Ironically, taming nature and the elements to build an effective and safe urban infrastructure are issues as relevant in this century as they were one hundred years ago. With the invention of the Wood screw pump in 1906, and the subsequent drainage of swampland, the New Orleans footprint expanded into the popular suburbs of Gentilly, Lakeview, and Mid-City. In praising the virtues of Lakeview real estate, a commercial home builder in 1909 said,...