New Orleans is a great place to live, unless you have lived there (and right after Katrina really doesn't tell what the city is like) you really don't know.
And almost all of the Old part of the City is above sea level, thats why Uptown, The Garden District the French Quarter, Old Metarie, River Ridge didn't flood at all.
In fact, New Orleans is especially well suited, much more than other low coastal type cities, to weather the possible rise in sea level. You wouldnt think, but they already are ringed by levees that are now much stronger than pre Katrina, they have all the pumping systems in place, and all they have to do is raise the levees more if sea level rises in the next 100 years. Other cities need to buy the easments and start from scratch.
Just sayin'