Abandoned In New Orleans, 2 : NOLA Indymedia

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?