... to prove how the priorities of the American politicians are set, compared to those from Sri Lanka. Somehow, the alarming news from Sri Lanka doesn't really surprise me so much... Politicians and fishermen, they're two different kinds of people in Sri Lanka (can I say castes?). If suddenly all money would be poured into repairing only the French Quarter and the business district, then you're at the same level of Sri Lanka, just patching up the tourism flux and leave the rest fend for themselves.

The concept of gentrification is a good one, and it is working well in (most) places, as long as you don't force people to live someplace they don't really want to. Gentrificating an ENTIRE city, though, seems pretty impossible to me... Still, making the French Quarter more accessible sounds like a fine idea. Let's just see what's been done with it...