Jean Marie said:
'Course, he did ask, yesterday, why it was taking NYC 5 years to fix a hole in the ground. That followed someone asking him what was taking so long to get things rolling in NO.
My God, what a great question. As a NYer, that hole in the ground is a constant reminder and an open wound that just won't heal. Why is it taking so long? Because we hold design contests, announce winners, change the rules of the contest, pick someone else to do it, ask them to make 55 billion changes, listen to people who don't know jack about how to build structures, argue over who has the right to decide in the first place, hold memorial services, then go back to arguing over who has the right to decide and what should we build. All when the majority of NYers say JUST BUILD THE DAMN THINGS BACK THE WAY THEY WERE AND GET OVER IT!
Just as we aren't really prepared for another terror attack, we arent prepared for another major storm to hit NO. But we seem to have this magic thinking going. No, it won't happen. If it does, we are prepared.
The thing is - standing around talking about being prepared isnt doing jack sh!t for the people who live there.
Sure, we can have busses, take them to another state or pack them back into the Superdome like sardines, but who takes care of them emotionally? How do you tell people that the meagre belongings they have accumulated since Katrina got washed away by Ernesto - here's a debit card - go buy some more.
Yet in California, when there is an earthquake and a major highway or bridge disappears, they roll up their sleeves and build another one in record time -- better and stronger. They have the right idea, but in NY and NO all we seem to be able to do is talk the talk.
As an architect I have favored rebuilding the Towers since 5 minutes after the second one fell. It's a matter of dignity and pride to me. I believe we should learn lessons from the disaster, make suitable changes in the plan, and just build. The families want the footprints of the original preserved, and that is fine. The site is a 16 acre square. The first ones were built diagonally on the Northeast and Southwest corners - so reverse it. Build on the other two corners. But build -- and show the world we werent beaten.
It seems to me we knew from about 5 minutes after the Army Corps of Engineers repaired the levees that they were only temporary measures. Yet a year later, there they sit. How long do you wait until you do something more lasting?
My heart goes out to the people of NO. My prayers are with them now. However, it seems that as long as we are experiencing global warming and the temperature of the oceans is increasing, the 'canes will come - and continue to get worse.
Here on Long Island - that fish shaped island sticking out in the water below Connecticut, we are being told to expect some bad 'canes this year too. Anything that comes up the Atlantic coast hits us dead on -first strike. Are we prepared? Hell no.
