From: John Cuccia 

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:51:41 -0500, "Rich Gauszka"
 wrote:

>Politicians tend to do some pretty despicable things when running for
>office.

Nagin's only hope for reelection is if displaced New Orleanians are allowed
to vote from wherever they've landed; I don't know the status of the
remoter voter proposal.

And he can't possibly believe that New Orleans will be predominately black
again, certainly not in time to save his political life.

His own commission's recently released reconstruction proposal pretty much
ensures that redevelopment of flooded areas will happen slowly if at all. 
I personally think that's a good thing, but I didn't lose my home in the
flooding so don't have the same financial and emotional stake in the matter
as a displaced resident.

Nagin's rhetoric and his comission's proposals notwithstanding, the
determining factors w/r/t redevelopment will be the insurance industry and
FEMA.  I believe that new FEMA flood maps, due out in a couple of months,
are  going to guarantee that rebuilding will be expensive.  In some parts
of the city new homes will need to be raised 8 feet or more. I haven't
built anything lately, but I'm guessing that building such a raised
structure that can withstand 150 mph winds is going to be prohibitively
expensive for most of former residents.

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