Katrina Survivors Face New Threat: City Demolition

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Katrina Survivors Face New Threat: City Demolition
Some Salvaged Homes End Up on Condemned List; Ms. Debose's Due Process
By RICK BROOKS
August 9, 2007; Page A1

(snip)

Nearly two years after Katrina, city officials are toughening enforcement of an ordinance giving them the power to bulldoze homes and businesses that remain smashed, moldy or abandoned. Last month, the city published more than 1,700 notices filling 25 newspaper pages in the Times-Picayune. The tiny print announced that the properties had been classified as a "serious, imminent and continuing threat to the public health, safety and welfare" -- and would be demolished after 30 business days. City officials, trying to step up the struggling city's comeback, have said they plan to flatten 10,000 hurricane-ravaged properties this year.

But the bulging list of doomed buildings includes some that weren't damaged much by Katrina or that have already been significantly repaired -- with building permits to prove it. Often, these property owners don't even know they're on the demolition list, because warning letters that are supposed to be mailed to them never arrive. City officials also are required to post a sign at every property on the list, but some owners say that hasn't happened.

The result is a bewildered scramble to save historic narrow shotgun houses, Creole cottages and a hodgepodge of other buildings officially deemed unsalvageable. Owners race to City Hall, send pleas to preservationists and erect "DO NOT DEMOLISH!" signs that they hope will look convincing to bulldozer crews. For many, the effort comes on top of months spent wrestling with soaring insurance costs, searching for a building contractor and the frustrating slog of post-Katrina life in the still-devastated city. Conspiracy theories are swirling, including the claim that tracts of land are being lined up for real-estate developers to buy on the cheap. City officials deny that, and no evidence of sweetheart deals has emerged. Still, New Orleans does have a financial incentive to speed things up: After this month, the city may have to start putting up its own money for demolitions; for now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency directly picks up all the costs. Razing a house costs $6,000 to $10,000.

(snip)

For many, though, getting off the demolition list is an exercise in futility. Owners are told to object in writing, but the city hasn't spelled out its rules for granting a reprieve -- or proof a house is safe from bulldozers. Ms. Breaux says the city is about to put more information on its Web site, including a search engine so owners can keep track of their property's status. Officials also plan to increase staffing in the City Hall department in charge of demolitions. After $90,000 in post-Katrina repairs, the granite kitchen countertops at Chanel Debose's house at 3519 Washington Ave. are gleaming again. Workers just scraped the front porch for a new coat of paint. But her house also wound up on the demolition list. When the storm hit, Ms. Debose and her husband rescued about 25 people in his fishing boat before giving it away and trudging out of the city on foot. She is angry that anyone trying to save New Orleans could have so much trouble fighting city hall.

"There's no due process here," she says. "It's their process."


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118662045674092462.html (subscription)

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Developers may not have a conspiracy to buy cheap but

you can bet they're going to make New Orleans a Disneyland version of itself if home owners can't stop them.

So many poor people, mostly black, were sent far from New Orleans. If they owned homes and haven't had the money to return yet, and the people in New Orleans are not getting the notices that their homes have been condemned, you know the people scattered all over the country are not getting notices. They're not likely to be reading the Times-Picayune, either.

FEMA scattered those people so far away to ensure that most would not return. It was ethnic cleansing and cleansing of the lower socioeconomic class as well.

:grr:

[billyoc]

2. Shoot the bulldozer operators.

Do I have to think of everything? :wtf:

[formercia]

5. I can't believe you said that

pull your head out of your ass.

[billyoc]

14. Not a fan of violence, I take it?

Too fucking bad.

[formercia]

15. Not a fan of provocations

go back to your master and tell him to stick it.

[DS1]

17. A rather surprising opinion from a corporate lobbyist supporter

:eyes:

[billyoc]

18. LOL, did you think that "Fortune" cover in my sig meant I was a Hillary supporter?

:rofl:

[DS1]

21. It's a good thing nobody shot you over the misunderstanding

Or, not.

[Solly Mack]

3. beyond shameful

criminal

[RestoreGore]

4. An outrage that should get more attention

Recommended. I saw two maps, one of New Orleans before Katrina and one now. This government got what it wanted in ethnically cleansing that city, and it should never be forgotten or forgiven. Now they want to take their homes from them and it isn't even mentioned anywhere in the MSM that I know of. Some people think that the hurricane passing was the end of the suffering when it was only the beginning, and the levees are still not strong enough even now to hold back another Katrina. I am ashamed as an American at what is still going on down there, but where can I write or what can I do from my modem to make my voice heard about my outrage about this?

[iamjoy]

6. There Is A Valid Reason For It

Sorry, but if there are abandoned homes that are structurally unsound, filled with mold and mildew, etc. there is a good reason to tear them down. This city has to rebuild - it's a crying shame it hasn't already. How would YOU feel if you lived in your little house that you worked hard to repair after the storm and the house next to yours or down the street still looked like it did the week after Katrina?

The problem is not them tearing down these houses. The problem is them not following due process. The problem is them not doing enough in the past two years to help low income home owners with repairs.

Oh, and I do hope they are not delibrately trying to "ethnic cleanse" New Orleans to turn it into the Disneyland version (as another poster pointed out). Aside from the moral implications, it would ruin New Orleans. I think if people wanted the Disney version, they would have gone to Disney. It seems that people who "miss New Orleans" like it because it isn't Disney.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. It's partly the state's fault....

They have waited so long to get the grant funds out to the people that they don't have the means to fix their homes. They've had that grant money since I think January 2006. And they still haven't distributed all of it yet. And they are worried about getting more. It's insane. Oh, and don't forget about the shady insurance companies that didn't pay out on the insurance policies, but rather lied and falsified documents.
Duckie

[southern_belle]

7. k & r - unbelievable!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

8. And they are giving no warning whatsoever.

We just acquired a property on the 2nd. As of Monday, it was demo'ed. No warning, no citation. Nothing. It was infuriating, because we were going to gut and do the outside of the house to sell it. It's infuriating.
Duckie

[Rage for Order]

10. Well, it has been 2 years

At some point the city has to give people an ultimatum: show significant progress in the restoration of your home by "X" date or it will be razed. At the very least everyone who wants to come back should have their home completely gutted by now. Gutting a house costs virtually no money; it simply requires lots of hard work to rip everything out and drag it to the street. There have been thousands of volunteers in the city over the last couple of years to help those who can't demo their house without assistance.

The city needs to set up a more efficient process of notifying homeowners and, when the homeowner claims the house is not a public nuisance, a timely city inspection process. The city needs all the residents back who want to return, and tearing down the homes of those who are making a legitimate effort to rebuild is not going to encourage people to do so.

[me b zola]

19. I don't know if you've heard...

...but many of the people of New Orleans have been struggling just to survive since KatrinaBush. Even the people who were fortunate enough to have substantial savings to help them get back on their feet and rebuild have struggled. But tens of thousands more have been scattered to the four corners of the US and are surviving day to day, hand to mouth.

Many of the survivors' homes had been passed down through generations and do not have the resources to rebuild let alone ever own another home. These are the same people that have been discouraged from returning so that they could salvage their property. These people need help.

I can't imagine the trauma that the people of New Orleans have suffered, I couldn't begin to have the gaw to say what they should or should not have accomplished by now.

[question everything]

22. Ture, but as detailed in the story

and I had to keep many out to comply with DU rules - many already put money in their homes to rebuild them but the city went ahead and demolished them anyway, with no warning.

[dragon82a]

11. Bush Plans To Move New Orleans To North Dakota

Bush Plans To Move New Orleans To North Dakota

New Orleans, Louisiana - While visiting New Orleans on the one year anniversary of Katrina, Bush disclosed a novel plan he and his closest aids have developed for the reconstruction of the fabled city. Under this new Bush plan, the entire city of New Orleans will be rebuilt on vacant land thirty miles outside of Fargo, North Dakota.

Halliburton and Bechtel have already been given no-bid contracts totaling 12 billion dollars to begin work on the project. Once the initial phase is completed, displaced residents of New Orleans will be bused to North Dakota where each family will be given a spacious one-room apartment complete with a kitchenette in exchange for an agreement to work for seven years at a nearby Wal-Mart nationwide distribution facility that is yet to be built. Once they have satisfactorily completed their seven years of service, they will be given ownership of their apartments and full citizenship in the newly constructed city which will go by the name New New Orleans.

In explaining the virtue of his plan, President Bush said, "This here is what we call a win-win situation. The government doesn't have to build a new expensive levee system and the people made homeless by Katrina will have a nice place to live and work in beautiful North Dakota where they won't have to worry about hurricanes no more."

In related news, the old city of New Orleans has been sold to a Dubai firm that will run the valuable port facilities and also maintain a small stretch of Bourbon Street as a historical artifact and tourist attraction.

[dragon82a]

12. New Orleans & Bush: A Sinking Relationship?

New Orleans & Bush: A Sinking Relationship?

New Orleans, Louisiana - With the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina only weeks away rumor has it that all is not happy between New Orleans and President Bush. According to friends, New Orleans is jealous of the attention Bush has spent recently on Minneapolis.

"It's all well and good for him to phone and say he'll be late for a visit," sniffed Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans. "I know he's a busy man. I think I have been more than understanding of that, he has a whole war to run. But, somehow, even though he can't find the time to show up here he manages to find the time to go up to Minnesota and see that Minneapolis. Well, as far as I'm concerned, he can stay there, for all I care."

Mr. Bush, who was seen in the past few days in Minnesota where he was photographed in an outdoor area, does not deny he visited Minneapolis. "My relationship with Minneapolis is strictly professional," said Mr. Bush through a spokesman.

"Despite everything, New Orleans is still a vibrant, fun city," said Mayor Nagin. "This city has a lot of good parts left. New Orleans is going to let the good times roll and we don't give a damn where George W. Bush chooses to spend his weekends."

Lawyers for New Orleans assert that the funds and help pledged to the city have not been distributed, that FEMA supplied unfit living quarters in the form of toxic trailers, that significant parts of the city's infrastructure have not been rebuilt, and that restoration contracts went to large national firms under a no-bid process instead of to local firms as had been promised.

"New Orleans has good reason to be upset," said a prominent attorney. "Promises were made in a very public manner and now two years have gone by and those promises haven't been kept. This is supposed to be a long-term relationship not a one night stand. It's terrible the way Bush has treated New Orleans, and New Orleans has to have some pride. If Bush can find an extra $250 million in his pocket to spend on a nice, new sparkly bridge for Minneapolis then he'd better expect New Orleans to go after him for everything he's got."

[uppityperson]

16. That is good writing. Did you write this or where is it from?

[Richard Steele]

13. K&R

[shance]

20. Mission Accomplished.

This is what was intended all along.