ddb NOLA: deIndustry

Probably the most contributing factor to the shrinking of New Orleans is the failure of industry to grow and flourish - this factor leading to the crime rate and education problems and vice versa, completing the cycle of a dying economy.

The economy that supported Louisiana throughout most of last century was the oil industry; however, it reached its peak in the 1970s and had been on a steady decline ever since. Levees and canals diverted the flow of the Mississippi, changing and destroying elements of the ecosystems and essential plants in the Mississippi delta. This has made the land vulnerable to sinking, and the drilling of oil began to literally force the level of the land to drop because it caused the pressure underneath the land dropped.

the sinking city of New Orleans due to depressurization; the red parts are sinking the fastest, and moving down the spectrum the violet parts are sinking the slowest (see legend)
image courtesy of NewScientist.com.

It was soon realized that Louisiana, specifically the New Orleans area, is anything but ideal for oil drilling. The industry began to suffer due to environmental restrictions and lawsuits (both due to sinking wetlands and oil spills), causing layoffs and slowing the economy of New Orleans. People moved, in search of work.

As mentioned in a previous post, in 1960 there were 627,525 people living in metropolitan NOLA, and pre-Katrina 2005 housed 444,000. Another important industry is the ship and port-building industry, but as the oil industry declined, so did this. Tourism became one of the major supporting industries.

The poverty rate in 1970 was 26 percent, but in 28 census tracts it was at least 40%; in 2000, the overall rate had only risen to 28 percent, but there were 47 tracts where the rate was at least 40%. In those 30 years, NOLA lost 109,000 residents. The poor stayed behind, the middle and upper middle classes left in search of opportunity.