NOLA projects, con’t. ( a long rant. Sorry.)

Well, I’d thought I might go down and see the progress down at CJ Peete today, but there isn’t any.

First there was a stop-work order put in place until the City Council fully approved their demolition. Okay, fine- that should’ve been done previously, anyway. It’s the law, go for it.

But now there’s a letter on Bush’s desk to stop the work, and I could scream- largely because I’m pretty liberal overall, and these people give liberals a bad name.

I mean, really. Do these people look to you like they have day one experience in the realities of the most notorious public housing projects in the country?

(pic courtesy of the T-P)

No, these are not the displaced poor. They’re the children of affluent parents (Loyola students, y’all- $37k a year) who want to feel like they’re helping the world.

I get that, really, I do.

But when you look around at your protest, in your jammies and your Santa hats, don’t you wonder why the residents aren’t there with you? Don’t you look at the decay and wonder who in their right mind would want to live there? I guess your prof hasn’t shared the horrendous crime stats with you, or the even higher teen pregnancy rates within them.

Here are some facts.

1. These buildings were condemned pre-Katrina- they’ve been sitting vacant, open to the elements for years now, rotting away.
2. Even without that rot, these buildings are a mess- they contain asbestos, lead paint and every other nasty thing the rest of us have pried out of their homes long ago
3. Almost NONE of the protesters are from here- they’ve come in at the behest of a few local professors who are stirring the pot.
4. These profs do not, have not, will not be residents of these hellholes.
5. 98% of these protesters were not, have not, will not be residents of these hellholes.
6. There are hundreds of immediately available section-8 housing units within the city. Anyone eligible to live in these projects can waltz in and have a unit tomorrow.
7. They would cost more to repair than replace- and if each unit were put back just as it was, there wouldn’t be nearly enough people to fill them.
8. This is a big one, and not one you’ve likely heard, so I’ll shout: Brand-spanking new, cleaner, greener public housing is going up in their places. Larger individual units in mixed- income settings- no more ‘warehousing’ of the poor, as has been the standard.
9. I do think that some of the buildings themselves- the oldest ones- should be preserved, They were well built and are architecturally significant- but most of these were built later and with little concern for aesthetics. The history of the city loses nothing and gains everything, since the new housing is going to emulate the historical styles of the neighborhoods.

I’m not even going to touch the issue of housing the homeless there- they might be better off on the street, for one thing- at least the sky won’t fall down on their heads.

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