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'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

theguardian.com

111–120 of 230 posts

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#111
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Systemically, the problem is that there needs to be a last person, and yet people leaving expect market value for their homes which normally happens by selling to the next person. The last person can currently only get the money if a disaster strikes and insurance pays out. To do it ahead of schedule, insurance would have to pay out sooner, which means there would have to be some kind of government intervention to ma…

Maybe the state could make it so the last person is someone who has no plans to ever leave, such as an elderly retiree. It could work like this. • The state identifies neighborhoods that will need to be abandoned in a few decades and puts them in a program to turn them into retirement communities. A person who owns a home in such an area can sell it normally if they want to anyone who will buy. • If an elderly retire…

The state in this case is Louisiana.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#112
post #86
post #10

My roots are in Louisiana, and this makes me incredibly sad. It is such a unique place that has no like, and drives all tourism in the state. Where will tourists celebrate Mardi Gras after it's gone? Baton Rouge? Sadder, still, to know that nothing will be done. No one will be relocated. Just one day a weather event like a hurricane will happen to destroy the area and it will be labeled derelict with no funds to rebu…

[flagged]

The state is not going to drown. The polity of urban New Orleans is the liberal thorn in its side, and that's the area at risk.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#113
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how exactly will someone do that. Many of the people living in the impacted area are below the poverty line and living paycheck to paycheck at best. How are they supposed to put together funds to relocate. Especially if their property is worth nothing. The minority of people privileged enough to be able to relocate will do that. The majority are stuck.

The “majority” of people aren’t so poor they can’t move over the multi-decade timescale this article is talking about. This country has a huge level of internal migration. 17 million Americans move every year . Why do people have these blinders where they can’t view any issue except from the perspective of the minority of people who don’t have any resources? Why are so many people moving to places like Florida that a…

It’s not about being unable to view the issue except from that one perspective. It’s about having an aversion to mass suffering, and recognizing that this group will be subject to it.

You’re basically saying, why are you so worried about all of these people who will have their lives destroyed when there are a bunch of other people who will be totally fine? I hope that when it’s put that way, you can see how ridiculous it is.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#115

New Orleans no longer, would be a fucking tragedy. "America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland"

Miami is not Cleveland, and SF sucks.

Perhaps you misundestand the Tennessee Williams quote. He's not saying that Miami is literally in Ohio, just that is has no character.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can still get insurance for flooding?

Yes with the help of US taxpayers. https://www.floodsmart.gov/

Funny, I thought the USA was paranoid about this kind of socialism. I guess they are on the hook for some big and inevitable payouts.

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how exactly will someone do that. Many of the people living in the impacted area are below the poverty line and living paycheck to paycheck at best. How are they supposed to put together funds to relocate. Especially if their property is worth nothing. The minority of people privileged enough to be able to relocate will do that. The majority are stuck.

[flagged]

You are wildly out of touch

Re: 'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level

#120
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why the federal subsidies for flood insurance need to end

We should have a one-time buyout for flood zones: pay someone enough to buy a median home somewhere similar and turn the land into a nature preserve (let mangroves return to protect Florida coast, etc.). Put a cap on it so we’re not buying new mansions for a few rich people with beach houses but otherwise keep it simple so people aren’t impoverished into becoming a drain on society. I have no expectation that we’ll b…

I thought the government should have done this for all the beach houses that were destroyed by hurricane Sandy. Buy people out and prevent a house from being built there ever again.
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