Voice your opinion

It seems as if HANO has decided to let the Iberville Housing Project waste away.

Some problems listed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at the Iberville after an inspection late last year, according to a recent news report, included a long-standing sewer leak in a stairwell and a serious rat infestation.

According to that same recent report, here is an excerpt of HANO’s response to HUD:  “It should be noted that the Iberville development is obsolete and in need of major rehabilitation. Currently, HANO is managing major redevelopment plans at four public-housing sites. Once construction is under way at those sites, plans will be implemented to address the Iberville site.”

Our translation: Right now, we’re busy; the four sites we already razed make for fewer units, some of which former public housing residents will not be able to afford. By the time we’re finished with them, the Iberville will be in such bad shape that we’ll easily make our case to tear it down, too. As a matter of fact, we hoped that the more than 600 families now there get so tired of our neglect they move on their own. That’ll make tearing it down even easier.

Why do we say this? Well, if what HANO meant was that after construction gets started on the former sites of the C.J. Peete, St. Bernard, B.W. Cooper and Lafitte, it will repair and refurbish the Iberville, then it should have said “repair” or “refurbish,” not “address.” Also telling: “obsolete” and “in need of major rehabilitation.”

We hear the bulldozers rumbling already.

Not that we needed the report to tell us what was happening. Some of us at The Tribune had already noticed it—poor and broken lighting, dangerous conditions and a lack of police presence.

These are serious problems, especially considering that HANO has stopped paying for additional police detail, making it easier for drug dealers and prostitutes to do their business. These problems can’t wait.

It could be that here at The Tribune, we’re shell-shocked by the war against public housing that has occurred in the city. But last December HANO increased the money it had allotted to replace the St. Bernard by an additional $1.2 million; still, it can’t seem to find the time or what would be chump change in comparison to fix leaks at the Iberville. Nope, we don’t think we’re misreading the writing on the wall at all.

What cha say? Do you think HANO is neglecting the Iberville on purpose so that this housing complex will easily meet the same fate as others in the city?

    It is no secret that race relations in New Orleans are at an all-time low, exacerbated by, among other things, the lack of civility some elected officials have shown city workers, citizens who have shown up at city council meetinngs and other elected officials as well. And it just isn’t us at The New Orleans Tribune who are saying that the tinderbox situation is being kindled by hot heads, insenstive politicians and broadcasters who spew and invite inappropriate invective on their air waves and front pages. Award winning journalist and New Orleans native Cokie Roberts was “right on” when, in acceptinmg a free speech award for the News Directors Foundation last week, she criticized the news media in her hometown saying, “its helpiing split the people apart.” Roberts added that “totally crazy people are screaming into the airwaves.” She cautioned against turning the microphone over to the extremiists and urged that rational voices and calmer souls prevail. We agree. Jeff Crouere, the host of “Politics with a Punch,” responded in his most recent newsletter saying that Roberts owes the media in New Orleans a big aology for her baseless attacks. But he further fans the poisonous atmosphere consuming the city by writing, “In New Orleans there are plenty of people who should be called out for aggravating racial tension. People like ‘chocolate city’ Ray Nagiin and ministers who are trying to recall politicians because they are not African Americans.” He further fans the flame of discord saying, “Roberts wants the media to focus on ‘sensible souls’ to talk to, so who would fit that category …Are Ray Nagin, Bill Jefferson and Kathleen Blanco sensible souls?” Who is contributing to the hostilities overtaking our city and who owes whom an apology… Roberts or Crouere? 

Is the judge’s ruling fair? Should Attorney Tracie Washington be forced to turn over the city council’s email records?

Do you think the city council is entitled to maintain privacy of their emails and records while they demand disclosure of the mayor’s ?