Reliapundit has one idea for making potentially good use of the Kelo decision- Use it to rebuild New Orleans:

"Vast tracts of fouled … New Orleans property should be bought by a federal government trust - (overseen by the likes of Paul Volker and Colin Powell and Rudy Giuliani and Tommy Franks and Mario Cuomo and Paul Ueberroth and real estate developers Hovnanian, Trump and Rudin)."

"Then — after a master plan is developed, with new state of the art utility, port, and communications infrastructure mapped out and financed by the commission — neighborhoods should be put up for competitive bidding by private developers."

"The private developers would submit master plans of their neighborhood redevelopment - which would have to conform to the federal master plan for the overall city and the neighborhood. And their redevelopment plans would have to conform to historical architectural standards set up by the commission to protect the character of the city."

Me: I think this idea has one point of merit. Thousands of residents do not plan on returning to New Orleans. I still haven’t heard what will become of their properties. First, you have to assume some of those not returning owned their property and were not renting. Second, if they owned property and do not plan to return, this would open up the possibility of their property being purchased and developed. The same goes for commerical and other residential property owners who do not want to rebuild. But I still don’t think the local, state or federal government needs to facilitate this. They will already be providing aid and compensation to flood victims. Perhaps another reason a Colin Powell or Rudy Giuliani type oversight figure could be helpful?