Duncan Plaza Should Be Reopened Now
It was back in December of 2007 that all eyes turned on Duncan Plaza, the green area just across from city hall. The area had to be cleaned up, not of overgrown weeds or litter, but of people—homeless people. The city worked frantically to move the nearly 200 homeless men and women who had made their home in the park after Hurricane Katrina as plans to demolish the nearby state building grew near.
Here we are, more than a year and a half later; and there are still homeless New Orleanians, but no Duncan Plaza. It has been closed not only to those homeless men and women who made their camps there, but to us all.
It’s time to bring the park back!
Go to the city hall of almost any major metropolitan city across this country, and one thing you are almost certain to find is some type of common space, a green area that adds beauty, nature and serenity to a landscape otherwise marked by concrete sidewalks and towering building where the humdrum of politicking suffuses the air.
New Orleans has lost that. Instead, Duncan Plaza is closed, blocked off and off limits. And for what?
The state building has been demolished, and so the park certainly is no longer closed to facilitate that process. The homeless have been moved. Those not fortunate enough to make their ways on to a short list to receive housing vouchers have simply gone to some other part of the city. In fact, in the days and weeks after they were hustled out of Duncan Plaza colonies of homeless sprouted up in other sites throughout New Orleans. Of course, we cannot say with absolutely certainty that the powers that be refuse to reopen Duncan Plaza to prevent the homeless from making their beds their again. No, we can’t say for certain, but we have our thoughts on the matter. Of course, closing Duncan Plaza to public use does not help the city’s homeless situation, though it has relieved city officials of the burden of seeing hopeless men and women every time they go to their offices.
Still, it’s like trying cure a headache with the guillotine. If city and state officials want to do what’s right, they will work together, pool their efforts, support community organizations and agencies that work to help the homeless and they will reopen Duncan Plaza. That what we think, but what cha say? Would you like to see Duncan Plaza reopened? Do you have any thoughts on why it has been closed so long?
