A host of dignitaries, architects and elected officials unveiled an ambitious $6.2 billion plan to reinvent over the next 37 years how New Orleanians live with water. The idea, created by an army of interested parties but spearheaded by architect David Waggonner and his firm, Waggonner & Ball, is to fight both subsidence and flooding by redeveloping the Crescent...
A host of dignitaries, architects and elected officials unveiled an ambitious $6.2 billion plan to reinvent over the next 37 years how New Orleanians live with water.
The idea, created by an army of interested parties but spearheaded by architect David Waggonner and his firm, Waggonner & Ball, is to fight both subsidence and flooding by redeveloping the Crescent City to hold water in various ways, rather than pump it all into Lake Pontchartrain every time a deluge occurs.
It's supporters are calling it the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan.
The presentation revealed little new about it, which has been in the works for more than four years. But Friday was the first time it was presented as a cohesive, interworking goal to reform city zoning policies, designs of public spaces and, more importantly, changes in attitude among residents who have long seen water as much as a threat as an asset.
Stay with nola.com for a more detailed report later.