Jack-O-Lantern

The New Orleans Recovery Commission has come up with a plan to facilitate the revitalization of the city's neighborhoods but it has come under some legitimate criticism. According to the plan, residents will be given a time period of one to three years to move back to their neighborhoods. After that time period has passed, a commission will determine whether certain neighborhoods will survive or be razed based on the population of that neighborhood.

The problem is as stated by Janet Howard of the Bureau of Governmental Research, it will be difficult to ask people to relocate knowing that their houses may be torn down. I think this effort will require some decision from above as to what the future extents of the city as well as citizens given some assurances that their houses will survive if it is inside the limits of the city to remain. After the pre-determined period of resettlement has passed, those dwellings that are not inhabited can either be condemned and razed or converted to some other used. This brings up one concern of ULI that's called the "jack-o-lantern" effect, whereby viable neighborhoods are surrounded by blighted neighborhoods. Let's not worry about the "jack-o-lantern" effect, just the blighted neighborhoods. We all need to realize that the revitalization will not be perfect, it just has to be workable.

I think people are trying too hard to solve all the problems at once. We need to come up with some kind of plan to move forward yet maintain a certain amount to flexibility in order to deal with lifes uncertaintees