Katrina Disaster Area: Our Pompeii for future generations

'Discussions on alternatives to rebuilding New Orleans' continues to be one of Porkopolis' most popluar posts (per Site Meter stats).

Now this is some out-of-the-box thinking that warrants a very close look:

Next stop in New Orleans: Disaster trip for tourists

Gray Line New Orleans will begin offering a "Hurricane Katrina Tour - America's Worst Catastrophe!" to show the ruin that befell the city when the storm hit on August 29, breaching a faulty system of river levees and flooding 80 percent of its neighborhoods.

Gray Line New Orleans normally organizes trips through the city's historic districts as well as its swamps and spooky cemeteries, but its business has been severely curtailed by the hurricane. The company said the Katrina tour was born of frustration over the government's slow response to rebuilding.

About 10 percent of the $35 ticket price for the three-hour tour will be donated to Katrina relief groups.

We kill multiple birds with one stone here:

• Funding for disaster victims
• An incentive to NOT rebuild in the disaster-prone areas; at least with government funding. If people want to use private dollars to rebuild...have at it.
• A living museum and a lesson for future generations of the downsides to government funded development in coastal hurricane-prone areas.
• A free-enterprise tourist industry that can employee residents...that hopefully will rebuild further inland and commute to the attraction.