LAT: (Nagin's New Orleans) Revival Plan Draws Sharp Criticism

[DeepModem Mom]

City Revival Plan Draws Sharp Criticism
By Miguel Bustillo, Times Staff Writer


NEW ORLEANS -- Residents of the New Orleans neighborhoods most heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina, under a controversial plan unveiled Wednesday, would have just four months to demonstrate strong support for rebuilding their areas before possibly being forced to sell their properties to the government.

The proposal is a centerpiece of Mayor C. Ray Nagin's "Bring New Orleans Back" recovery plan, which is being rolled out in phases this week. It drew immediate outrage from residents and community activists, who argued that many citizens -- especially the blacks who predominated the flood-struck areas -- could be forced out of the city for good.

It represents an attempt to seek a middle ground on the issue that has emerged as the flashpoint in the debate over how to restore the ravaged city: Should all of New Orleans be rebuilt, or should city planners shrink the city's footprint, returning low-lying neighborhoods to wetlands and green space to serve as a natural barrier against floods?...

***

Under the plan, which would take effect Jan. 20, New Orleans would impose a moratorium on building permits in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters -- a vast swath of the city that includes parts of the Gentilly, Mid-City, Lakeview and Lower 9th Ward neighborhoods. Residents would then have to demonstrate there was sufficient critical mass in their area to rebuild to warrant public investment in schools and city facilities, possibly by showing that half of the population planned to come back....Nagin's commission is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency to release updated floodplain maps the agency has assembled, which effectively could make the decision for many homeowners by raising home insurance rates and setting other new financial barriers to redevelopment.

Neighborhoods that failed to meet the critical mass test would be shrunk, or eliminated altogether, and a new city agency called the Crescent City Redevelopment Corp. would buy residents out or seize their properties through eminent domain. The estimated cost of the buyouts: $12 billion....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rebuild12jan12,0,1896233.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Hardrada]

1. This sucks!

[henslee]

2. My neighbor is an architect, working w/HUD. Posted this before...

He said the whole 9th ward will be bulldozed and left undeveloped as a big park. They just didnt have the guts to break the news to folks right away.

[CottonBear]

5. That is so fucking wrong. I hate HUD.

I'm a landscape architect and land planner. I work w/ engineers. I know of rich developers in my area who used HUD funds to build upscale apartment homes in a city w/ a 28% poverty rate. :grr: :(

This is a travesty.

[bluestateguy]

3. Nagins is a DLC corporate stooge

and eventually people here will realize that.

[DELUSIONAL]

4. didn't he give money to bushie -- and wasn't he GOP before converting?

[CottonBear]

6. He was A GOP cable corporate businessman making 3/4 million/year

prior to running for mayor as a Democrat.
You've gotta wonder if he's wishing he never ran.

[SoCalDem]

7. And he will not be re-elected..

There are probably many people who voted for him because he was a black man, and they thought they could trust him to finally see to their needs.. he sold them out like all the others had, and they not only lost hope, they lost their homes, and were shipped off to the hinterlands...never to return for a lot of them..

I don;t know who Nagin thinks will vote for him next time around...he criticized the Governor, sho she's got no great love for him, and he's not been very democratic..Maybe he'll go back to being a GOPer and be a token for them..

[CottonBear]

8. The rich white Republicans will vote for him. Hopefully he'll lose.

Hopefuly a good Democrat will run against him.

[mom cat]

9. The deal to make New Orleans "whiter" has been in the works

since right after Katrina hit. This is reprehensible.

[NorthernSpy]

10. a good link for fact sheets and posters re this situation:

http://www.katrinaaction.org/documents

Me, I think that the best course of action might be to encourage people to go ahead and start cleaning and fixing their homes right now. Why bother to play this stupid 'waiting to prove viability' game? The whole thing's just so blatantly rigged!

After all, without the people actually going back home and resuming residence and putting things to rights, there's simply no way to demonstrate "neighborhood viability" anyhow.

What is needed is for the rest of us to support these folks, and do everything we can to protect them from eminent domain, exploitative "redevelopment" schemes, and ethnic/class cleansing.


From Katrina Action, here's one thing we can do now: support the critically important anti-eminent domain bill, HR4128, as it makes its way through the Senate.

Action Talking Points from Bill Quigley, Loyola University of New Orleans Law.

Stop eminent domain takeovers: Thanks to your support, the US House passed legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters by a vote of 376 to 38 that prevents federal funds from being used to take private property, like homes, by eminent domain for the next 2 years. Now we have to tell the Senate to support this legislation (HR 4128) as it reaches the Senate. Call the Senate Switchboard at 202-225-3121.

Apparently, HR 4128 is still in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.


Remember: this plan of Nagin's et al is not a fait accompli. There is a real willingness among these threatened New Orleaners to fight and defend their homes. We CAN stop the ethnic and class cleansing of New Orleans!