Which will be harder to fix: New Orleans after Katrina or Detroit, Michigan

[hangfan91]

Basically, New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Detroit by the collapse of automobile manufacturing in the city after 1970.

Which will be harder to fix?

[politicus]

Motown.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Detroit's got a looooooong uphill battle.

[dead0man]

Detroit.  NO shouldn't be fixed.  It's stupid to have a coastal city in a place that gets a lot of hurricanes where most of the people live 100 feet below sea level.  If you want to save the old part, fine, it's mostly on high ground so it can save itself.

Detroit is what happens when a city has a single industry and a single political party running the place for 50 years.  Mix in union corruption and you've got yourself Detroit.

Neither city is going to return to it's former glory, at least not anytime soon.  The sooner they understand that, the better.

[Mechaman]

Detroit, and I really don't see how it's even close.

New Orleans, in spite of everything that happened to it, is turning out to be one of the great stories of hope and optimism in the history of the early 21st century.  The city's population has gone down but by now NO is a healthy functioning city and it is clear that the people there have an immense pride in it.  Surely events like the victory of the Saints in the 2010 Superbowl (their only victory ever) should be huge morale boosters.

You cannot say the same about Detroit, which seems to have been on a taildive since the 1970s.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I was in New Orleans in 2009 and it's very obvious that having a population as kindly and well-mannered as they are is going to make the job a lot easier.  (Yes, I'm aware there is a lot of crime, but the vast majority of the population is so pleasant, an obvious example of a few ruining the image of a whole) Such a great sense of community down there and they welcome people who come in to help the rebuild will open arms.  Plus, that whole "we have to rebuild attitude" creates job opportunities at the best, and something to do for the day at the worst.  

Detroit is just a big, giant ball of hopelessness and despair on the other hand.  No real job opportunities, either.  The city seems like a sprawling uber-Camden to me.  

Detroit:


North Camden, NJ:


That's not a rosy outlook at all.  I've not been to Detroit, but it seems to have a ton in common with Camden, and I've advocated leveling half of North Camden in the past and just starting over.