The most critical thing about recovering from a catastrophe is that you must build in things that ensure you won't get whacked again when the next one happens. No one, not the Corps, not the State and not the Parish have done some of the key tasks to fill the gaping hole.

While it is important to note that most homes in flooded areas have not been elevated, a key resilience measure, the thing that is really missing was the one really important finding from the IPET. New Orleans flood protection was a systems IN NAME ONLY. Nothing has been done to creat a real system that integrates all of our flood protection measures and adds the resilence we need to ensure they work together.

What we need is a full, high performance systems approach to protecting our flood plain. As a professional sysems engineer I can tell that I haven't met anyone in this state that understands what a systems approach is. None of our institutions of higher learning teach it let alone award

As the authors of the IPET said, we must use a systems approach if we are to survive. Along with this approach, we need to make one simple change to our cultural values and that's to put safety first before the growth machine, before reelection. If we aren't safe we can;t grow except in an uncertain short (term limited) time frame. Of my native New Orleanian neighbors who didn't or couldn't elevate the unanimous say "If it happens again, I'm out of here

Posted on Louisiana Recovery Authority expects to fold with millions unspent on March 12, 2010, 9:29AM