Name: Udo Agomo Case Study #1

In the case study below, imagine that you are sitting on a citizen’s advisory board for a local
municipality (parish is a local term for a city/district, not a church!) near New Orleans.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, one the largest and most deadly storms in U.S. history, devastated
the region around New Orleans. Over 1200 people died in the storm and subsequent flooding which
lasted for weeks. Property damage was estimated at $108 billion. Most of the lives lost and property
damage resulted as a direct consequence of insufficient levee design and construction. The levees were
constructed under the authority of the Army Corps of Engineers which was later found responsible for
the faulty levees.
The parish you now live in was severely damaged by the storm. The population today is still only
about 60% of what it had been prior to Katrina. But the damage was not spread evenly. The city center
and large sections of the more affluent neighborhoods were built on a ridge. As such, these buildings
sustained less damage, especially during the weeks in which the low lying areas remained flooded.
The low lying areas includes some middle class residential housing and factories and virtually all
of the low-income housing in your parish. Even before the storm, the area was prone to flooding which
made its housing cheaper and less desirable. The area is also characterized by high crime, low income,
and an overwhelmingly African American population. Now, many of the buildings and homes in the low
lying area have been torn down and population of the area is about 35% of what it had been. In the
aftermath of the storm, some had questioned if the area was worth rebuilding at all. However, public
opinion had been swayed to save what could be saved for several reasons. First, many of the residents
had spent their entire lives in those neighborhoods and felt a deep connection to the place. Second, the
reason the area was largely African American and low income could be directly connected to
discriminatory practices throughout the parish’s history. In fact, the neighborhoods had been founded
during the Jim Crow era when buying property in more desirable locations was virtually impossible for
African Americans. Many residents viewed taking salvageable properties away from African American
owners as a double injustice given the history of discrimination and failure of the Army Corps of
Engineers to protect these properties (which was also seen as having racial implications). Third and
finally, the money and resources to rebuild were available after Katrina through federal disaster aid as
well as volunteers and volunteer organizations. Initially, the decision to rebuild appeared to have good
consequences. Many of the dilapidated buildings were now gone and open lots allowed for more green
space and even a few new parks. Property prices have mostly recovered and the crime rate has fallen.
Now, given the area’s history, you are faced with a difficult question. The low lying areas have
continued to have flooding issues and the parishes near you have applied for federal funding to
construct a valley and streambed. This stream will carry storm water away much more efficiently than
the old, leaking, and undersized storm sewage system. The federal grant will provide over 80% of the
funding for the project, as well as a small amount of low interest loan money to cover unforeseen costs.
Your parish’s participation in the project is essential for the grant to be approved. Still, none of the other
parishes have a comparable number of residential homes in the path of the proposed stream bed.
Creating the stream would almost certainly improve the drainage of the surrounding area, improve the
property values of all the remaining homes, and even create a new wildlife corridor for many important
bird and aquatic species that live near the gulf. But a significant number of houses would need to be
torn down in your parish. Many of these had been rebuilt or restored just a decade ago.
You have been tasked with making a recommendation on if and how your parish should join the
proposed project.
 Four Step Method for Responding to Case Studies

1. Analysis of the Situation

After Katerina, poor neighborhoods throughout New Orleans were still trying to recover
and in one parish that I am in charge of is a poor and mostly African-American
neighborhood that was effected very hard that is just started rebuilding.
The city is trying to build a Stream that would help with flooding and carrying storm
water more effectively, the problem is that in order to do so they need to build it
through my parish and to do that they have to knock down houses in my area that have
just been rebuilt.
Those affect by this would be everyone that lives in my parish and even more so the
people whose houses would be knocked down. Others affected would be the
surrounding parishes in which the stream would benefit as well. The moral conflict with
this is that it would help the whole city with the flooding problem and could limit
problems with storms in the future but it would cause people to lose their homes who
already don’t have a lot to start with.
2. Ethical Perspective
The general ethic perspective I fill that is most appropriate for this situation is
consequentialism ethic perspective. Either way I choose, has a positive outcome but the
consequences for choosing one side over the other may be bigger depending on what
way I decide and when dealing with human safety, the consequences are great.
3. Application
With Consequentialism ethics being used in this case study, it makes it easier to make a
tough decision. I have to consider how my decision effects both those in my parish but
also how it effects the surrounding parishes as a whole and what it does for the city.
4. Resolution
My decision would be to not build the stream.

 Takes people out of homes when they’re already used to lack of stability
 Deep connection to the roots of their land (generation to generation, Jim
Crow laws)
 There’s no other guaranteed housing
 Experience racial discrimination from more affluent areas if they’re able to
move out
 Stick it out, “something of their own than nothing at all”