Most the coverage I saw over the weekend of Katrina's five-year anniversary was downright gushy about New Orleans' comeback and the "resilience" of the people who live there. President Obama's words got a lot of play:
The legacy of Katrina, said the President, must be "not one of neglect, but of action; not one of indifference, but of empathy; not of abandonment, but of a community working together to meet shared challenges."
But New Orleans also makes this list of America's Ten Dead Cities, most of which were once major manufacturing hubs or important ports or financial centers:
One of the industries that began to offset the faltering trade and financial sectors was tourism which rose throughout the second half of the last century. But the city suffered from its location, part of it below sea level, and several hurricanes that hit the city, particularly Hurricane Betsy in 1965. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina dealt the city a nearly fatal blow. In the year after that, the population dropped to just above 250,000, down from 627,000 in 1960. The BP oil crisis has already begun to damage what might have been a nascent recovery, post Katrina.
Writing New Orleans off may be premature, but you have to wonder about the wisdom of pouring billions of dollars into a city that's below sea level.
