Abandoned In New Orleans, 2

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More connections between abandoned buildings and death, HUD/HANO's
mystery corpse, what's up and what's going down with FEMA trailer
parks in the city, true and false costs of homelessness.
Abandoned in New Orleans, 2

Two stories in the Monday, January 7, Times-Picayune Metro section
added more evidence to the negative association of abandoned
buildings and death.

The front left lead story was “2 men found shot to death.” In what
the T-P called “two apparent murders,” the first reported was that of
a 23 year old New Orleans man police found dead early Sunday in the
Lower 9th Ward “in an alley next to an abandoned house.”

Police found another 23 year old man dead, this one from Metarie,
later that morning, “on the side of abandoned Kennedy High School” in
Gentilly, the T-P reported.

This was the second murder associated with an abandoned New Orleans
High School in the young new year.

Both the Lower 9th Ward and Gentilly have been mostly abandoned by
the powers that be since the floods. In their wake now we see what
they are reaping by their sowing of neglect. And it also appears that
when “redevelopment” is motivated by the pursuit of profit more than
caring for devastated communities, what's left behind and who gets
left behind will come back, one way or another, with a vengeance.

Similarly, what does it teach our children when they see city leaders
approving the violent destruction of 4600 units of public housing,
and condoning brutal attacks on those who are trying to prevent that
destruction?

Meanwhile, a second story in Monday's T-P Metro section, on page 2,
was “C.J. Peete body shows no injuries.” Excuse my French, but isn't
death the ultimate injury? And shouldn't that headline read,
“HUD/HANO neglect results in death at C.J. Peete?” After all, those
agencies are supposed to be responsible for security and maintenance
at the city's pubic housing complexes, no?

That report also repeats the assertion that C.J. Peete was “closed
before Katrina,” while the Times-Picayune itself reported on December
12 that 144 families lived there Pre-K.

Another type of abandonment happening is FEMA's closing down of
trailer parks around the state, including in New Orleans. So far I've
noticed two such sites now sitting empty. One was at the end of
Tchoupatoulas in Audubon Park near some tennis courts. The other,
also Uptown, was at the corner of Laurel and Lyon.

What's become of the people who were living there?

It seems important now to document any other abandoned sites, as well
as ones that are still operating, and to tell the stories of the
displaced people involved, so we can all better understand what's
going on, and provide support to people in need.

So if you have knowledge of any of these sites, and/or their
residents, please reply to this report, or post one of your own on
http://www.neworleans.indymedia.org.

Finally, on Tuesday, January 8, hundreds of people were still living
under the I-10 overpass at Claiborne and Canal, as well as the
“annex” at the highway ramp off Cleveland nearby.

And over across from City Hall, Duncan Plaza was abandoned as well,
empty and surrounded by a shiny new chainlink fence topped by barbed
wire. Gates on the far side of the park, however, off Gravier, were
wide open.

The demolition of two state buildings adjacent to the park was the
excuse for razing the homeless encampment there on December 21. But
there was no evidence of demolition work on the exterior of the
buildings on the evening of January 8.

Today's Times-Picayune reported on the progress of a few of the
people who were removed from Duncan Plaza. According to this report,
of the about 250 people formerly residing in the park, 47 now have
apartments, and the rest are in “low rent hotel rooms.”

But the article goes on to state that money to pay for the hotel
rooms will run out Friday-tomorrow-and that UNITY, the agency
coordinating the program, might have to borrow money to pay for the
rooms.

The report also states that the cost of paying for “low rent” hotel
rooms for 150 people is $60,000 a week, which works out to $400 a
week or $1200 a month! If this is low rent, what hope is there for
the rest of the city's 12-16,000 homeless folks, abandoned to the
streets, of finding homes, unless things change drastically, and soon?

Original article is at
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2008/01/11921.php

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