrators, and I don't even
want to talk about the conflicting emotions that has raised in me!  Ah well
- I'm glad I'm not God - the decisions are just too mind boggling!  


> Message: 10
> Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:19:12 EST
> From: SonC@aol.com
> Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: PAW Week 3 Jeffrey---Nagin
> To: lug@leica-users.org
> Message-ID: <21c.710a018.310ba200@aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
> 
>  
>  
> In a message dated 1/27/2006 9:51:40 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
> bruce@ralgo.nl writes:
> 
> Building  a city, no matter how lovely and full of romantic history,  
> > in  a
> > geographically unsound place, is an invitation for  calamity.   
> 
> 
> 
> You are correct that it will not be the same, but it will 
> come back. You  are 
> absolutely wrong in your theory.  You obviously have no idea of the  
> situation.   We  must rebuild New Orleans, the question is  how.  
>  
> This port alone is the way the world is fed, and America 
> supplied.   Steel, 
> grain, containers all pour through it.  I won't bore you with 
>  numbers, but it 
> is the world's busiest port.  Go here for numbers:
>  
> _http://www.portno.com/facts.htm_ (http://www.portno.com/facts.htm) 
>  
> There is no elsewhere to build.  The civil fabric will not  
> follow, because 
> the infrastructure built up since 1716 is already there.  
>  
> A lot was lost, lives, homes; I am bitter because it did not 
> have to  be.  
>  
> A fat cat levee board that never talked about levees, only 
> marinas,  airports 
> and fountains got us into this mess.  
>  
> An arrogant Texan made it worse, and a ignorant horse-breeder 
> let it  happen 
> despite plenty of warning.  
>  
> You are dead wrong, Norm, there are plenty to share the  blame.  
>  
> Bruce, you live in the Netherlands.  You must know that 
> Norm's  remarks are 
> not girded with truth;  while lofty sounding, they ring 
> hollow  and unstudied 
> to me.  
>  
> We could have, should have done things the way your country did.  
>  
> Don't pat us on the hand and tell us that it is important 
> that we take  
> pictures, that taking pictures will make it all better.  
>  
>  
> 
> Regards,  
> Sonny
> http://www.sonc.com
> Natchitoches, Louisiana
> Oldest continuous  settlement in La Louisiane
> igaliti, liberti,  crawfish
> 
> Message: 14
> Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:12:02 -0800 (GMT-08:00)
> From: feli <feli2@earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] RE: PAW Week 3 Jeffrey---Nagin
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>,  Leica Users Group
>       <lug@leica-users.org>
> 
> How do you explain the Netherlands then? You can't control 
> earthquakes, but you can 
> control flooding. The fiasco in New Orleans was the result of 
> decades of mismanagement 
> and an incompetent, sociopathic presidental administration.
> 
> 
> Feli

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