Abandoned In New Orleans

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Three reports in Saturday's Times-Picayune had three things in
common: abandoned buildings, abandoned people-and death. In all three
stories neglect played a leading role,
Saturday's Times-Picayune local section featured three stories
connected by neglect, abandonment and death. Taken together they
highlighted what happens when a society fails to value ALL its
citizens and resources.

The section's lead story was "Trio is booked in killing of man found
in school." This report told of a murdered man "discovered in an
abandoned school in the Lower 9th Ward." His corpse was found "in a
second-floor classroom at the abandoned Alfred Lawless High School at
5300 Law Street," the T-P reported. This was the city's first
recorded murder of the year.

The newspaper also reported that a coroner's investigator "believes
[the deseased] was killed elsewhere within 24 hours of the body's
discovery, and taken to the school, which was not boarded up and
easily accessible."

The report provided no information about why the school wasn't
boarded up, why it is abandoned, why it isn't being used to educate
children instead of being a dumping ground for a man who was shot in
the head and then burned.

A second report, on page 4 of the section, was "2 homeless people
freeze to death." It reported that both deaths took place "during
Thursday morning's freeze." One of the dead was found by "An Algiers
woman taking a blanket to a woman who had been sleeping on benches
along a bicycle path under the Crescent City Connection." The woman
found "her lying on a sidewalk," the report stated. It also said the
deceased "had been spending nights under the bridge for about two
weeks, and that "relatives said they had asked her to stay wth them,
but she refused."

The report did not explain why she was sleeping under the bridge, why
she did not want to stay with relatives, or why no one brought her a
blanket or any other aid before she was found dead.

The same story reported about a man who "was found dead in a parking
lot at an abandoned strip mall at 7011 Read Blvd." in New Orleans
East. It also reported that the man "had been living behind the
mall," and "had been homeless for years." His body, the report
stated, was found by "EMS medical technicians responding to a call."

The report shed no light as to why the man was living behind the
mall, why the mall was abandoned, why he was homeless for years, or
who called EMS and why.

Nor did this report mention the larger problem: New Orleans has no
plan to house its 12-16000 homeless people, nor to care for them when
they are at the mercy of the elements, which last Thursday proved as
merciless as city leaders.

Also on page 4 was another grisly report, "Skeleton found in N.O.
housing complex." The report stated "The Orleans Parish coroner's
office is seeking the identity of a person whose skeletal remains
were found by workers in the unoccupied C.J. Peete public housing
complex Friday morning."

"The body, believed to be that of a woman, was found...as workers
went through the buidling in preparation for demolition..."

"The body was in an area where people apparently had taken up
residence though the complex had been closed since before Katrina and
was fenced in. There were blankets, food, a place where fires
probably had been made, and an ice chest."

According to the December 16, 2007 Times-Picayne, there were 144
famiies living at Peete before Katrina.

This report did not address why workers were preparing the building
for demolition, why the complex is unoccupied, what happened to the
legal tenants who had lived there, or why HANO/HUD-who are
responsible for maintaining and securing the complex-had no prevous
knowledge of the people who "apparently had taken up residence."

In each of these cases it appears that each of these tragedies might
have been avoided if buildings were used for their intended purposes,
if those responsible for the buildings had done their jobs, if
housing the homeless was as much of a priority as promoting football
games, and if each of the questions the Times-Picayne failed to deal
with had been answered before it was too late.

Original article is at
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2008/01/11848.php

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