I had forgotten this, but Richard Pearl of New Orleans did not. He writes in Tuesday morning’s newspaper that at some point following Katrina, Mayor Nagin said he wanted all the citizens back including the criminals. “Well,” writes Pearl, “He has his wish. The criminals are back. Soon that is all that will be left.”
The other thing the mayor wanted–against the best counsel of every planning commission and study committee–was to allow any citizen to rebuild anywhere in the city he wishes. Advisors kept warning him the result would be a jack-o-lantern effect, with a couple of lights on this block, no one living on that one, a few people on the next block. And that is precisely what we have.
I hope you like it, Mayor. This is your legacy, sir.
The displaced residents of the Saint Bernard Housing Development have been quiet for the past few months but they are back with a vengeance. Yesterday, Monday, they marched up and down in front of the locked-down projects, vowing their determination not to leave until they got inside. “This is our home,” they insisted.
There is no point in trying to reason with them that those are government-owned buildings, that you were living there either as a gift from the federal and state governments or receiving a substantial subsidy and those are not entitlements, and that no one should have to live in such sub-standard housing. They reason correctly that they have a right to go inside and salvage whatever they can, and that the upper apartments took no floodwaters and should still be intact.
There was not a lot of logic but plenty of rhetoric. They wanted inside.
And they got in. The 10 o’clock news Monday night showed them flowing in through the open gates and going into their apartments. Tuesday’s paper says it isn’t clear how the gates were opened but soon every gate was wide open and the people were coming and going at will.
Leaders of these former residents and marchers say they will maintain a presence at St. Bernard until they reach some kind of agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HANO officials (that’s Housing Authority of New Orleans) have said previously they have decided to reopen some units in the shut-down developments of B. W. Cooper and Lafitte. Some 40 families are back at Cooper. Most of the projects are slated for demolition, with mixed income planned housing to be erected in their place. Personally, I wish they would get on with it.
Before Katrina, the St. Bernard Housing Development housed 963 families, a small city in itself. However, it was such a hotbed of crime and violence, of poverty and misery, the prospect of re-opening it and inviting everyone back home is depressing.
It’s a little confusing, but keep in mind that this housing complex is not in St. Bernard Parish. It’s in the heart of New Orleans, just off Interstate 610 and more or less in between Lakeview and Gentilly.
Meanwhile, the mayor is silent on this issue. I keep up with local news and cannot recall him taking a position either way–for these projects to be opened or demolished. If he’s afraid of making someone angry, he can forget about that. His silence and lack of leadership are angering everyone on all sides.
The lead article on the front page of Tuesday’s Times-Picayune says many Katrina survivors are so disheartened by their disfigured city, they are turning to–are you ready for this?–plastic surgery as a “pick-me-up.”
Lord help us.
Please.
Joe, the main reason we have such a misunderstanding of our Constitution today is that it addresses the right to housing or food or health care. Misinterpreting the “promote the public welfare” clause in the Constitution to mean whatever the government wants it to mean lead us to a bloody Civil War 150 years ago and is continuting to cause damage to our society. The City of New Orleans is a good example of how a government trying to help the poor people has done exactly the opposite. The Declaration of Independence only says we are “equal” in the sight of our Creator. The “inalienable rights” says nothing about health care, food, clothing or housing. The Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” clause says basically, every man is free to provide those things for his family without regard to race, religion, color or ethnicity. We are free because we have a capitalistic system that allows for, not only free flow of goods and services, but the free flow of ideas(not counting the horrendous tax burdens and red tape we have to endure as small business owners). Government is now trying to usurp our rights to free speech. We continue to allow government to usurp our rights as they try to fix every single ill in our society. Most governments are not equipped for the task. i could go on, but I’ve got to get back to work, thanks for the opportunity to vent, we may not have it much longer, the way things are going.