The Community Has Already “Weighed-In” on Public Housing:
Hands Off Iberville!
Open Letter to Katy Reckdahl, Laura Tuggle and Tracie Washington
Jay Arena
C3/Hands Off Iberville
Katy Reckdahl’s December 26, 2009 article on New Orleans’ public housing elaborates extensively on the Iberville development and the fact that there is now a ‘citizen committee’ that is commissioned with ‘weigh[ing] the complex's future’. Yet, while providing some useful information, Reckdahl leaves out two important points in regard to the committee and the ‘weighing’ of Iberville’s future. This omitted--censored?--information is critical for assessing what is really happening at Iberville and developing an effective fight back against the class and racial cleansing agenda of the real estate sharks and their government and non-profit accomplices.
We, who ‘weigh-in’ on the side of the people’s needs when making our decisions, rather than the profit needs of capitalists, must be armed with the ‘missing facts’ elaborated below as we enter a critical stage in the defense of Iberville, which is part of a broader fight back against the ruling class’ intensifying, global austerity agenda.
The Peoples Committee
The first omission in Reckdahls’ article is that in addition to the so-called ‘citizens committee’ she speaks of, there is also a ‘Peoples Committee’, C3/Hands Off Iberville, made-up of public and non-public housing residents, that has met and spoken out for years in defense of public housing. This committee has rendered its decision: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing, in which people pay according to their income. Furthermore, the 300 now empty, and badly needed, apartments at Iberville must be fixed-up immediately, instead of remaining closed as part of a conscious strategy by HUD/HANO and developers to ‘demolish by neglect’.
Unmasking the Iberville Advisory Committee
The second omission is that Reckdahl fails to note that the so-called Iberville Advisory Committee, which the author refers to as the ‘citizens committee’, has a serious legitimacy problem. This committee, handpicked by top HANO lawyer Wayne Woods, specifically excluded Hands Off Iberville, and is headed by an operative of the Downtown Development District, Henry Charlot, Jr. Mr. Charlot and the DDD’s executive director Kurt Weigle, have long made it clear that they want the Iberville destroyed as public housing and the community members removed.
In addition, this ‘committee’ includes Lillie Walker-Woodfork, a public housing resident, who spoke-out at the infamous New Orleans city council meeting on December 20, 2007. While opponents of demolition where beaten, tear gassed, and arrested, Walker-Woodfork declared her support for the Bush and Nagin administrations criminal--and internationally condemned--plans to demolish some 5,000 viable public housing apartments. Walker-Woodfork is part of a long line of resident ‘leaders’, such as Donna Johnigan and businesswomen Cynthia Wiggins, that have collaborated with and/or effectively fronted for real estate developers in their racial and class cleansing efforts. Instead of denouncing the eviction of their neighbors these hacks, after or in expectation of future compensation, become collaborators. For a few coins, or sometimes serious cash (as in Wiggins’s case), they eagerly join the corporate gangbangers in, figuratively and literally, throwing women and children into the streets.
To include the DDD on the Iberville Advisory Committee, as well as other dubious ‘stakeholders’, is to invite the proverbial fox into the process. If Mr. Gilmore, from ‘Gilmore Kean LLC’, the new HANO administrator, is serious about change and transparency, he must begin by removing Charlot and listen to the peoples demand: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing.
A Message to Housing Advocates Tracie Washington and Laura Tuggle
C3/Hands Off Iberville calls on the members of the Iberville Advisory Committee, including attorney Laura Tuggle, to denounce the role of the DDD and demand their expulsion from the committee, At minimum, the committee must open deliberations, which currently continue to be backroom affairs that bar any public oversight.
We also urge Tracie Washington and Laura Tuggle, both members of the Obama administration appointed local HANO advisory board, to publically state their support of the demand made by C3/Hands Off Iberville, May Day New Orleans and other community and labor groups. These grass roots organizations call for defending all the apartments at Iberville as public housing, as well as enforcement (which is currently being ignored) of section 3 rules that give preference for local, low income workers for HUD-funded construction projects.
As part of this defense of Iberville, it is incumbent upon Ms. Washington and Tuggle to denounce the criminal demolition by neglect strategy. Under this cynical and criminal policy, HANO/HUD encourages existing Iberville residents to take section 8 vouchers. When they vacate, their apartments are sealed shut and not offered to the thousands of families on the public housing waiting list that desperately need housing.
Public Works and Housing NOW!
Finally, we call on the advisory board to hold a public hearing where people can speak-out and explain the urgent need, in the face of skyrocketing rents and record levels of homelessness, for defending all the public housing we have, and for a massive public works program to rebuild our public sector, from housing to hospitals to schools.
Article by Katy Reckdahl
Katy Reckdahl, Times Picayune, Dec 26, 2009
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/islands_of_poverty_linger_when.html
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/10/new_hano_chief_david_gilmore_k.html
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Letter to Editor--Times Picayune, sent 12/27/09
To the editor:
In Katy Reckdahl’s December 26, 2009 article on public housing she states that at the Iberville development ‘more than 300 of the 852 apartments are mothballed while a citizen committee weighs the complex's future’. Yet, she leaves out two important points in regard to the committee and Iberville’s future.
First, in addition to the 'citizens committee', there is also ‘peoples committee’, C3/Hands Off Iberville, made up of public and non-public housing residents, that has met and spoken out for years in defense of public housing. This committee has rendered its decision: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing, in which people pay according to their income. Furthermore, the 300 now empty, and badly needed, apartments must be fixed up immediately, instead of remaining closed as part of a conscious ‘demolition by neglect’ strategy.
Second, the so-called Iberville Advisory Committee that Ms. Reckdahl refers to her in her article as the ‘citizens committee’ has a serious legitimacy crisis This committee, handpicked by top HANO lawyer Wayne Woods, specifically excluded Hands Off Iberville, and is headed by an operative of the Downtown Development District, Henry Charlot, Jr. Mr. Charlot and the DDD’s executive director Kurt Weigle, have a long made it clear that they want the Iberville destroyed as public housing and the community members removed.
To include the DDD on the Iberville Advisory Committee is to invite the proverbial fox into the process. If Mr. Gilmore, the new HANO administrator, is serious about change and transparency, he must begin by removing Charlot, disbanding the illegitimate ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ and listen to the peoples demand: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing.
Jay Arena
In Katy Reckdahl’s December 26, 2009 article on public housing she states that at the Iberville development ‘more than 300 of the 852 apartments are mothballed while a citizen committee weighs the complex's future’. Yet, she leaves out two important points in regard to the committee and Iberville’s future.
First, in addition to the 'citizens committee', there is also ‘peoples committee’, C3/Hands Off Iberville, made up of public and non-public housing residents, that has met and spoken out for years in defense of public housing. This committee has rendered its decision: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing, in which people pay according to their income. Furthermore, the 300 now empty, and badly needed, apartments must be fixed up immediately, instead of remaining closed as part of a conscious ‘demolition by neglect’ strategy.
Second, the so-called Iberville Advisory Committee that Ms. Reckdahl refers to her in her article as the ‘citizens committee’ has a serious legitimacy crisis This committee, handpicked by top HANO lawyer Wayne Woods, specifically excluded Hands Off Iberville, and is headed by an operative of the Downtown Development District, Henry Charlot, Jr. Mr. Charlot and the DDD’s executive director Kurt Weigle, have a long made it clear that they want the Iberville destroyed as public housing and the community members removed.
To include the DDD on the Iberville Advisory Committee is to invite the proverbial fox into the process. If Mr. Gilmore, the new HANO administrator, is serious about change and transparency, he must begin by removing Charlot, disbanding the illegitimate ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ and listen to the peoples demand: maintain all the apartments at Iberville as Public Housing.
Jay Arena
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Dear Supporters of New Orleans Public Housing and a National Public Works Program,
Dear Supporters of New Orleans Public Housing and a National Public Works Program,
Thanks to all the folks from the Southern Sociological Society meeting (April 2009), the Association for Humanist Sociology gathering (November 2009), and others that have shown their support for public housing and the larger right of return movement in New Orleans. This message addresses three more ways that you can show solidarity—encouraging your students to engage in ‘movement voluntarism’ when coming to New Orleans, participating in an emergency calling campaign to defend the Iberville public housing development that many of you visited, and organizing a rally for public works in your community.
Movement Not Self-Help Voluntarism
1. I shared with many of you the critique that C3/Hands Off Iberville and other social movement organizations have with the student volunteers that have descended upon the city post-Katrina. This intervention, to a great degree, has abetted and legitimated the neoliberal agenda, rather than provided foot soldiers to challenge it. Enclosed is an article that C3 activist Mike Howells and I wrote outlining our critique of the dominant ‘self-help’ voluntarism model and advocating for a ‘movement voluntarism’ alternative.
We would like to get this article circulated as widely as possible, particularly among those organizing student delegations on your campuses. If you or anyone else would like to know more about how student delegations could assist local social movement struggles while in the city, they can contact me at this email or by phone—504-520-9521. In addition, I will be leading a delegation to New Orleans the week of April 29 (Easter week), and I would be glad to collaborate with any other colleges sending students at that time.
Volunteerism Will Not Rebuild the Gulf Coast--
Building A Political Movement Can
A Message To Student, Faith-Based and
Other New Orleans/Gulf Coast Volunteers
http://www.counterpunch.org/howells07302009.html
2. We have received word that the Obama administration’s Dept of Housing and Urban Development is about to do a ‘study’ of the Iberville development. We are concerned that the ‘findings’ will be used to justify the closure of the development. Enclosed below is a letter that C3 is circulating urging our supporters to contact HUD and Congress to demand that they repair not demolish Iberville. Please take a few minutes to make these calls.
3. Finally, on December 19 there will be actions in New Orleans and Newark, New Jersey demanding a national public works plan, at union wages, open to immigrant and native workers. Organizers, which envision the December 19 mobilization as the first action in an ongoing effort, see this campaign as a powerful way to connect the struggle to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf with the urgent employment and infrastructural needs across the country. I can be contacted for more information on how your community can join this growing campaign.
To The Families In Iberville And Their Supporter:
WE SUPPORT THE REPAIR AND REOPENING OF ALL OF IBERVILLE!
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a federal agency that is legally entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that the nation’s poor have access to affordable and decent housing, should be taking steps to protect and enhance the Iberville Development, and, at the very least, to refrain from threatening the neighborhood’s very existence. Iberville is an integral part of the community. It is an oasis of affordable housing in a city whose inhabitants endure a rental burden that is heavier than anywhere else in the country. HUD is doing a terrible disservice to residents by circulating rumors and threats that Iberville should or might be demolished like the Big Four developments.
The people of New Orleans cannot afford to lose Iberville. Why? The need for the affordable housing that Iberville provides is greater than ever. We are in the midst of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. And New Orleans is facing the twin scourges of rising unemployment and spiraling rents. The official unemployment in the city has jumped from 4.4% in September 2007 to 8.1% in September 2009. Rising rents are largely fueled by, 1.) the failure of the U.S. government to keep the cost of rents down in federally subsidized low income housing; 2.) the refusal of the Road Home to adequately fund the rebuilding of rental housing; and 3.) the post-Katrina demolition of 5,000 local public housing apartments. And in the midst of all this 11,000 New Orleanians find themselves homeless. We call for an independent investigation on the failure of state and federal authorities to make a good faith effort to adequately replenish the rental housing stock of post-storm New Orleans.
Another powerful argument in defense of Iberville is that the privatization of public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans is clearly a magnet for corruption. Since HUD announced its plan to demolish the city’s Big Four housing developments five high ranking HANO employees have been indicted on charges related to post-Katrina corruption. The architect of the plan to demolish the Big Four, former HUD Secretary Alphonse Jackson, is the target of a grand jury investigation targeting, among other things, his handling of the “redevelopment” of the Big Four. That a high ranking HUD official under the leadership of Secretary Shaun Donovan recently said she would like Iberville demolished indicates the presence of an insensitivity to the needs of low income residents on par with that of Jackson’s HUD. That sort of insensitivity suggests a willingness to sacrifice human need in order to satisfy human greed.
We call on federal, state and local authorities to:
*Repair And Reopen All Iberville Apartments*
*Fund And Reopen The Iberville Community Center*
*Rehire All Laid Off HANO Maintenance Workers*
Voice your support for Iberville to the officials below:
Housing Authority of New Orleans N.O. 504-670-3300
Department of HUD/Fred Tombar D.C. 202-402-6022
Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao N.O. 504-483-2325
Washington D.C. 202-225-6636
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu N.O. 504-589-2427
Washington D.C. 202-224-5824
Thanks to all the folks from the Southern Sociological Society meeting (April 2009), the Association for Humanist Sociology gathering (November 2009), and others that have shown their support for public housing and the larger right of return movement in New Orleans. This message addresses three more ways that you can show solidarity—encouraging your students to engage in ‘movement voluntarism’ when coming to New Orleans, participating in an emergency calling campaign to defend the Iberville public housing development that many of you visited, and organizing a rally for public works in your community.
Movement Not Self-Help Voluntarism
1. I shared with many of you the critique that C3/Hands Off Iberville and other social movement organizations have with the student volunteers that have descended upon the city post-Katrina. This intervention, to a great degree, has abetted and legitimated the neoliberal agenda, rather than provided foot soldiers to challenge it. Enclosed is an article that C3 activist Mike Howells and I wrote outlining our critique of the dominant ‘self-help’ voluntarism model and advocating for a ‘movement voluntarism’ alternative.
We would like to get this article circulated as widely as possible, particularly among those organizing student delegations on your campuses. If you or anyone else would like to know more about how student delegations could assist local social movement struggles while in the city, they can contact me at this email or by phone—504-520-9521. In addition, I will be leading a delegation to New Orleans the week of April 29 (Easter week), and I would be glad to collaborate with any other colleges sending students at that time.
Volunteerism Will Not Rebuild the Gulf Coast--
Building A Political Movement Can
A Message To Student, Faith-Based and
Other New Orleans/Gulf Coast Volunteers
http://www.counterpunch.org/howells07302009.html
2. We have received word that the Obama administration’s Dept of Housing and Urban Development is about to do a ‘study’ of the Iberville development. We are concerned that the ‘findings’ will be used to justify the closure of the development. Enclosed below is a letter that C3 is circulating urging our supporters to contact HUD and Congress to demand that they repair not demolish Iberville. Please take a few minutes to make these calls.
3. Finally, on December 19 there will be actions in New Orleans and Newark, New Jersey demanding a national public works plan, at union wages, open to immigrant and native workers. Organizers, which envision the December 19 mobilization as the first action in an ongoing effort, see this campaign as a powerful way to connect the struggle to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf with the urgent employment and infrastructural needs across the country. I can be contacted for more information on how your community can join this growing campaign.
To The Families In Iberville And Their Supporter:
WE SUPPORT THE REPAIR AND REOPENING OF ALL OF IBERVILLE!
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a federal agency that is legally entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that the nation’s poor have access to affordable and decent housing, should be taking steps to protect and enhance the Iberville Development, and, at the very least, to refrain from threatening the neighborhood’s very existence. Iberville is an integral part of the community. It is an oasis of affordable housing in a city whose inhabitants endure a rental burden that is heavier than anywhere else in the country. HUD is doing a terrible disservice to residents by circulating rumors and threats that Iberville should or might be demolished like the Big Four developments.
The people of New Orleans cannot afford to lose Iberville. Why? The need for the affordable housing that Iberville provides is greater than ever. We are in the midst of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression. And New Orleans is facing the twin scourges of rising unemployment and spiraling rents. The official unemployment in the city has jumped from 4.4% in September 2007 to 8.1% in September 2009. Rising rents are largely fueled by, 1.) the failure of the U.S. government to keep the cost of rents down in federally subsidized low income housing; 2.) the refusal of the Road Home to adequately fund the rebuilding of rental housing; and 3.) the post-Katrina demolition of 5,000 local public housing apartments. And in the midst of all this 11,000 New Orleanians find themselves homeless. We call for an independent investigation on the failure of state and federal authorities to make a good faith effort to adequately replenish the rental housing stock of post-storm New Orleans.
Another powerful argument in defense of Iberville is that the privatization of public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans is clearly a magnet for corruption. Since HUD announced its plan to demolish the city’s Big Four housing developments five high ranking HANO employees have been indicted on charges related to post-Katrina corruption. The architect of the plan to demolish the Big Four, former HUD Secretary Alphonse Jackson, is the target of a grand jury investigation targeting, among other things, his handling of the “redevelopment” of the Big Four. That a high ranking HUD official under the leadership of Secretary Shaun Donovan recently said she would like Iberville demolished indicates the presence of an insensitivity to the needs of low income residents on par with that of Jackson’s HUD. That sort of insensitivity suggests a willingness to sacrifice human need in order to satisfy human greed.
We call on federal, state and local authorities to:
*Repair And Reopen All Iberville Apartments*
*Fund And Reopen The Iberville Community Center*
*Rehire All Laid Off HANO Maintenance Workers*
Voice your support for Iberville to the officials below:
Housing Authority of New Orleans N.O. 504-670-3300
Department of HUD/Fred Tombar D.C. 202-402-6022
Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao N.O. 504-483-2325
Washington D.C. 202-225-6636
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu N.O. 504-589-2427
Washington D.C. 202-224-5824
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Report and Analysis of Protest Against Kurt Weigle and the DDD
On Saturday, November 14, about 80 people protested at the Iberville Development and the home of Kurt Weigle, the chief of the Downtown Development District (DDD). The protesters rallied for the repair and reopening of the more than 200 now closed apartments at the Iberville Housing Development, the removal of the DDD's Henry Charlot from the Iberville Advisory Council, and the prompt establishment of a public works program--direct government employment without contractors-- that pays prevailing wage for all who need it, be it immigrant or native workers.
The action began 4 PM at the Iberville Public Housing Development on Basin Street. Here residents and other local supporters of public housing joined forces with dozens of solidarity supporters who were in town for the annual meeting of the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS). Many of the AHS attendees are involved in similar struggles, from Connecticut to California, in their own communities and therefore the action was an important way of building a national solidarity network and movement in defense of public services. Public housing residents and non-resident supporters of public housing addressed the rally. The speakers emphasized the human stake involved in the defense of public housing. These speakers included Eloise Williams of Survive, Iberville residents Cary Reynolds and Cody Marshall, and Jay Arena of C3/Hands Off Iberville. After these speakers finished Cary led the protesters on a tour of the development. The contingent stopped at the Iberville Court to listen to Mike, a resident, give insights concerning the ongoing battle to defend the neighborhood.
Following the tour protesters travelled to the uptown residence of Kurt Weigle, located at 4516 Perreir Street, in a leafy and comfortable uptown neighborhood, where the protest reconvened in the public space just in front of the DDD director’s home. About seventy people were part of this action. While Weigle refused to leave his bunker despite repeated requests, protesters conveyed their message, chanting loudly against gentrification, ethnic cleansing, the DDD and for public housing. Some protesters held signs denouncing Weigle and company for attacking public housing and Charity hospital. Sam Jackson of MayDay New Orleans, George Mahdi of MERGE, Alex Glustrom of the Tulane Branch of the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital and Mike Howells for C3/Hands Off Iberville spoke to the rally in front of Weigle's home. Speakers noted that while Weigle is lobbying for the purge of the residents of Iberville from their homes nobody is conspiring to drive him out of his home. Howells in particular emphasized that if Weigle wants to drive people out of their own homes, then the public housing movement had the right, indeed the responsibility, to go to his home to show our opposition and make him see and feel the pain he is inflicting. He should not be able to rest comfortably in his home as he works to drive families from their own dwellings in his drive for profits.
The protest actions on Saturday highlighted that the struggle to defend public housing is still very much a part of the fight back to defend public services in New Orleans. These actions also send the message to the real estate sharks that Iberville will not be easy pickens.
The event was also a milestone since it represented the first time--beyond speaking out at their board meetings--that the Downtown Development District, and its leading operatives, had been targeted publically for their central role in pushing gentrification, privatization and ethnic cleansing. That is, a leading contingent of the local anti-racist, working class movement for the first time organized a demonstration against the DDD, a key agency for managing and promoting the affairs and interests of the New Orleans’ real estate, tourist and banking capitalists.
Weigle and the DDD do not like to be placed under public scrutiny. They prefer to work in the shadows, to fly under the radar, as they push their corporate agenda, with two prime goals being the destruction of Iberville and ethnic cleansing one side, and the permanent closure of Charity Hospital and the steamrolling of a mid-city neighborhood through the construction of the LSU hospital, on the other. Thus, Weigle and company are able to work full time on these and other attacks on working class people and communities in our city, but with little or no public scrutiny. This was the intention when the DDD was set up in the mid-1970s by the state legislature and at the behest of real estate and banking interests, such as Joseph Canizaro. Instead of going through the city council, which with all its problems provides some level of public input and scrutiny over ‘redevelopment’ schemes, the capitalists were able to do an end –run around these bourgeois democratic institutions. With the DDD’s creation they had their own agency, funded through a special taxing district, where their chief lieutenants, like Weigle, could push their agenda full time, unfettered by the constraints of “quaint” forms of local democracy, like elected city councils. Therefore, rather than all tax dollars from corporate businesses in the downtown business district going into a central fund where we could decide if they would be spent on housing, education or health care, for example, the capitalists have arranged for these tax dollars to be routed to a fund to destroy what we have left of Public education , housing and welfare!
The DDD action, beyond defending Iberville, was an important step in challenging a key anti-democratic foundation of capitalist rule in this city. Sadly, some organizations provided various excuses for why they could not confront the DDD. If we are to advance the movement for justice in New Orleans and across the country, we will have to quit hiding behind excuses and begin challenging the DDD and their various incarnations.
The action began 4 PM at the Iberville Public Housing Development on Basin Street. Here residents and other local supporters of public housing joined forces with dozens of solidarity supporters who were in town for the annual meeting of the Association for Humanist Sociology (AHS). Many of the AHS attendees are involved in similar struggles, from Connecticut to California, in their own communities and therefore the action was an important way of building a national solidarity network and movement in defense of public services. Public housing residents and non-resident supporters of public housing addressed the rally. The speakers emphasized the human stake involved in the defense of public housing. These speakers included Eloise Williams of Survive, Iberville residents Cary Reynolds and Cody Marshall, and Jay Arena of C3/Hands Off Iberville. After these speakers finished Cary led the protesters on a tour of the development. The contingent stopped at the Iberville Court to listen to Mike, a resident, give insights concerning the ongoing battle to defend the neighborhood.
Following the tour protesters travelled to the uptown residence of Kurt Weigle, located at 4516 Perreir Street, in a leafy and comfortable uptown neighborhood, where the protest reconvened in the public space just in front of the DDD director’s home. About seventy people were part of this action. While Weigle refused to leave his bunker despite repeated requests, protesters conveyed their message, chanting loudly against gentrification, ethnic cleansing, the DDD and for public housing. Some protesters held signs denouncing Weigle and company for attacking public housing and Charity hospital. Sam Jackson of MayDay New Orleans, George Mahdi of MERGE, Alex Glustrom of the Tulane Branch of the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital and Mike Howells for C3/Hands Off Iberville spoke to the rally in front of Weigle's home. Speakers noted that while Weigle is lobbying for the purge of the residents of Iberville from their homes nobody is conspiring to drive him out of his home. Howells in particular emphasized that if Weigle wants to drive people out of their own homes, then the public housing movement had the right, indeed the responsibility, to go to his home to show our opposition and make him see and feel the pain he is inflicting. He should not be able to rest comfortably in his home as he works to drive families from their own dwellings in his drive for profits.
The protest actions on Saturday highlighted that the struggle to defend public housing is still very much a part of the fight back to defend public services in New Orleans. These actions also send the message to the real estate sharks that Iberville will not be easy pickens.
The event was also a milestone since it represented the first time--beyond speaking out at their board meetings--that the Downtown Development District, and its leading operatives, had been targeted publically for their central role in pushing gentrification, privatization and ethnic cleansing. That is, a leading contingent of the local anti-racist, working class movement for the first time organized a demonstration against the DDD, a key agency for managing and promoting the affairs and interests of the New Orleans’ real estate, tourist and banking capitalists.
Weigle and the DDD do not like to be placed under public scrutiny. They prefer to work in the shadows, to fly under the radar, as they push their corporate agenda, with two prime goals being the destruction of Iberville and ethnic cleansing one side, and the permanent closure of Charity Hospital and the steamrolling of a mid-city neighborhood through the construction of the LSU hospital, on the other. Thus, Weigle and company are able to work full time on these and other attacks on working class people and communities in our city, but with little or no public scrutiny. This was the intention when the DDD was set up in the mid-1970s by the state legislature and at the behest of real estate and banking interests, such as Joseph Canizaro. Instead of going through the city council, which with all its problems provides some level of public input and scrutiny over ‘redevelopment’ schemes, the capitalists were able to do an end –run around these bourgeois democratic institutions. With the DDD’s creation they had their own agency, funded through a special taxing district, where their chief lieutenants, like Weigle, could push their agenda full time, unfettered by the constraints of “quaint” forms of local democracy, like elected city councils. Therefore, rather than all tax dollars from corporate businesses in the downtown business district going into a central fund where we could decide if they would be spent on housing, education or health care, for example, the capitalists have arranged for these tax dollars to be routed to a fund to destroy what we have left of Public education , housing and welfare!
The DDD action, beyond defending Iberville, was an important step in challenging a key anti-democratic foundation of capitalist rule in this city. Sadly, some organizations provided various excuses for why they could not confront the DDD. If we are to advance the movement for justice in New Orleans and across the country, we will have to quit hiding behind excuses and begin challenging the DDD and their various incarnations.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Press Release--Protest at home of DDD director Kurt Weigle
Press Release
November 14, 2009
Community to Rally at Home of Downtown Development District Director Kurt Weigle
DDD Must be Removed from the Iberville Advisory Committee
Public Housing residents and community supporters will rally at the home of Downtown Development District (DDD) Director Kurt Weigle, located at 4516 Perrier St., at 5:30 PM on Saturday, November 14 to defend the homes of the Iberville Public Housing residents. Weigle’s home was chosen as the most appropriate site for the demonstration since he has been relentless in his efforts to drive the African American working class residents of the Iberville from their homes.
As part of the DDD’s agenda of destroying Iberville, Weigle has succeeded in placing a DDD operative--Henry Charlot--to head the Iberville Advisory Committee. The committee members were selected by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and commissioned to forge a redevelopment plan for the Iberville. Placing the DDD to head, let alone participate on this committee, is like placing the proverbial fox to look over the chickens. Kurt Weigle, the DDD director, has made perfectly clear his agenda to destroy Iberville. In a May 21, 2009 interview with WWL-TV, reporter Susan Edwards found that from the perspective of “Kurt Weigle …redeveloping and demolishing Iberville removes a barrier to investment, opening the corridor up to more than just retail and residential possibilities.” Edwards reported that Weigle believes that "It [the demolition of Iberville] is going to have a positive effect on the medical district, the construction of the two hospitals...will have a much greater potential to attract investment around them.” Mr. Weigle is enthused by how much people will feel safer with the violent removal of the working class African American community of Iberville. He exclaimed to Edwards that “It's going to make people feel the area is safer than it may be perceived to be today, and will make the area one of the most attractive for the entire city.”
It is unconscionable that Weigle and the DDD has anything to do with a committee designed to develop a plan for the Iberville. New Orleans does not need the DDD’s demolition and privatization agenda for Iberville. Instead, we need to not only defend all the units at Iberville, but expand the number of Public Housing apartments in the city. Indeed, underscoring the city’s desperate need for affordable housing, a 2008 study by the federal government found that New Orleans renters spent more of their income toward rental housing and utilities than renters in any other city in the US. The Weigle/DDD plan to destroy Iberville would only aggravate this crisis even further.
A first step toward defending Iberville and expanding affordable housing is to remove the DDD representative, Henry Charlot, from the Iberville Advisory Committee.
Sponsor: C3/Hands Off Iberville and May Day New Orleans. For more information call 504-520-9521
November 14, 2009
Community to Rally at Home of Downtown Development District Director Kurt Weigle
DDD Must be Removed from the Iberville Advisory Committee
Public Housing residents and community supporters will rally at the home of Downtown Development District (DDD) Director Kurt Weigle, located at 4516 Perrier St., at 5:30 PM on Saturday, November 14 to defend the homes of the Iberville Public Housing residents. Weigle’s home was chosen as the most appropriate site for the demonstration since he has been relentless in his efforts to drive the African American working class residents of the Iberville from their homes.
As part of the DDD’s agenda of destroying Iberville, Weigle has succeeded in placing a DDD operative--Henry Charlot--to head the Iberville Advisory Committee. The committee members were selected by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and commissioned to forge a redevelopment plan for the Iberville. Placing the DDD to head, let alone participate on this committee, is like placing the proverbial fox to look over the chickens. Kurt Weigle, the DDD director, has made perfectly clear his agenda to destroy Iberville. In a May 21, 2009 interview with WWL-TV, reporter Susan Edwards found that from the perspective of “Kurt Weigle …redeveloping and demolishing Iberville removes a barrier to investment, opening the corridor up to more than just retail and residential possibilities.” Edwards reported that Weigle believes that "It [the demolition of Iberville] is going to have a positive effect on the medical district, the construction of the two hospitals...will have a much greater potential to attract investment around them.” Mr. Weigle is enthused by how much people will feel safer with the violent removal of the working class African American community of Iberville. He exclaimed to Edwards that “It's going to make people feel the area is safer than it may be perceived to be today, and will make the area one of the most attractive for the entire city.”
It is unconscionable that Weigle and the DDD has anything to do with a committee designed to develop a plan for the Iberville. New Orleans does not need the DDD’s demolition and privatization agenda for Iberville. Instead, we need to not only defend all the units at Iberville, but expand the number of Public Housing apartments in the city. Indeed, underscoring the city’s desperate need for affordable housing, a 2008 study by the federal government found that New Orleans renters spent more of their income toward rental housing and utilities than renters in any other city in the US. The Weigle/DDD plan to destroy Iberville would only aggravate this crisis even further.
A first step toward defending Iberville and expanding affordable housing is to remove the DDD representative, Henry Charlot, from the Iberville Advisory Committee.
Sponsor: C3/Hands Off Iberville and May Day New Orleans. For more information call 504-520-9521
Monday, November 9, 2009
Letter to the Iberville Advisory Committee
November 9, 2009
Ms. Laura Tuggle and Ms. Lillie Walker-Woodfork
Members of the Iberville Advisory Committee
Dear Ms. Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork,
C3/Hands Off Iberville wrote to both of you in August of 2009 presenting our concerns about the so-called ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’, whose members were handpicked by the Housing Authority of New Orleans' top lawyer, Wayne Woods. In our earlier communications, we expressed outrage at the committee appointing an operative from the Downtown Development Distract--an agency which has a long, clearly articulated agenda of demolishing Iberville--as the chair! We demanded that the committee expel the DDD representative, but you have refused to even discuss this issue, let alone take any action.
Second, we asked that all meetings of the ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ follow the state sunshine laws and open deliberations to the public. Yet, here again, we have had no response, as your outfit, led by Henry Charlot of the DDD, continue to meet behind closed doors. Why the need for secrecy? What are you hiding?
Third, we have received no response in regard to our inquiry about whether HANO is placing new residents in vacated apartments. Are they being filled, or purposely being left empty? We know that city councilwomen Stacy Head has openly advocated for not allowing apartments to be filled by families that had previously been living in other public housing developments, which she helped demolish. Does the committee, including Henry Charlot of the DDD, share this same cruel and inhumane position as Ms. Head?
Ongoing developments lead us to believe that HANO, with support of developers, is pursing the ‘St. Thomas strategy’ to facilitate demolition. That is, the strategy, as was done at the former St Thomas development, is to remove as many current residents as possible from Iberville before they try to demolish. We see this clearly in the ‘vouchering out' plan HANO is pursing, with section 8 vouchers being issued to current Iberville residents. We see this plan expressed in the continued illegal and immoral use of one-strike provisions to throw families out of their apartments. A recent egregious case is that of Laura Smith who HANO evicted for something her son was accused of doing off the grounds of Iberville. Furthermore her son was not even living with her! Yet, HANO went ahead and evicted Ms Smith. These are some of the cruel, gangster-like tactics being employed by HANO to depopulate the development. What is the committee doing in the face of these injustices?
The Iberville Advisory Committee, by their silence, is complicit in this demolition strategy. But we at Hands Off Iberville, and others in the community, refuse to remain silent We will be rallying on November 14, at 4 Pm at the Iberville development to demand the following:
1. Kurt Weigle remove his outfit from the IAC. 2. All the units at Iberville remain as Public Housing. 3. The Federal government immediately implement a massive, national Public Works plan to rebuild and expand Public Housing and the Public Sector.
We invite you and other members of the Iberville Advisory Committee to attend this event and finally address the community’s concerns.
Jay Arena
for hands Off Iberville
Ms. Laura Tuggle and Ms. Lillie Walker-Woodfork
Members of the Iberville Advisory Committee
Dear Ms. Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork,
C3/Hands Off Iberville wrote to both of you in August of 2009 presenting our concerns about the so-called ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’, whose members were handpicked by the Housing Authority of New Orleans' top lawyer, Wayne Woods. In our earlier communications, we expressed outrage at the committee appointing an operative from the Downtown Development Distract--an agency which has a long, clearly articulated agenda of demolishing Iberville--as the chair! We demanded that the committee expel the DDD representative, but you have refused to even discuss this issue, let alone take any action.
Second, we asked that all meetings of the ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ follow the state sunshine laws and open deliberations to the public. Yet, here again, we have had no response, as your outfit, led by Henry Charlot of the DDD, continue to meet behind closed doors. Why the need for secrecy? What are you hiding?
Third, we have received no response in regard to our inquiry about whether HANO is placing new residents in vacated apartments. Are they being filled, or purposely being left empty? We know that city councilwomen Stacy Head has openly advocated for not allowing apartments to be filled by families that had previously been living in other public housing developments, which she helped demolish. Does the committee, including Henry Charlot of the DDD, share this same cruel and inhumane position as Ms. Head?
Ongoing developments lead us to believe that HANO, with support of developers, is pursing the ‘St. Thomas strategy’ to facilitate demolition. That is, the strategy, as was done at the former St Thomas development, is to remove as many current residents as possible from Iberville before they try to demolish. We see this clearly in the ‘vouchering out' plan HANO is pursing, with section 8 vouchers being issued to current Iberville residents. We see this plan expressed in the continued illegal and immoral use of one-strike provisions to throw families out of their apartments. A recent egregious case is that of Laura Smith who HANO evicted for something her son was accused of doing off the grounds of Iberville. Furthermore her son was not even living with her! Yet, HANO went ahead and evicted Ms Smith. These are some of the cruel, gangster-like tactics being employed by HANO to depopulate the development. What is the committee doing in the face of these injustices?
The Iberville Advisory Committee, by their silence, is complicit in this demolition strategy. But we at Hands Off Iberville, and others in the community, refuse to remain silent We will be rallying on November 14, at 4 Pm at the Iberville development to demand the following:
1. Kurt Weigle remove his outfit from the IAC. 2. All the units at Iberville remain as Public Housing. 3. The Federal government immediately implement a massive, national Public Works plan to rebuild and expand Public Housing and the Public Sector.
We invite you and other members of the Iberville Advisory Committee to attend this event and finally address the community’s concerns.
Jay Arena
for hands Off Iberville
Monday, October 26, 2009
Hands Off Iberville!!--Novemeber 14 action
“It's going to make people feel the area is safer than it may be perceived to be today, and will make the area one of the most attractive for the entire city.”
Downtown Development District head Kurt Weigle on the ‘benefits’ of demolishing the
Iberville Public Housing development
Tell Kurt Weigle and the
Downtown Development District:
HANDS OFF IBERVILLE!!!!
Downtown Development District (DDD) representative Henry Charlot must resign as a member and chair of the Iberville Advisory Committee. Unbelievably, the Housing Authority of New Orleans’ top lawyer, Wayne Woods, appointed a representative of the DDD to the Iberville Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC is commissioned with developing a plan for the future of the development. Yet, the DDD, and its director Kurt Weigle, have long made clear they want to eliminate Iberville as a Public Housing development. Not only is Henry Charlot, the DDD representative, on the IAC, but he is the chair!! Nevertheless, Wayne Woods rejected C3/Hands Off Iberville’s participation since “we have an agenda”. Yes we do: To defend Iberville as Public Housing. Join us as we fight for this people’s agenda, by demanding that 1. Kurt Weigle remove his outfit from the IAC. 2. All the units at Iberville remain as Public Housing. 3. The Federal government immediately implement a massive, national Public Works plan to rebuild and expand Public Housing and the Public Sector.
Saturday, November 14
4 PM--Gather at corner of Basin and St. Louis Streets
4:30 PM--Caravan to Kurt Weigle’s House, 4516 Perrier St.
Sponsors: C3/Hands Off Iberville; MayDay New Orleans. For more info call 504-587-0080 or 504-520-9521
Downtown Development District head Kurt Weigle on the ‘benefits’ of demolishing the
Iberville Public Housing development
Tell Kurt Weigle and the
Downtown Development District:
HANDS OFF IBERVILLE!!!!
Downtown Development District (DDD) representative Henry Charlot must resign as a member and chair of the Iberville Advisory Committee. Unbelievably, the Housing Authority of New Orleans’ top lawyer, Wayne Woods, appointed a representative of the DDD to the Iberville Advisory Committee (IAC). The IAC is commissioned with developing a plan for the future of the development. Yet, the DDD, and its director Kurt Weigle, have long made clear they want to eliminate Iberville as a Public Housing development. Not only is Henry Charlot, the DDD representative, on the IAC, but he is the chair!! Nevertheless, Wayne Woods rejected C3/Hands Off Iberville’s participation since “we have an agenda”. Yes we do: To defend Iberville as Public Housing. Join us as we fight for this people’s agenda, by demanding that 1. Kurt Weigle remove his outfit from the IAC. 2. All the units at Iberville remain as Public Housing. 3. The Federal government immediately implement a massive, national Public Works plan to rebuild and expand Public Housing and the Public Sector.
Saturday, November 14
4 PM--Gather at corner of Basin and St. Louis Streets
4:30 PM--Caravan to Kurt Weigle’s House, 4516 Perrier St.
Sponsors: C3/Hands Off Iberville; MayDay New Orleans. For more info call 504-587-0080 or 504-520-9521
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Upcoming Actions
Upcoming Actions In The Quest For More Affordable Housing & Living Wage Jobs
Below is a list of upcoming actions that should be of interest to everyone who is ready to stand for the working class in New Orleans and elsewhere. You are encouraged to set aside time to participate in these actions that really can help make a better New Orleans and a better world. Remember silence only perpetuates on obviously unacceptable status quo. Workers of the World Unite.
Thurs. October 22nd: C3/Hands Off Iberville Weekly Meeting. Do you support challenging the presence of supporters of the demolition of the Iberville Development on the Iberville Advisory Committee? If yes, then come. Do you support the increasingly powerful grass roots movement that is ratcheting up the pressure on HUD funded contractors to hire hundreds more low income New Orleanians in accordance with municipal and federal law. If yes, then come. The meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall at 410 Basin Street.
Thurs. October 29th: C3/Hands Off Iberville Weekly Meeting. The meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall.
Thurs. October 30th: United Nations Townhall Meeting On Adequate Housing. U.N. Special Rapporteur on Housing Raquel Rolnik wants to hear from New Orleanians about their housing situation. The Townhall will convene 6:30p.m. in St. Bernard Community Church at 3938 St. Bernard St. Bernard Avenue.
Thurs. November 5th:Potluck Dinner and Townhall Meeting: Winning The Fight For A National Public Works Program In This Time Of Economic Crisis. This meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall at 410 Basin Street. Speakers will give brief presentations concerning why we need a national public works program and what we can do to make it a reality. The presentations will be followed by a question and answer session. People are encouraged to contribute to the potluck though this is not a requirement for being able to attend the meeting.
For additional information call Mike at 587-0080
Below is a list of upcoming actions that should be of interest to everyone who is ready to stand for the working class in New Orleans and elsewhere. You are encouraged to set aside time to participate in these actions that really can help make a better New Orleans and a better world. Remember silence only perpetuates on obviously unacceptable status quo. Workers of the World Unite.
Thurs. October 22nd: C3/Hands Off Iberville Weekly Meeting. Do you support challenging the presence of supporters of the demolition of the Iberville Development on the Iberville Advisory Committee? If yes, then come. Do you support the increasingly powerful grass roots movement that is ratcheting up the pressure on HUD funded contractors to hire hundreds more low income New Orleanians in accordance with municipal and federal law. If yes, then come. The meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall at 410 Basin Street.
Thurs. October 29th: C3/Hands Off Iberville Weekly Meeting. The meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall.
Thurs. October 30th: United Nations Townhall Meeting On Adequate Housing. U.N. Special Rapporteur on Housing Raquel Rolnik wants to hear from New Orleanians about their housing situation. The Townhall will convene 6:30p.m. in St. Bernard Community Church at 3938 St. Bernard St. Bernard Avenue.
Thurs. November 5th:Potluck Dinner and Townhall Meeting: Winning The Fight For A National Public Works Program In This Time Of Economic Crisis. This meeting will convene 7pm in St. Jude’s Basin Hall at 410 Basin Street. Speakers will give brief presentations concerning why we need a national public works program and what we can do to make it a reality. The presentations will be followed by a question and answer session. People are encouraged to contribute to the potluck though this is not a requirement for being able to attend the meeting.
For additional information call Mike at 587-0080
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Charlot, Weigle and the DDD--quit evading the issues
This was sent by emial on August 28, 2009 to Henry Charlot of the Downtown Development District
Mr. Charlot:
You, and others from the so-called ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ (IAC), have still not answered the community’s questions presented in the last communiqué. Please come clean and address them. Quit making excuses about not answering them. Of course you can find time to do PR, damage control for DDD head Kurt Weigle, but can’t find the time to answer the vital questions the community has. We already know where the DDD stands with regard to Iberville. The stance is made clear by the outfits statement of purpose, placed on every email from Weigle and others:“The DDD drives the development of Downtown New Orleans and is a catalyst for a prosperous, stimulating and innovative heart of the Crescent City” . A ‘prosperous stimulating environment’, in the heart of the city, means driving Iberville and the poor from it. That is, and continues to be the DDD’s policy, and Weigle and others have made that perfectly clear in statements made in public venues, and, especially, in private, back door meetings. No amount of PR work can change that.
Thus, again , stop with the PR work for Weigle, and answer the questions. Here they are again to refresh your memory:
· HANO and HUD, as part of their strategy of reducing the number of residents at Iberville, and thus facilitating demolition, have been awarding section 8 certificates to current Iberville residents. Yet, we have not heard if they are placing new families in the these vacated apartments
We would like to know one, what is HANO’s official policy with regard to these vacated apartments, an issue which the Committee has inquired about.
· Second, we want to know what is the position of the committee with regard to this crucial issue? If there is not unanimity on filling vacant apartments, we would like to know what members of the committee support keeping them empty.
· Third, we want to know when you are going to step down as head of the IAC and as a member? As you ha explained in your last email, the IAC has plenty of people that have worked with the community that could lead it, rather than those from the DDD who specialize in driving out the poor.
· Fourth, we want made public all the communications that Kurt Weigle and other DDD operatives have had with national, state and local officials and entities, developers, such as Michael Valentino, and other parties with regard to Iberville and any plans for its redevelopment.
Jay Arena for C3/Hands Off Iberville
Mr. Charlot:
You, and others from the so-called ‘Iberville Advisory Committee’ (IAC), have still not answered the community’s questions presented in the last communiqué. Please come clean and address them. Quit making excuses about not answering them. Of course you can find time to do PR, damage control for DDD head Kurt Weigle, but can’t find the time to answer the vital questions the community has. We already know where the DDD stands with regard to Iberville. The stance is made clear by the outfits statement of purpose, placed on every email from Weigle and others:“The DDD drives the development of Downtown New Orleans and is a catalyst for a prosperous, stimulating and innovative heart of the Crescent City” . A ‘prosperous stimulating environment’, in the heart of the city, means driving Iberville and the poor from it. That is, and continues to be the DDD’s policy, and Weigle and others have made that perfectly clear in statements made in public venues, and, especially, in private, back door meetings. No amount of PR work can change that.
Thus, again , stop with the PR work for Weigle, and answer the questions. Here they are again to refresh your memory:
· HANO and HUD, as part of their strategy of reducing the number of residents at Iberville, and thus facilitating demolition, have been awarding section 8 certificates to current Iberville residents. Yet, we have not heard if they are placing new families in the these vacated apartments
We would like to know one, what is HANO’s official policy with regard to these vacated apartments, an issue which the Committee has inquired about.
· Second, we want to know what is the position of the committee with regard to this crucial issue? If there is not unanimity on filling vacant apartments, we would like to know what members of the committee support keeping them empty.
· Third, we want to know when you are going to step down as head of the IAC and as a member? As you ha explained in your last email, the IAC has plenty of people that have worked with the community that could lead it, rather than those from the DDD who specialize in driving out the poor.
· Fourth, we want made public all the communications that Kurt Weigle and other DDD operatives have had with national, state and local officials and entities, developers, such as Michael Valentino, and other parties with regard to Iberville and any plans for its redevelopment.
Jay Arena for C3/Hands Off Iberville
Sunday, October 18, 2009
C3/Hands Off Iberville demands transparency from the IAC--8/19/09
Henry Charlot, Jr.
Director of Economic Development and Member of the Steering Committee of the Iberville Advisory Committee
Downtown Development District,
210 St . Charles Ave, Suite 3912
New Orleans, La.
August 19, 2009
Dear Mr. Charlot,
On behalf of C3/Hands Off Iberville, I am asking you, as an official member of the HANO-appointed “Iberville Advisory Committee”—indeed, of its influential steering committee--to please let C3/Hands Off Iberville and the rest of the community know when this secretive group will begin holding open meetings. We are very concerned that this group, empowered to create a plan for the future of Iberville, includes, frankly, you, the Economic Development Director of the Downtown Development District. We know what you, and the CEO of the Downtown Development District, Kurt Weigle, mean by “economic development” when it comes to Iberville—its destruction as public housing, and mass removal—ethnic and class cleansing—of the bulk of its residents. You and Mr. Weigle have long made it clear that Iberville, from your perspective, is a “drag” on “development”, and that the “renaissance” of Canal Street that you and your corporate and city hall backers envision requires its removal.
We are especially concerned that HANO legal counsel Wayne Woods, who was well aware of you and your outfits long history of opposition to Iberville, nonetheless appointed you to the Iberville Advisory Committee. At the same time Woods refused to appoint a representative from C3/Hands Off Iberville to the Committee since, we, quote, “have an agenda”! It seems the real issue is not that C3/Hands Off Iberville has an agenda, but that Wayne Woods has the same agenda as you, the destruction of the Iberville.
Although we reject the legitimacy of this fraudulent outfit, we do want to keep an eye on its nefarious activities. Thus, again, I am asking that you and the Iberville Advisory Committee come out of the closet and begin showing some transparency by holding open meetings.
Jay Arena
For C3/Hands off Iberville
I can be contacted at 504-520-9521 to inform us about when the committee will hold a open meeting.
Director of Economic Development and Member of the Steering Committee of the Iberville Advisory Committee
Downtown Development District,
210 St . Charles Ave, Suite 3912
New Orleans, La.
August 19, 2009
Dear Mr. Charlot,
On behalf of C3/Hands Off Iberville, I am asking you, as an official member of the HANO-appointed “Iberville Advisory Committee”—indeed, of its influential steering committee--to please let C3/Hands Off Iberville and the rest of the community know when this secretive group will begin holding open meetings. We are very concerned that this group, empowered to create a plan for the future of Iberville, includes, frankly, you, the Economic Development Director of the Downtown Development District. We know what you, and the CEO of the Downtown Development District, Kurt Weigle, mean by “economic development” when it comes to Iberville—its destruction as public housing, and mass removal—ethnic and class cleansing—of the bulk of its residents. You and Mr. Weigle have long made it clear that Iberville, from your perspective, is a “drag” on “development”, and that the “renaissance” of Canal Street that you and your corporate and city hall backers envision requires its removal.
We are especially concerned that HANO legal counsel Wayne Woods, who was well aware of you and your outfits long history of opposition to Iberville, nonetheless appointed you to the Iberville Advisory Committee. At the same time Woods refused to appoint a representative from C3/Hands Off Iberville to the Committee since, we, quote, “have an agenda”! It seems the real issue is not that C3/Hands Off Iberville has an agenda, but that Wayne Woods has the same agenda as you, the destruction of the Iberville.
Although we reject the legitimacy of this fraudulent outfit, we do want to keep an eye on its nefarious activities. Thus, again, I am asking that you and the Iberville Advisory Committee come out of the closet and begin showing some transparency by holding open meetings.
Jay Arena
For C3/Hands off Iberville
I can be contacted at 504-520-9521 to inform us about when the committee will hold a open meeting.
Letter to the Iberville Advisory Committee
Sent on August 25, 2009
Dear Ms. Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork,
The head of the Iberville Advisory Committee, Henry Charlot Jr., does not seem to respond to questions from the community, which is par for the course for operatives from the Downtown Development District. Thus, Ms Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork, because of this intransigence, I am directing these questions from C3/Hands Off Iberville to both of you.
HANO and HUD, as part of their strategy of reducing the number of residents at Iberville, and thus facilitating demolition, have been awarding section 8 certificates to current Iberville residents. Yet, we have not heard if they are placing new families in the these vacated apartments
We would like to know one, what is HANO’s official policy with regard to these vacated apartments, an issue which the Committee has inquired about.
Second, we want to know what is the position of the committee with regard to this crucial issue? If there is not unanimity on filling vacant apartments, we would like to know what members of the committee support keeping them empty.
We await your response.
Jay Arena for C3/Hands Off Iberville
Dear Ms. Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork,
The head of the Iberville Advisory Committee, Henry Charlot Jr., does not seem to respond to questions from the community, which is par for the course for operatives from the Downtown Development District. Thus, Ms Tuggle and Ms. Walker-Woodfork, because of this intransigence, I am directing these questions from C3/Hands Off Iberville to both of you.
HANO and HUD, as part of their strategy of reducing the number of residents at Iberville, and thus facilitating demolition, have been awarding section 8 certificates to current Iberville residents. Yet, we have not heard if they are placing new families in the these vacated apartments
We would like to know one, what is HANO’s official policy with regard to these vacated apartments, an issue which the Committee has inquired about.
Second, we want to know what is the position of the committee with regard to this crucial issue? If there is not unanimity on filling vacant apartments, we would like to know what members of the committee support keeping them empty.
We await your response.
Jay Arena for C3/Hands Off Iberville
C3/Hands Off Iberville Demands that the Foxes Quit Guarding the Chicken House
C3/Hands Off Iberville calls on Henry Charlot Jr. to immediately resign as both the chair, and as a member, of the Iberville Advisory Committee. Indeed, no-one from the Downtown Development District (DDD) should be part of any committee assigned with developing a plan for Iberville.
Mr. Charlot rejects this position, and says that C3/Hands Off Iberville should have, quote, “an open mind” with regard to DDD’s intentions. Well, our monitoring of what’s been “on the mind” of Mr. Charlot’s boss, Kurt Weigle, the head of the DDD, when it comes to Iberville confirms our weariness. In a May 21, 2009 interview with WWL-TV, reporter Susan Edwards found that from the perspective of “Kurt Weigle …redeveloping and demolishing Iberville removes a barrier to investment, opening the corridor up to more than just retail and residential possibilities.” He told Edwards that "It [the demolition of Iberville] is going to have a positive effect on the medical district, the construction of the two hospitals...will have a much greater potential to attract investment around them.” Mr. Weigle, who has a bachelors degree in “Violent Urban Crime”, was enthused about how much [white?] people would feel safer with the violent removal of the working class African American community of Iberville. He exclaimed to Edwards that “It's going to make people feel the area is safer than it may be perceived to be today, and will make the area one of the most attractive for the entire city.”
Mr. Charlot, we know what the agenda of the DDD is--Urban Violence, just what your boss at the DDD studied and is an expert in. You, Weigle and the wealthy racist interests you represent want the removal of the Iberville community —a very brutal, violent act, in whatever form it takes. Your group, and maximum leader, have been explicit about this agenda. You have worked tirelessly over the years, including forming alliances with hotel developer Michael Valentino, architect Ray Manning, and sell-out tenant leader Kim Paul as part of the so-called ‘Iberville Rebirth Coalition.’ Now, with the help of HANO’s Wayne Woods and Diane Johnson, you are working on another scheme. We say end the charade and get your Hands Off Iberville! Furthermore, you have no business dealing with Iberville since it is not even within DDDs jurisdiction, which only covers the area between Claiborne Avenue, Iberville Street, the Mississippi River and the Pontchartrain Expressway.
While demanding Charlot’s and the DDD’s immediate expulsion from the Iberville Advisory Committee, we are also very concerned by the actions of the rest of the members. It is very disconcerting that the other member of the committee would allow Charlot and the DDD to head the initiative. We call on the rest of the committee to reverse course, and expel Charlot and the DDD. Furthermore, we call on other pro-working class, anti-racist forces to also join us in supporting our demands against the DDD. In addition, we call on you to support our demands for defending ALL the public housing units at Iberville through a massive repair and investment plan, and one that guarantees jobs for all residents and all those that need jobs, through a massive public works program and enforcement of section 3 of the 1968 Housing Act and other affirmative action programs.
Send your endorsement of these demands to jarenanynola@gmail.com. You are also invited to attend C3/Hands Off Iberville’s weekly Thursday meeting, 7 PM at 410 Basin St.
For more information call 504-520-9521 or 504-587-0080,
Mr. Charlot rejects this position, and says that C3/Hands Off Iberville should have, quote, “an open mind” with regard to DDD’s intentions. Well, our monitoring of what’s been “on the mind” of Mr. Charlot’s boss, Kurt Weigle, the head of the DDD, when it comes to Iberville confirms our weariness. In a May 21, 2009 interview with WWL-TV, reporter Susan Edwards found that from the perspective of “Kurt Weigle …redeveloping and demolishing Iberville removes a barrier to investment, opening the corridor up to more than just retail and residential possibilities.” He told Edwards that "It [the demolition of Iberville] is going to have a positive effect on the medical district, the construction of the two hospitals...will have a much greater potential to attract investment around them.” Mr. Weigle, who has a bachelors degree in “Violent Urban Crime”, was enthused about how much [white?] people would feel safer with the violent removal of the working class African American community of Iberville. He exclaimed to Edwards that “It's going to make people feel the area is safer than it may be perceived to be today, and will make the area one of the most attractive for the entire city.”
Mr. Charlot, we know what the agenda of the DDD is--Urban Violence, just what your boss at the DDD studied and is an expert in. You, Weigle and the wealthy racist interests you represent want the removal of the Iberville community —a very brutal, violent act, in whatever form it takes. Your group, and maximum leader, have been explicit about this agenda. You have worked tirelessly over the years, including forming alliances with hotel developer Michael Valentino, architect Ray Manning, and sell-out tenant leader Kim Paul as part of the so-called ‘Iberville Rebirth Coalition.’ Now, with the help of HANO’s Wayne Woods and Diane Johnson, you are working on another scheme. We say end the charade and get your Hands Off Iberville! Furthermore, you have no business dealing with Iberville since it is not even within DDDs jurisdiction, which only covers the area between Claiborne Avenue, Iberville Street, the Mississippi River and the Pontchartrain Expressway.
While demanding Charlot’s and the DDD’s immediate expulsion from the Iberville Advisory Committee, we are also very concerned by the actions of the rest of the members. It is very disconcerting that the other member of the committee would allow Charlot and the DDD to head the initiative. We call on the rest of the committee to reverse course, and expel Charlot and the DDD. Furthermore, we call on other pro-working class, anti-racist forces to also join us in supporting our demands against the DDD. In addition, we call on you to support our demands for defending ALL the public housing units at Iberville through a massive repair and investment plan, and one that guarantees jobs for all residents and all those that need jobs, through a massive public works program and enforcement of section 3 of the 1968 Housing Act and other affirmative action programs.
Send your endorsement of these demands to jarenanynola@gmail.com. You are also invited to attend C3/Hands Off Iberville’s weekly Thursday meeting, 7 PM at 410 Basin St.
For more information call 504-520-9521 or 504-587-0080,
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