As this WaPo article makes clear, this issue has been around for awhile. My guess is one of the reasons why this story hasn't gotten a lot of play lately is because the Housing Authority of New Orleans has been threatening to do this for some time. What's been keeping it from happening have been the series of lawsuits thrown at the bulldozing. This reminded me of the urgency displayed at Monday's A Question of Impeachment. As one of the panelists said We are out of legal appeals. We tried everything we could. It didn't work.
Just so we understand what's at stake here once again, let's go to the WaPo article:
Residents and their advocates made emotional, legal and what they called common-sense arguments against demolition at the housing authority meeting. "The day you decide to destroy our homes, you will break a lot of hearts," said Sharon Pierce Jackson, who lived in one of the now-closed projects slated to be razed. "We are people. We are not animals."
She and others questioned why the Department of Housing and Urban Development would destroy affordable housing in New Orleans, saying it is essential to the city's recovery.
C. Donald Babers, the federally appointed administrator running the Housing Authority of New Orleans, did not respond to that question in tersely approving the demolitions.
Previously, HUD officials have said the old projects should be cleared out to make way for less dense, modern housing. But those new developments, to be constructed in partnership with private investors, would probably include far fewer apartments for low-income residents and would take years to complete. An unresolved lawsuit on behalf of residents charges that the demolition plan is racially discriminatory. (Emph. Mine)
So according to the WaPo, the plan is pretty obvious-- keep the poor, largely African American (and Democrat-leaning, I might add) citizens of New Orleans out while you sell the land under their homes to real estate developers. Stay Classy, HUD.
And who is C. Donald Babers? Well, let's let Google help us out on that one. According to this article, the Feds:
... are exploring whether Jackson, despite that testimony, had actually lined up a contract at the HUD-controlled Housing Authority of New Orleans, or HANO, for a golfing buddy and social friend from Hilton Head Island, S.C. The friend, William Hairston, was paid more than $485,000 for working at HANO during an 18-month period, according to figures provided by HUD and a former HANO official. The work was not competitively bid.
HANO's records show that Hairston Construction Services was awarded a "firm fixed price contract" for $167,858 on July 19, 2006. HANO considered no other proposals. Hairston's hiring was described as an "emergency," according to resolution No. 2006-32 of HANO's board of commissioners. The contract was approved by C. Donald Babers, a senior HUD official who serves as the sole member of the HANO board, according to a copy of the board's minutes. Babers, like other HUD officials, did not respond to calls seeking comment.
At the meeting, Donald Vallee, a retired banker and the president of a landlords association in New Orleans, questioned the propriety of the award. The minutes of the board's July 19 meeting described Vallee's concerns: "Mr. Vallee stated years ago HANO had problems with inside deals and things not being done above board. It was hoped that this administration would do things differently."
...When another member of the audience complained about HANO's wasting money on contractors, Babers cut her off. The minutes say: "Mr. Babers stated that they could not be second-guessed as they attempted to move forward with getting residents into units, but the urgency of the situation dictated that they move in this direction." (emph. mine)
You can also go here to hear audio of Babers gavelling the meeting to a close where he, once again as sole board member of HANO decided to demolish the 5,000 units.
Let's step back and just think about this for a moment. What kind of accountability exists in a system where one man is the entire board of the organization tasked with handling New Orleans post-Katrina housing needs? That's worse than Robert Moses!
This is straight out of the Bush administration playbook-- take an area in distress, flood it with unaccountable people and big contractors, spend a lot of money and treat the poor like expendable people. This is an outrage. The people of New Orleans didn't elect Babers any more than the people or Iraq elected Paul Bremer. Yet both men have been given wide bearth to drastically effect the quality of life of the people they're supposed to be looking out for.
We cannot trust the government that they're going to make it alright for New Orleans' poorer residents. If they were, there would be a plan in place to seriously help them return, not displace them into other states and toxic FEMA trailers dotting the landscape on Louisiana.
To read more about this, please visit Justice For New Orleans here. Later on this week, possibly today, I'll have a list up of practical things you can do to try to help stop this injustice.
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