I was just watching CNN just now and Anderson Cooper referenced a statement of an advisor to former Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt, that the Superdome will need to be torn down.

Three things:

New Orleans Saints?

Tulane University Green Wave?

Sugar Bowl?

Future Pro and College Sporting events?

This is all very unimportant when compared to saving lives, people restarting their lives and rebuilding the city. But it does relate to the economic impact the Superdome provides to the economy of New Orleans and what economic activity could take its place to maintain the viability of a rebuilt City if a stadium isn't rebuilt to replace it.

Witt is a political hack. He is now "consulting" to the LA state government for $500K.

This was on www.cnn.com:

"The Louisiana Superdome was so heavily damaged during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath that it likely will have to be torn down, a disaster official working with the governor's office told CNN. The Superdome is the home of the New Orleans Saints professional football team. The Saints will play their home opener in New Jersey Monday against the Giants, but it is unclear where they will play the rest of their games."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/07/katrina.impact/index.html

Mr. Witt is grandstanding a bit.

We know Tom Benson encourages any and all such discussion... though I wonder if the Fed would actually provide money to replace the Superdome. I'll go so far as to guess that most of the "damage" to the place is cosmetic. I obviously could be wrong... but a lot of what I've heard over the weekend sounds like people begging for money at end of fiscal year. My skeptic antenna has really been raised on this one.

BTW... I regard most of the oil derricks and refineries and other oil infrastructure in the same light. They were designed for a lot stronger than the Category 3 standard the d**es supposedly were built to withstand. Keep an eye on that. I'm hearing claims that they're "not sure" about pipelines below the ocean surface, without actually chronicling damage... as my office mate and former New Orleans resident has mentioned, seas are usually dead calm 60 feet below the surface of a hurricane.

Do remember- we're dealing with Louisiana. The leopards find it awfully hard to change their spots. The same is true of the oil industry.

That does NOT mean the Fed should not send some money that way. Actually, I believe it's been demonstrated that the Bush Admin has been spinning an "all is well" web all about this. They got caught in their rhetoric, so next comes the overwhelming condemnation of the LOCAL relief effort.

Ain't politics grand?

New Orleans and the rest will have to walk that fine line between rebuilding ASAP and taking the time to make things right. Constructing a new facility in light of all the other work that must be done might displace the Saints and other Dome functions for upward of two+ years. Then again, if the City itself would not prove a viable destination for such events regardless of the individual facility, that might be the way to go.

The Saints could easily use LSU's Death Valley for two years and I seem to recall a variety of other smaller venues might work for Tulane in the short run. As for convention space or the Sugar Bowl, that's up in the air. Relocating one year isn't that bad, but 2 or more might prove tough to swallow. And they won't want to hold it at LSU if they can avoid doing so.

Further, New Orleans might never be close to the same. The sheer will of the people suggests that Bourbon Street will be hosting Mardi Gras festivities next year as scheduled. Plus several large industries are there to stay. But will New Orleans be as populous as before? Will it draw as many tourists? Should it be radically redesigned no matter what costs or how long? From a community planning standpoint the opportunities are there for a masterful makeover... then again local politics have hindered such forward thinking before.

The Sugar Bowl demands a sizable venue that if the game remains in New Orleans so will the Saints, and vice cersa. Pragmatists may suggest N'Orlens scale back, however, using the funds for new-age urban redevelopment while allowing a smaller scale Tulane stadium host the New Orlenas Bowl and leave convention space to the actual Convention Center. We shall see.

I can see some assistance being provided, and rightly so. It's tough to rebuild your home without a job to earn money, a school for the kids, a store for the groceries, etc. But otherwise some very good points, Pounder. I'm saddened by the early overtures from the NCAAP suggesting victims get paid directly from the feds for this disaster. Methinks past hurricane victims in the Gulf and Florida have not been so rewarded, so why now?

Plus, I'd like to think the dome and the oil facilities were covered by this thing I like to call "Insurance." I'm sure it was pricy, as that is hurricane territory. But seeing as it is hurricane territory having such financial safeguards would be prudent, no?

I listened to NPR's 'Fresh Air' the other day, and they had the former Cheif City Planner for the City of New Orleans on the program talking about NOLA and New Orleans character. She advocated that the city and other levels of government as well as private enterprise to be very careful in the rebuilding of NOLA to not turn it into a city that is like a urban version of a Disney theme park.

She noted that NOLA is a very diverse city. Many poor, middle class and wealthy living right next to each other provides it a character that you don't find in other US cities. To develop with this all out organized new and improved urban renewal mindset, and not to let the more organic nature of the city happen would create a NOLA that would not make it distinctive as NOLA, rather more like any other travel destination in the US.

Louisiana does have strange politics. But there is quite a bit of people living below the poverty line in LA, as well as southern MS and AL, the three states affected. This is one of the most historically most devasting disasters in US history, and it hit where there are many people below the poverty level.

NOLA and Memphis and everything in between is the "Craddle of US Folk/Art/Pop Culture". The blue note was created here. That has had more impact on 20th Century US culture than almost anything else.