KO'ed by Katrina

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The boldest and most interesting discussions I've seen about this disaster have been the considerations by reasonable people about whether it even makes sense to try to rebuild New Orleans in the same place in the same way.

It is, after all, situated on a flood plain. What if we considered the amazing opportunity we have before us: the potential to create an entire American city how we want to. Not since the catastrophic fires and earthquakes of previous centuries have we been offered this chance.

Rather than trying to restore things "how they were" (does anyone really, truly want that?), what if we imagined new possibilities? [These were drawn from several sources, most notably an essay by Alan AtKisson]

• Let's build somewhere more solid.
  
• Let's let the Mississippi River change course, which we have been desperately preventing for decades with kludged solutions by the Army Corps of Engineers. Everyone agreed in hushed tones that these expensive efforts were really only delaying the inevitable.
  
• Let's put the poor on higher ground so they won't meet with as much pain and trouble as they are right now, should some other disaster come in the future
  
• Let's build a new city that more explicitly celebrates the arts, music, and food that made New Orleans' name, linking these assets to local universities, businesses, and education.
  
• Let's clean up the chemical plants and other industrial dinosaurs that were slowly poisoning the city from the inside out.
  

It is currently a time of grief. But as that wanes over the coming months, let's direct our energy to a fresh start. I'll say it bluntly: So many cities could use a full makeover, but they can't do it while city life bustles on with its own momentum. Here the clock has temporarily stopped. We have lots of choices about how to start it up again.