Clarkson Integrator

Issue date: 11/7/05 Section: Opinion

Recently, I, along with two other Clarkson students had the pleasure of attending a convention during the last weekend in October: New Visions, New Cities: New Orleans. The advertised purpose was to discuss the rebuilding in New Orleans. The Destiny Campaign set up this event, since they are to be involved in the restoration process. Now, I say that this was the advertised purpose. During the first day of this convention the CEO, Robert Congel, of the Destiny campaign greeted us. He talked about the importance of keeping a sense of tradition and community in New Orleans. After I heard his speech, I felt very excited to venture into this endeavor with Destiny. I felt that after a full weekend, the students there could make a difference. Honestly, for a short time on that first night I thought what a privilege it would be to work for Destiny.



When Sunday rolled around, and the discussions were over, I wanted nothing to do with Destiny. It was obvious that the students who were invited to the summit were window dressing for Destiny. On that first Friday, after the introduction there was a swift shift into a new topic. This was concerning Destiny's new project to build a huge center in Syracuse where the current Carousel mall is. The students were told about how great this new center will be, with its monorail and self sufficiency. We were also told about the population density within a 500 mile radius around Syracuse and how it is the densest in the country. Another little tidbit of information was the estimated disposable income of several trillion dollars that resided in this circle. Just for you information, the Destiny Campaign plans on getting as much of this money as they want, which is fine with me. Every business needs to make money. I was just confused why the speakers talked about making a huge profit and caring so much about humanity.



Saturday was the day that formed my opinion on Destiny. From the talk of rebuilding New Orleans, the true nature of Destiny was exposed. From quiet conversation with the other students at this convention, and I say quiet because I believe there was surveillance equipment all over the place, I believe Destiny is a great corporation. They want to put in a lifetime of work to rebuild New Orleans, and then take this new, perfect city of the future and put it in a display window. While on the showroom floor for the world to see, Destiny can say how great this new city looks and how people should come see what they have done. Not really primarily focusing on the people of New Orleans, I got a sense that the Destiny Campaign wants New Orleans to be a great place to visit, not necessarily a great place to live. I am sure they will keep the culture of New Orleans, but only the touristy culture. So from the great buzz generated by this Disney World City, Destiny is going to make billions upon billions of dollars. Soon after they will be in charge of rebuilding all of our current cities, so we can live in a nice place, smile all the time, wear a nametag and ride a monorail. Based on this, Destiny is a great corporation because they know how to put on a show. Everyone is in awe and throws their money at them, so the executives can have ten more exotic cars they will never drive. Thank you Destiny for a great weekend, and for proving to me that the stereotypical American corporation is still alive and strong.

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