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Seattle and Chicago both solved similar flooding problems (Chicago was swampland, Seattle was on a tidal plain) in the 1800's all by themselves, raising the "downtown" street levels over eight feet all by themselves. In Chicago, landowners co-ooperated and jacked up the buildings, In Seattle, they didn't. So the town fathers walled in the streets and raised the street levels anyway--creating what is now 'Underground Seattle'.
Personally, I think any attempt to aid NOLA without first raising the ground level twenty feet, is pissing in the wind and should not be funded. Raising the ground level has been done before. It works. It is economically viable and cheaper in the long run than any other solution. Anything else is just screwing around--something both parties and all governments have been real good at doing with NOLA.
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