The levee in this Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans failed during Hurricane Katrina, causing devastating floods. Tulane freshman Dan Hyman is collecting names on a petition pleading for levee protection to withstand category-five storms.

Americans from coast to coast want to see New Orleans renewed, and Dan Hyman has the signatures to prove it. His website has been collecting names for a petition calling for category-five hurricane protection for the city since mid-December, and hundreds of individuals have signed on so far.

Hyman, a freshman, arrived at Tulane in the fall with his parents for orientation and move-in day, only to have to pack up and evacuate back home to New York.

"As I watched the situation unfold on television, I realized that the tragedy of Katrina was as much a result of human error as it was a natural tragedy," says Hyman. "So I thought this project, getting category-five hurricane flood protection for New Orleans, really needed to be done."

Hyman had interned that summer for U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.

"I went in to speak with my boss from the office about what the best way to do it would be," says Hyman. "Really, only the federal government has the resources to accomplish this, and we thought that the best thing to do would be to start a petition to collect popular support--to demonstrate that the American people support this project."

Hyman got his website up and running in mid-December, and the first names for the petition were posted on the site on Dec. 12.

Hyman has been hard at work publicizing the petition, hoping to gather as many names as possible.

"The ultimate success of the effort will depend on how much publicity it gains," says Hyman. "I'm trying to garner publicity right now by writing letters to TV personalities both national and in the New Orleans area. I'm going to place a news release on the Internet very soon, through a news service."

Hyman's efforts in support of category-five-level protection for New Orleans go beyond setting up the website. He wrote an article on the need for category-five hurricane protection that was published in the Jan. 26 issue of the Tulane student newspaper, Hullabaloo. The article was picked up by a Louisiana news website, www.BayouBuzz.com.

"When the time is right," says Hyman, "I'm going to set up meetings with Louisiana's congressional representatives to try and convince them to propose such a bill. And they could use this petition to show that the American people do indeed support it."