New Orleans reconstruction

On NPR's News and Notes show on Friday, the panel was debating New Orleans reconstruction. They were discussing how sad it is that the population of New Orleans has been cut in half, especially in the poor black neighborhoods that were most damaged by hurricane Katrina.

What got me thinking was that they were saying how much they (the dems and reps) hoped that eventually they would get the reconstruction and insurance problems fixed enough that these neighborhoods could be repopulated. But the truth is just the opposite. In general, you could never identify a neighborhood that will frequently be devastated by hurricanes/floods and kick everyone out. Why not take advantage of the current situation by turning the neighborhoods that are low-lying into something other than residential (such as parks) that would not be damaged significantly in a flood? If the previous residents really want to move back to New Orleans, I am sure there are some higher elevation neighborhoods that they can use their insurance checks and reconstruction payments to finance. This is not a poor/rich or black/white issue. It is a safe/unsafe and responsible/prohibitively expensive issue.

Another topic discussed by the panel was that middle class blacks, such as doctors and nurses, lawyers, etc. do not have the opportunity to create the critical mass that would reestablish New Orleans history as a hub of black culture. Does this mean that these residents, living in Houston, Baton Rouge, or Atlanta, are not able to create critical masses of black culture in those cities? History is history - it occurred in the past. In the present and future, these individuals are just as capable at creating culture in whatever city they live in. Why not do it in neighborhoods that will not be flooded every couple of years?