New Orleans Solution
The estimate for rebuilding New Orleans is $200 billion, and it is sure to go up. My solution is as follows.The entire city should be taken by eminent domain. Allocate $50,000 to each man women and child with a minimum payment of $150,000 to any family, even if they didn't own property. That would be in addition to any insurance awards.Commercial property owners would get paid also because the whole city will be taken by eminent domain. Lets say they get $10 billion. Thus the buyout costs would be around $35 billion, Then spend the $28 billion or so estimated to rebuild the levees to withstand at least the supposed depth below sea level 100 years from now. (It continues to sink.) Then auction off 100 year leases for the land to commercial developers who would also have to build all the new infrastructure including churches, schools, hospitals, etc.in addition to the housing and buildings they would build and sell or rent The leases would be in lieu of taxes. The government's costs would be fixed at a little more than half what the current estimates are. (If they want to save their beloved red light district known as the historic French Quarter, that could be carved out of the proposal.)In order to avoid years of red tape, and to eliminate the need for a bureaucracy to carry out appraisals, which can be subject to personal opinions, political pressures and years of litigation, etc, and to compensate those who residents who don't own property but are nevertheless suffering, this is an uncomplicated solution. (I realize that eminent domain laws would have to be changed in order to do this.)