[Marxism] 14 billion for Boston's Big Dig; zero for New Orleans

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The final cost of Boston's Big Dig, which is a still leaking  
prettification project for Boston, with little or no mass transit  
elements, is estimated at $14 billion. The is the same as the estimate  
for Coast 2050.

The NY Times Op-Ed piece referred to below is at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/opinion/02fischetti.html? 
pagewanted=print

Ominous prediction comes true
By Jack Dew, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Berkshire Eagle
Saturday, September 03, 2005
LENOX — Mark Fischetti, a Lenox author, wishes he weren't getting all  
the attention he has had over the past few days.

In 2001, Fischetti wrote an article for Scientific American detailing  
the assault of a storm like Katrina on New Orleans and describing how  
the disaster could be prevented or at least mitigated. In an op-ed  
piece in yesterday's New York Times, he detailed failed efforts in 1998  
to implement a plan, called Coast 2050, that would have spent $14  
billion over 10 years to bolster the city's defenses against  
hurricanes.

As the disaster in Louisiana and Mississippi has unfolded, Fischetti  
has become a popular interview subject. He has appeared on CNN, and  
today will fly to Washington, D.C., to appear on NBC's "Meet the  
Press."

"It really would be a lot better if none of this attention was falling  
on me or on what I wrote," Fischetti said in a telephone interview from  
his Great Barrington office yesterday.

Fischetti said he felt sick Sunday as he watched radar of the hurricane  
heading toward New Orleans.

"I knew what it could bring because I had done that article and spent  
time down there with people who really know what can and can't happen,  
given the high winds and high water."

When the hurricane veered slightly to the east just before making  
landfall, many hoped that New Orleans had been spared the worst. When  
Fischetti heard Tuesday morning that levees had given way, he said he  
"got that same sick feeling again. A direct hit would have filled the  
city with water quickly. This is slower, but it is just as bad in terms  
of filling the city. In the end, it is the exact same result."

While the nation has watched on television, the rescue operation in New  
Orleans has unfolded painfully slowly. Many have begun to question why  
the government has seemed so unprepared for a disaster that had been so  
frequently predicted.

Reuters and other news agencies yesterday reported that the Army Corps  
of Engineers had warned that funding for fiscal years 2005 and 2006  
would not be enough for new construction of New Orleans' levees.

After a flood in 1995 killed six people, Congress approved an upgrade  
to the city's flood protection. Reuters reported that, since 2001, the  
Army Corps has requested $496 million for that project, but that the  
Bush administration budgeted only $166 million, and Congress ultimately  
approved $250 million.

Dire need ignored

Over the past decade, Fischetti said, Washington "just didn't pay  
attention. Congress is besieged with projects and requests for funding;  
however, there are some projects that are more dire than others."

Although Louisiana had unsuccessfully sought $14 billion to protect  
against floods, Florida was granted $7 billion to help restore the  
Everglades. "If I were to speculate on the politics," Fischetti said,  
"Florida matters more to Washington and in national politics than  
Louisiana does."

As New Orleans recovers and attention turns toward rebuilding,  
Fischetti hopes that the past plans will be dusted off and given  
serious consideration.

"There is an American spirit that says rebuild it, and you have to root  
for that. But to me, it doesn't make a lot of sense to think about  
rebuilding the city without simultaneously improving the protection  
around the city," Fischetti said. "It is still hurricane season, and  
there will be a hurricane season next year and the year after that."

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/headlines/ci_2997733

Brian Shannon


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