Americans are stubborn.
It seems to be more of a tradition than both baseball and apple pie. We don't want to give up what is ours, and that includes the beautiful, historic tourist hub that was once New Orleans. Americans simply don't want to admit that Mother Nature conquered the Big Easy.
After the city was drained of its toxic sludge in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, anything that was underwater grew mildew. Many homes that survived Katrina's wrath will fall to a bulldozer because they are unfit for people to live in. There is not enough left to warrant rebuilding.
Congress has already approved $62.3 billion for the purposes of cleaning up the Gulf Coast, and Louisiana senators requested more than $200 billion for the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief and Economic Recovery Act. Clearly, we need to clean up the toxic mess, and of course we can't just leave the state of Louisiana as a giant trash heap, but why is it the government's responsibility to rebuild the city?
Any investment in the rebuilding of the city should come as a private initiative. Although it might sound callous, it is simply not the responsibility of the federal government to rebuild the city (and other affected areas), and especially not with your and my tax dollars.
It is undeniably true that the United States has never seen destruction like this before. But like other great disasters in the country's history - Chicago after the Great Fire and San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake - the responsibility to rebuild is on the shoulders of the people that live in these areas, and not through the tax dollars from far off places like Ohio.
America is the land of opportunity. Why should its citizens go back to a city that did not educate them and did not offer the resources to raise themselves out of poverty?
Not to mention that New Orleans was far from perfect even before the hurricane winds blew.
According to a Sept. 18, 2005 USA Today article, which compiled statistics from the Census Bureau and the Urban Institute, the city's poverty rate was 23.2 percent (nearly double the national average); preliminary 2004 FBI data showed 4,468 violent crimes were committed (about 600 more than Ft. Worth, Texas - a city with 140,000 more residents); the high school graduation rate was about 65 percent and more than 77 percent of students participated in free or reduced school lunch programs.
Clearly the Big Easy was drowning its own people before Katrina ever hit land.
Four months after the storm, most families still have not returned to clean out their homes. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, there are 55 million cubic yards of debris in New Orleans. Once it is removed, I'm sure my tax dollars will be put to use building the sewers for a new Wal-Mart or maybe a senior center with palmetto trees and a pool for water aerobics. Of course millions will go into the levees, but what will happen when the next big storm hits?
If the citizens aren't planning to return, why are we planning to spend so much money to rebuild? The economically vital areas, including the French Quarter and the Garden District survived the brunt of the storm and the flooding. The country can continue to use the port without spending billions to attract businesses and residents back to the area.
The United States is a country of compassion, and when most of us sat home - dry and safe - we were motivated to donate money to the relief effort, and rightfully so. But Congress' purse strings are a bit looser, and the government seems to have no problem pledging billions of our dollars to resurrect a city that is a shell of its former grand self - even if it means other vital areas of funding might be slashed.
About 200 years ago New Orleans was a seaport in the middle of a swamp, and because of redirecting rivers and a big party every February, the water was drained and a city sat precariously between the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. Then one day the wind blew and the levees built to protect the city gave way, and like Atlantis it sunk.
America is the land of plenty; there are plenty of areas that have opportunity for the hurricane's victims to start anew. Plus, I hear Las Vegas is already itching to host Mardi Gras.
- Cait Jacob is a freshman journalism major. Send her an e-mail at cj150204@ohiou.edu.
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