Plan shrinks city footprint

Here's a compromise gruaranteed to satisfy no one. Where are all the people going to go who were part of the "shrinkage"? Oh, I see, that WAS the plan. As the man said, "It's not a bug, it's a feature."

Times Picayune:

"Local developer Joe Canizaro on Tuesday said he and other appointees to the Bring New Orleans Back commission agree that some floodprone parts of the city should be returned to wetland, a key recommendation from the Urban Land Institute that has drawn protests from many residents and the politicians who represent them. Canizaro is co-chairman of the commission's city planning subcommittee.

ULI's proposal, unveiled last month, would temporarily ban development in the city's hardest-hit neighborhoods, including large sections of eastern New Orleans and Gentilly, the northern part of Lakeview, and parts of the Lower 9th Ward, Mid-City and Hollygrove. Development in those areas wouldn't be allowed unless environmental tests and hurricane-protection studies indicate it is safe to rebuild there.

Canizaro is advocating a less drastic plan: for the next three years, residents would be allowed to rebuild in any section of the city, even if it was inundated with as much as 10 feet of water.

'At the end of three years, we'll see who is there,' Canizaro said. 'And if a neighborhood is not developing adequately to support the services it needs to support it, we'll try to shrink it then.'"

Update: The Times Picayune has a handy map.