[Carfreeliving] New Orleans

[Joel Pomerantz]

Hi Jason,

I read your essay and feel like it could be truly important to the 
national dialog.

You address many of the things that need to be faced, and do it from 
a perspective that is especially thoughtful and qualified.

I'd love to read more on things others have not been addressing in 
public spaces, like

(1) specific prescriptions for rebuild, which your piece starts outlining
(2) politics of rebuild, i.e. the chance to create a model 
post-car-culture city
(3) the devastating claim you seem to be making that the pre- and 
post-storm evacuations were modeled and planned to not include or 
care for the poor, because nobody "wants" them.

Also, I'd be interested in your opinion of this NYT opinion piece 
saying that flood insurance market forces would have kept the N.O. 
buffer lands clear were it not for federal policy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03tierney.html

What do you plan to do with it? What about a series of shorter 
essays, one on each of the topics--at least if they're articles for 
the general public.

As with all intense writing, there are some awkward phrasings and 
tone issues that get in the way of your message here and there, but 
I'm glad you posted it. Thank you! More! More!

Joel
415-505-8255

>A working passenger rail system would have gotten a lot of these 
>people out. There are buses on the docks at the naval base (dry) as 
>well as buses flooded in a parking lot in a low part of the city. 
>The broader reality is that Baton Rouge (and other parts of LA) does 
>not want them. Baton Rouge has seen gun sales skyrocket. Houston is 
>containing them in the Astrodome. This situation is going to degrade 
>into one of 19th century indian ieservations. The use of military 
>bases is likely in the near future to store these people, albeit 
>with trailers built by the likes of Halliburton. This was all 
>predicted, modeled, and prophesied. It is a big reason many did not 
>want to leave - not just that they could not, but where would they 
>go? No credit cards...and so on.
>
>It all stems from our broader capitalistic society - which requires 
>a reserve army of labor and a huge underclass in order for there to 
>be a middle class and an upper class. No one should be surprised. It 
>is okay in Aceh or Sudan, but not in 'merica.
>
>For a bit more on what has unfolded, I am working on an essay. It is 
>a work in progress. I hope some of you find it interesting. I have 
>thought at length, for almost 20 years, about the rebuild of New 
>Orleans. This was not the big one.
>
>-jh
>
>* The Public Policy Disaster in **New Orleans***
>
>Jason Henderson, Assistant Professor, Geography San Francisco State University
>
>Jhenders at sfsu.edu <mailto:Jhenders at sfsu.edu>
>
>(415-255-8136)
>
>[The author is a New Orleans native]
>
* *