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.