I'm done with this town.

[WRM2007]

The most stupid move that could ever be made. Goodbye, New Orleans.

http://wwl.com/HANO-to-reopen-parts-of-Lafitte/972179

The Housing Authority of New Orleans says it will repair 18 buildings providing 94 apartments at the shuttered Lafitte public housing development.

Officials say the restoration of public housing isn't because of a crush of families flocking home. About 400 apartments sit empty across the city in anticipation that former tenants will return to New Orleans.

The Lafitte move is only part of an effort to restore 3,000 apartments of traditional public housing in the city to please national leaders. They criticized HANO earlier this year for abandoning its properties as New Orleans is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The Lafitte development has remained vacant and sealed off by metal shutters since the aftermath of Katrina, and is one of four complexes ultimately destined for demolition.

Before Katrina, Lafitte was home to more than 800 families.

[SlidellWX]

Once the lawsuit is done, the projects will be torn down. I think they plan on tearing them down around 2010. In the meantime, the federally controlled HANO is basically being forced to open a few apartments to appease some representative from California. It sucks, but it's not the end of the world. The projects are still going to get demolished and replaced with mixed-income housing. These plans were in place before Katrina, and the damn lawsuit is holding everything up. The person to thank for this is Bill Quigley...a professor at Loyola Law School...who obviously will not be living near these public housing complexes.

[UptownNewOrleans]

If portions of the Lafitte can be fixed up better than ever, then I don't see a reason to tear down the whole project unless it can't be fixed up by Oct 2007 or the project is deemed to be in too horrible shape to be worth fixing up. Matter of fact, I'm pretty confident Lafitte got fixed up not too long ago. That's what I don't like about gentrification, you leave a neighborhood (or you never lived in the ghetto but because you realize there's money in the hood, you come in and run residents out of their homes) because it went downhill then a few years later you realize there's money in the ghetto and want to come back and take advantage I will say this, the Uptown projects aren't coming down anytime soon because the residents won't have it. You saw what happened when residents took it upon themselves to move back in Magnolia and do the repairs themselves. A few hundred units in Calliope were opened up and just as fast as they opened, they were gone that quick.

[eastover neworleans]

If portions of the Lafitte can be fixed up better than ever, then I don't see a reason to tear down the whole project unless it can't be fixed up by Oct 2007 or the project is deemed to be in too horrible shape to be worth fixing up. Matter of fact, I'm pretty confident Lafitte got fixed up not too long ago. That's what I don't like about gentrification, you leave a neighborhood (or you never lived in the ghetto but because you realize there's money in the hood, you come in and run residents out of their homes) because it went downhill then a few years later you realize there's money in the ghetto and want to come back and take advantage I will say this, the Uptown projects aren't coming down anytime soon because the residents won't have it. You saw what happened when residents took it upon themselves to move back in Magnolia and do the repairs themselves. A few hundred units in Calliope were opened up and just as fast as they opened, they were gone that quick.

[rcp11889]

I don't think it really matters about opening up several apartments in the projects. The government just approved the demolition of "the big four" this week. These apartments will only stay open while the demolition is going on.

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/0...ew_or.html#more

[UptownNewOrleans]

Demolition has been approved for the big 4 but at the same time, nothing can happen to the developments until after November's lawsuit is taken care of and then there's the matter of the House bill that blocked any demolition of the housing developments that is awaiting Senate approval. If the Senate passes the house's measure, HANO & HUD have no choice but to renovate the units. Hence, the residents can move back in. Whether you want to admit it or not, there are good people that live in the projects, ones who are trying to stay alive and make ends meet but the riff-raff gives the impression that all project folks are lazy. Most of the people living in the projects didn't ask to grow up the way they did. If the projects do get demolished, the same model that worked for Atlanta's East Lake Meadows should be enacted for New Orleans.

[JPKneworleans]

I think it is hilarious. There are empty apartments in the developments right now. It's not like people are clammoring to move back in. This is the work of busy-body buffoons that have no connection to this city and what is going on here. I sure do hope and pray that Maxine Waters' anti-demolition bill does not pass that Senate.

[alon504]

The most stupid move that could ever be made. Goodbye, New Orleans.

http://wwl.com/HANO-to-reopen-parts-of-Lafitte/972179

The Housing Authority of New Orleans says it will repair 18 buildings providing 94 apartments at the shuttered Lafitte public housing development.

Officials say the restoration of public housing isn't because of a crush of families flocking home. About 400 apartments sit empty across the city in anticipation that former tenants will return to New Orleans.

The Lafitte move is only part of an effort to restore 3,000 apartments of traditional public housing in the city to please national leaders. They criticized HANO earlier this year for abandoning its properties as New Orleans is struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

The Lafitte development has remained vacant and sealed off by metal shutters since the aftermath of Katrina, and is one of four complexes ultimately destined for demolition.

Before Katrina, Lafitte was home to more than 800 families.

[breaux]

Demolition has been approved for the big 4 but at the same time, nothing can happen to the developments until after November's lawsuit is taken care of and then there's the matter of the House bill that blocked any demolition of the housing developments that is awaiting Senate approval. If the Senate passes the house's measure, HANO & HUD have no choice but to renovate the units. Hence, the residents can move back in. Whether you want to admit it or not, there are good people that live in the projects, ones who are trying to stay alive and make ends meet but the riff-raff gives the impression that all project folks are lazy. Most of the people living in the projects didn't ask to grow up the way they did. If the projects do get demolished, the same model that worked for Atlanta's East Lake Meadows should be enacted for New Orleans.

[JPKneworleans]

I think the Congressional bill is designed to force the proposed re-developments to maintain their level of public housing at a 1:1 ratio. They aren't forcing the projects to reopen, but if they're going to build mixed-income housing they will have to have the same number of public housing units.

It's not that bad.

[TSmith]

It is unbelievable what people will do for political expediency... turn your back on improving these communities for cheap political gain. It is sickening.

[NewNewOrleans]

I think it is hilarious. There are empty apartments in the developments right now. It's not like people are clammoring to move back in. This is the work of busy-body buffoons that have no connection to this city and what is going on here. I sure do hope and pray that Maxine Waters' anti-demolition bill does not pass that Senate.

[JPKneworleans]

Well, well, considering recent developments, it appears that New Orleans will be rid of the "big four" very soon. Judge Lemelle decided to dissolve the injunction against demolition. Also, with the recent approval of additional Road Home funds through the defense appropriation, it appears that the chances of passage of Maxine Waters' legislation that would tie Road Home money to a moratorium on demolition have dimmed substantially.

The Times-Picayune quoted Bill Quigley as stating that the demolition of the projects will result in the loss of 70 years of New Orleans "culture" and "history." The projects were (and are) highly dense developments in which crime could hide and thrive, much to the detriment of the law abiding citizens that make up the majority of project residents. Losing that "culture" and "history" sounds like a great thing to me, and for those who disagree, let's just see what the residents of the projects think when they move into mixed income, lower density neighborhoods.

[UptownNewOrleans]

In Uptown's case; when the Magnolia & Calliope come down, the Melph will be the last Uptown project standing. The Melph will be surrounded by mixed-income, lower density neighborhoods.

[JPKneworleans]

Project Demolition Begins Soon! <----- This is great news. It's unfortunate that misguided people will protest instead of celebrate.

[UptownNewOrleans]

You already know there will be strong protest. I'm split in my viewpoint. Everyone (those who are law-abiding, taxpaying citizens) has a right to affordable housing. Not everyone can live in multi-million dollar mansions on St.Charles, so for those of lesser means they gotta have housing too. Flipping the script, Lafitte already got fixed up so all that remodeling was for nothing. I do agree, some sections of Magnolia need to go. The stretch of Magnolia from S.Claiborne to Louisiana is abandoned & decrepit, you'll see empty shells of buildings. New Orleans has some of the nation's first housing projects, most of which hadn't been fixed up since they were first built. In that case, I'm all for them going bye-bye. Unfortunately, criminality and horrible conditions contributes to the demise of Big 4. It's funny in a sense because the same people protesting are going to be the same ones wanting first grabs at the new units.

[JPKneworleans]

I agree. People should have access to affordable housing. However, the time for these high dense "compounds" has come and gone. It's a shame that people are so fearful of change.