[News] New Orleans Council Ignores Housing Crisis, Discriminatory Vote Set for Thursday
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Wed Dec 19 14:33:35 EST 2007
COALITION TO STOP THE DEMOLITION
MEDIA ADVISORY Contact: Mayaba Liebenthal, 917-385-5472 -
Kali Akuno, 510-593-3956
WHERE: Steps of City Hall
WHEN: Thursday, December 20 2007, 9:30 AM
CITY COUNCIL IGNORES HOUSING CRISIS, DISCRIMINATORY VOTE SET FOR THURSDAY
New Orleans City Council will vote to continue the displacement of
Black and working class families Thursday when it rubber stamps the
demolition of almost 4,000 desperately needed apartments. The City
Council plans to conduct a sham meeting. They will go through the
motions of the required public comment, but their vote is already determined.
Council members engaged in ongoing discussions with residents and
advocates have plainly stated their position: There will be a vote on
Thursday. There will be no moratorium. They will approve demolition
of all the developments.
"We finally cleaned up public housing. We couldn't do it, but God
did." Senator Baker's comment shocked the nation in 2005. Thursday
New Orleans first majority white city council in over 30 years will
vote to execute this blatantly racist vision.
Not only does this racism halt the democratic process, but there are
serious conflicts of interest, misrepresentation of facts, lack of
consultation with the public and a pending federal investigation of
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. The Council's deliberate disregard of
these factors makes their vote illegitimate.
New Orleans already has a homeless population in excess of 12,000,
and by March there will be more than 50,000 families evicted from
closing FEMA trailer parks. The only legitimate solution is to reopen
all available housing now.
"The City Councils vote to demolish in the midst of the ever-growing
housing crisis is an egregious violation of human rights. It is
beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It
is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the Black population of New
Orleans." said Kali Akuno, of the Coalition to Stop the Demolition.
The Coalition stands by it's positions that HUD/HANO end all
demolition attempts, reopen all existing housing, begin building new
housing on property cleared decades ago, guarantee one-for-one
replacement once resident input controls renovation, and revoke the
illegal contracts made under Jackson.
###
Housing projects will be demolished, a majority of City Council confirms
by Gwen Filosa
Wednesday December 19, 2007, 11:59 AM
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
The New Orleans City Council appears poised to approve the demolition
of the city's "Big Four" housing complexes despite continuing
protests, with four of its seven members signaling approval.
Council members Jackie Clarkson, Stacy Head, Shelley Midura all said
in interviews this week they will approve the demolition permits in a
vote scheduled for Thursday. And a representative of Council
President Arnie Fielkow, who asked not to be named, this morning
confirmed his intent to vote for demolition.
Two other members -- James Carter and Cynthia Willard-Lewis --
declined to preview their votes. The remaining member, Councilwoman
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, could not be reached for comment.
In approving the demolition of federally financed public housing
units, the Council finds itself in a new, powerful and controversial
role. HANO wanted to begin demolition of 4,500 units on Dec. 15, but
a state judge agreed with the Loyola Law Clinic's attorneys that the
council must approve the permits first for each of the four sites
slated for the wrecking crews: Lafitte, C.J. Peete, St. Bernard and
B.W. Cooper.
Though highly public protests from activists continue this week, some
council members nonetheless stood firm in their support for tearing
down the aging and often delipadated complexes to make way for new,
mixed-income developments.
"I'm going to vote to support redevelopment of the projects in the
city," said Midura. "I'll be voting to support the path that most
effectively reforms and reopens public housing. That path requires a
demolition permit."
Head agreed.
"Redevelopment requires demolition," she said, adding that the
"overwhelming majority" of her constituents want Peete and Cooper
transformed into mixed-income neighborhoods.
Midura's district includes the Lafitte development, which has been
shuttered since Katrina struck, forcing out 865 families, while
Head's district includes both the C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper. The St.
Bernard development, closed since Katrina, is within Cynthia
Hedge-Morrell' s district.
Clarkson said New Orleans would be ill-advised to try and stop HUD's
plans for redevelopment.
"This is our opportunity to do it," said Clarkson. "We need to
provide better housing than before Katrina. By going along with HUD,
we get an opportunity to spend their money on our people. We do it
better for the poor people and better for the city. It's a win-win."
Fielkow has made public statements recently supporting mixed-income
housing, but stopped short of promising a vote for demolition. A
representative of his confirmed this morning, however, that he plans
to support the demolitions.
Cynthia Willard-Lewis, in a prepared statement, said only that she
has met with public housing residents and others to "find common
solutions to these difficult problems."
Clarkson, the at-large councilwoman, recalled that her former
district included the Fischer, which has been transformed from a
high-rise tower and barracks-style apartments to modern-day housing,
including a "senior village" on the West Bank.
"We did not displace the poor, and I plan to make sure we don't,"
said Clarkson. "We don't have to build a whole bunch of supply if
there's no demand."
Thursday's council meeting likely will draw crowds of activists, who
have argued the old buildings, many of which date back to the 1940s,
should be rehabbed and reopened.
The Coalition to Stop the Demolitions, an umbrella group for scores
of activist groups opposing HANO's redevelopment plans, sent out
instructions on protesting Thursday's vote via an e-mail, which
speculated that the council vote will fall along racial lines.
"At least three of the white city council members are going to vote
against us," the email by Kali Akuno said. "The third black council
member, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, is definitely a critical swing vote."
Akuno told his supporters that Fielkow "might vote in favor or
abstain in order to not lose favor with" black constituents.
Clarkson, the at-large councilwoman, said last week that tearing down
and redeveloping the Lafitte complex would "save Treme and rebuild
the neighborhood better than before."
The Lafitte plan, by nonprofit developers Providence and Enterprise,
calls for "one-to-one" replacement of the 865 public housing units,
unlike the plans for redeveloping the other three complexes, which
may include far lower numbers of public housing units.
"I consider that the compromise," said Clarkson, of the Lafitte plan.
Gwen Filosa can be reached at gfilosa at timespicayu
<http://ne.com/>ne.com or (504) 826-3304.
<http://www.nola>http://www.nola. com/news/ index.ssf/
2007/12/housing_ projects_ will_be_demol. html
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