Here is one of the houses fast tracked for demolition under the Mayors Executive Order. We went to Recovery Committee Meeting to request that the Executive Order be repealed and instead we were given a lesson in political “niceness”

No one raised their voices and nothing happened, it was a regular Tea Party. Now a neighborhood fights to save a house which is owned by NORA. What about their promises to not demolish???

211 N. Rendon

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...

7 replies on “An Affront to Neighborhoods”

  2. At least three of the structures greenlighted for demolition lie within the VA/LSU hospital footprint proposed (in 2005) by the Regional Planning Commission. They are:

    2408 Palmyra
    1914-1916 Palmyra
    131 S. Derbigny

    At the August 11th scoping meeting to discuss the possible use of the old Lindy Boggs site as a location for the proposed VA hospital, Ed Blakely told the audience the city would neither fund nor support ANY option other than locating the hopitals between Rocheblave, Claiborne, Tulane and Canal (the area to be clear-cut according to last year’s MOU among the city, state and VA).

    At the same time the “recovery czar” spoke of hotels, restaurants and “other ammenities” envisioned for the hospital site and its environs.

    In recent months, the city announced in the local newspapers its partnership with Tulane Avenue developers. At the same time, residents within the city’s desired hospital footprint remain under a building permit moratorium imposed last December by the neighborhood’s own city council member.

    A public comment period regarding site selection and impact for the proposed VA hospital remains open until September 27th. The public notice has been published in the local press but may also be viewed online at the following URL:

    http://www.valsumedcenters.com/index_files/Page353.htm

  3. I have not received a response to the email below:

    ———- Forwarded message ———-
    From: Amy Lafont
    Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 2:52 PM
    Subject: Question about Dr. Blakely’s claim to unilateral control over CDBG funds
    To: District A , smidura@cityofno.com

    Dear Councilmember Midura,

    Since last week’s LSU/VA Lindy Bogg’s meeting, community members have been processing the latest developments. One particular comment by Dr. Blakely has confounded us and I am writing you for clarification.

    By what authority does Dr. Blakely unilaterally decide how the City will spend federal funds? Has City Council or the Mayor specifically designated him the sole arbitor of these matters? By what act? When?

    Thank you for your assistance to clarify this matter.

    Sincerely,
    Your consituent,
    Amy Lafont

  4. Billygoat, a bunch of the houses on the next NCDC agenda are in the LSU-VA footprint, too. Residents are required to live in limbo in their crumbling homes without benefit of renovation permits but the city gets to tear down at will in the same area?

    Shameful. We need a recall petition for the Mayor – and a clean slate for the entire of city government.

  7. Nearly ALL of it. Email me at savehistoricnola@gmail.com if you want more information.

    Thanks for the heads up, Amy. I know the city council recently voted to allocate CDBG funds for Gustav IDC demos, so they have some control. (Not happy about THAT by the way, unless the owners will be fined and the properties taken away for resale.)

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