[News] New Orleans Council Ignores Housing Crisis, Discriminatory Vote Set for Thursday

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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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