Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

If You Rebuild It, They Might Not Come Brad Pitt's Beautiful Houses Are A Drag On New Orleans, Lydia Depillis

Michelle M. Thompson

"There's a reason, though, why such cold, hard logic hasn't yet prevailed in this most hard hit of New Orleans neighborhoods: It's all too easy to be won over by the spirit of the Lower Ninth, the passion of the people who did return. It may not be the most efficient use of public resources, and no amount of trying may bring in the kind of retail amenities that make places comfortable to live. Lower Niners, however, have a different kind of attachment to their ancestral land—for the black families who've lived there for decades, it's often the first property …