[StBernard] What Houston thinks

[Westley Annis]

I think what this guy from Houston doesn't understand is that metro-New
Orleans is very diverse.  Our suburbs are special because they were allowed
to grow without the direct influence of the city.

Personally, without taking Katrina into consideration, I would never live
inside of city limits or even open a business within the city.  I just found
city/Orleans parish government to be too over-bearing for me.

Jefferson was out because of the traffic and canals.  Always feel like you
have to drive two miles out of your way to be able to make a U-turn.

That leaves St. Bernard.  Extremely low crime-rate, top-notch public
schools, great places to eat.  Maybe the shopping wasn't quite as diverse as
other parts of the city, but they were still close enough that it wasn't any
big deal to take a short trip for something you couldn't get in St. Bernard.

Being that he comes from California and now leaves in Houston, it doesn't
surprise me.  He probably thinks New Orleans pre-Katrina was a small town
and St. Bernard would have been a village.

I guess he just wanted his fifteen minutes of fame.  Now he got it, let's
just leave him be.

Westley

-----Original Message-----

Oh dear God no!!  

Jim
-----------------
 


	I thought you would all find this "amusing". CityBusiness published
this
	on-line today:
	
	Architect envisions larger New Orleans
	By CityBusiness staff report
	
	2006-04-06 3:31 PM CST
	
	HOUSTON - Southeast Louisiana residents living in low-lying
communities
	might want to relocate to a more densely populated New Orleans, a
member of
	the American Society of Landscape Architects said today.
	
	Kevin Shanley, who lives in Houston and grew up in California, said
with sea
	levels rising and Louisiana's coastal areas sinking, increasing the
	boundaries of New Orleans so more people can live there is not a bad
idea.
	
	"Let's at least let people know the tide is rising, and in this
generation
	or the next they're probably going to want to move, and let's plan
for that.
	The city' footprint might need to be larger," said Shanley, who
supports
	rebuilding New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
	
	The sea level is expected to rise an estimated 3 feet over the next
50
	years, Shanley said. ?
	
	Obviously, this landscape architect is accustomed to Houston which
has
	annexed one small town or city continuously over the past decades to
grow
	into this huge metro area and thinks that is the solution here-just
expand
	the legal boundaries of New Orleans and annex surrounding the
surrounding
	parishes, then we shuffle ourselves around and live on the high
ground in
	the new New Orleans.
	
	This seems pointless to say the least. Any of the surrounding
parishes' 
	citizens can move wherever they want within or outside their current
parish,
	because last time I checked this is still America. Also, it seems
that the
	larger and more populated a city or town is, the more tangled it
gets in
	recovery. If you think we are recovering too slowly in St. Bernard,
talk to
	my friends and co-workers in New Orleans who were devastated like
us, and
	hear them say, "At least you're in St. 
	Bernard." New Orleans is so diverse politically, economically,
socially,
	religiously, racially, ethnically, that getting anything done seems
	impossible because they can't get a consensus. The are divided, not
	diversified among their citizens and their leadership.
	
	A more thought provoking idea would have been a suggestion that
Algiers
	secede from N.O., and so would the Garden District, French Quarter,
	Gentilly, Lakeview, etc. Then they could do things on their own and
not
	fight among the neighborhoods and councilmen.
	
	Interesting how people elsewhere think they have all the answers and
we're
	all too dense to figure it out.
	
	Ddk
	
	
	
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