New Orleans Idea

I haven't seen this idea posted anywhere (but really haven't looked): Why not embrace the fact that the city of New Orleans is lower than the sea level around it instead of trying to constantly combat nature by keeping the water out of the city (eventually, nature always wins).

I'm talking about flooding the city permanently, sort of like Venice, Italy. Or at least have a flooded section and build up other parts of the city so that they're actually higher in elevation than the sea level. Life in the flooded section would exist above the waterline, and water taxis and gondoliers would shuttle people around.

Yeah, you'll lose a lot of historical buildings by embracing this approach, but compared to the alternative of constantly rebuilding after flooding (and paying insurance premiums in the interim), this just seems more logical to me.