The Black Informant

BRING BACK THE GHETTO!!!

Coaltion To New Orleans City Hall: Stop the Demolitons

At a press conference today on the steps of City Hall, The Coalition To Stop Demolition sent a clear message to the Mayor and the City Council: just say no to the demolition of public housing in New Orleans.

The Coalition is “made up of local public housing residents/organizers, housing advocates, local and national organizations,” according to their press release today.

“We implore the City Council to take the right step, to be on the right side of history, so we can bring our people home,” said Martin Suber of Peoples Hurricane Relief, one of the Coalition’s members. “Stand with the people against the nefarious HANO/HUD.”

The demolitions were originally scheduled to begin last Saturday, December 15. The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), which the Bush Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took over in 2002, wants to demolish the Lafitte, St. Bernard, C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper public housing complexes These have been almost totally vacant since Hurricane Katrina displaced over 5000 families from them, because HANO/HUD has barred them from returning to their homes, even though they had valid leases.

HANO/HUD want to spend $760 million to demolish 4500 low income housing units at the four complexes, and replace them with “mixed income” housing that would result in only 740 low income units, an 82% loss.

The council is scheduled to vote on the demolition issue at its weekly meeting this Thursday. After the Coalition successfully filed a lawsuit last week, contending that a city code mandates that the City Council must vote vote on all public housing demolition permit applecations, the council was forced to take up the matter. Previously it refused to act on it, in part because the City Attorney incorrectly stated that it did not have the legal authority to do so.

At the press conference, the Coaliton stated that it’s goals are: “1) No demolition until 1 for 1 replacement is guaranteed; 2) resident participation in redevelopment planning.”

“If they’re going to spend over $700 million for this, the people who used to live there should end up no worse off,” said Bill Quigley, the public housing residents’ legal advocate, and a professor at Loyola University School of Law. Quigley also said that Maxine Waters, a Congressional repesentative from California, who sponsored legislation there to ban the demolition of public housing in New Orleans, was contacting City Council members today to “help work this out.”

Last Friday Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid sent a letter to GW Bush, urging a 60 day moratorium on the New Orleans demolitons, so that there was time to reach a more just resolution of the matter. (more…)

1 for 1 replacement of public housing units is in effect bringing back the ghetto for New Orleans. All the fear-mongering over this issue stems from a fear that many of these poor families will be permanently displaced with no other place to live. The best thing many of these protesters can do is divert that energy into finding these folks employment that will qualify them for something other than public housing.