Should New Orleans be rebuilt?
At this stage I would say it’s not a place where I would feel safe moving my family. There will be a city there. There are people who are willing to take that risk and there is an economic infrastructure like the port and like the French Quarter. Some reports say it may grow back to a quarter of a million people. It’s a place where there’s a level of risk that to me will cause many, many people to say, “I’m not going to put my investments there.” Can New Orleans look to Amsterdam as a model? Amsterdam (a city that is also below sea level) underwent a very significant flood in 1953. A tremendous effort was initiated right away to try to protect Amsterdam in the future — massive infrastructure construction projects. The first step was to construct a moveable storm surge barrier. That went into operation in 1958. The Delta Project was not completed per its original design until 1997. How long could it take to rebuild New Orleans to that same level of safety? We can build things that would
