Did you see actor Brad Pitt interviewed by Larry King last night about his project to rebuild homes in the most vulnerable area of flood-prone New Orleans? While his heart is in the right place, is his head on straight, and should insurers support his noble efforts? Or is he being hopelessly naive and misguided?
While I admire the initiative Mr. Pitt is taking to use his celebrity as well as his own money to spur redevelopment of the devastated Lower Ninth Ward–which might be flooded again should the city's leaky levees fail when the next hurricane inevitably hits–I couldn't help but wonder about the wisdom of putting homes back in that residential bowl. It sounded like a disaster just waiting to happen…again!
But then Mr. Pitt made a very interesting point when Larry King raised that very problem. He said that If you cannot build in the Ninth Ward because the area might someday be swept away again by floodwaters, by that same logic, we shouldn't permit another home, store or office to be built in earthquake-prone San Francisco…or in hurricane-exposed Miami…or anywhere along Tornado Alley in the Midwest.
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