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
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