Rebuilding Big Easy a waste of resources

September 9, 2005

It was encouraging to hear Rep. Tim Johnson's honest assessment of the folly of investing the nation's resources to rebuild New Orleans.

It is, and was, universally recognized that no human force could protect that city from the forces of nature. Millions of dollars have been poured into the effort to protect a coastal city built below sea level in swamp between an inland sea and the nation's largest river. As a result, around a million people lived in harm's way when a terrible storm finally found them. To rebuild with federal assistance would simply lure people back into harm's way.

The only proper use of federal funds here is immediate emergency assistance, cleanup of the ecological disaster we created and some modest, reasoned assistance to the displaced as they start building productive lives in a safer location.

The nation and the people most directly impacted by Katrina will be best served if the rational response from Rep. Johnson is not drowned out with a well-intentioned, but misplaced, emotional response.

Jordan Clay
Bloomington