The Administration is on “spin cycle”:http://www.wdsu.com/video/16915519/index.html on this one.

Contrary to what the Mayor says, or was told to say this house was identified and cleared for demolition over 6 months ago.

3963 Delachaise has been on the city’s demolition radar for a very long time.

The city knew 3963 Delachaise was in “imminent danger of collapse” (aka “IDC”) since at least December of 2007.

It showed up on a City of New Orleans IDC list issued on December 19, 2007. That list appeared briefly on the city’s website.

It is also on a current list of city properties targeted for demolition and which can be reimbursed with FEMA funding.

The city has also declared the property an Imminent Health Threat (aka “IHT”) repeatedly. It showed up on no less than four IHT lists during March and April:

3/18/08

3/27/08

4/2/08

4/21/08

There was no historic review preventing the demolition of this house, none at all. The Historic process does not need to be streamlined, the Mayor needs to be informed and talk to the Demolition contractor …

Karen Gadbois

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led...