Tell HUD: No Choice Neighbrohoods Grant to Demolish Iberville

Secretary Shaun Donovan
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20410

Dear Secretary Donovan,

This letter is to demand that the Department of Housing and Urban Development not award a Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant to the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) and City of New Orleans to demolish and privatize the Iberville Public Housing development. HANO and the City, on behalf of their for-profit developer “partners”, HRI Properties and McCormick, Baron, Salazar submitted their application in October 2010.

The decision of the City of New Orleans and the Housing Authority of New Orleans--the latter led by HUD-imposed director, David Gilmore, of Gilmore Kean LLC--to seek the demolition of Iberville is a continuation of the same demolition and dispersal policies pursued by the Bush and Nagin administrations. The demolition and privatization of Iberville, and forced eviction of residents--what HUD and HANO euphemistically call a “transformation plan”--will only deepen the dire affordable housing crisis confronting New Orleans. According to a study conducted by HUD itself, since the 2005 Hurricane Katrina the city’s homeless population has doubled and mid-priced rental units in the $300 to $600 have fallen from 66,300 in 2004 to 19,300 in 2009, while the average monthly housing cost has jumped from $662 to $882 a month. New Orleans, unsurprisingly, is now the most rent-burdened city in America, with a 2008 study finding that 41% of New Orleans renters spend at least half of their pre-tax income on rent.

Greatly contributing to the affordable housing crisis was the Bush administration’s demolition of 5,000 little-damaged, and badly needed public housing apartments in the aftermath of Katrina. Two investigators appointed by the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)--Miloon Kothari and Gay McDougall--condemned the demolition as a flagrant violation of a host of international human rights treaties. In their report they called on federal, state, and local authorities to “protect the human rights of African Americans affected by Hurricane Katrina” by, among various measures, “immediately halt[ing] the demolition of public housing in New Orleans.” Sadly, the Bush administration ignored these calls. Today we suffer the consequences, as even the limited number of public housing units promised have not been built, and Congress’ failure to renew the so-called GO Zone tax credits threatens the few units promised at the Lafitte and B.W. Cooper developments.

David Gilmore told the Times Picayune newspaper that the failure to renew the Go Zone bonds “would represent a tragic loss to New Orleans”. Well, we argue the demolition of Iberville would be an even greater one. It is doubly troubling that Gilmore awarded the redevelopment contract to HRI. This well-connected New Orleans company carried out the displacement of low-income black residents at the former St. Thomas development. The HRI-led “redevelopment” slashed the number of public housing units from 1,510 to less than 200, with even fewer for those that make under 30% of the area median income--the income level of 90% of the former residents, most of whom have never had the chance to return. Further raising concerns is that a decade after HRI demolished St. Thomas they have yet to build the promised and agreed upon 100 off-site 3 and 4 bedroom apartments for displaced residents. This is the same company that is to guarantee the so-called ‘one for one’ replacement at Iberville!

Instead of demolition—32 apartments of which have already met the wrecking ball —we demand the immediate refurbishing of all the 821 apartments at Iberville. It is a crime that hundreds of quickly repairable units lie empty at Iberville while tens of thousands of families are on waiting lists for housing assistance—lists that would grow longer if applications were again accepted for public housing and section 8.

The repairing of Iberville—money which was made available as part of the Federal governments stimulus package, but not properly used for needed repairs—should be part of a massive expansion of public housing in New Orleans and across the country. We do not need nor want an expansion of the “3-D” approach of Demolish, Disrupt, and Disperse, which HUD is contemplating with its PETRA plan to hand over the entire public housing stock to bankers and developers. Instead, we call for a massive expansion of public housing as part of a new, direct government-employment, public works plan. New Orleans’ Iberville public housing development, a land that has witnessed two earlier displacements of low-income African American communities, is a good place to start this renewed commitment to both the public sector and racial and economic justice.

Open Letter to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

Why did the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) Provide a Platform for a Privatization and Home Foreclosure Advocate ?

NLCHP’s Invitation to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan raises serious concerns


Dear Eric Tars and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty,

I always appreciate Eric Tars’ regular reports on efforts to use a human rights discourse and institutional framework to win housing as a basic human right in the U.S. and globally.

Yet, at the same time, I see as very contradictory and deeply disturbing that Tars’ employer, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, headed by Maria Foscanris, invited Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Shaun Donovan to be the key note speaker at the organization’s annual awards banquet on October 14th in Washington, DC. Donovan’s keynote speech was entitled “Ending Homelessness in Our Time”. Considering the HUD secretary’s attempt to sell off the nation’s public housing stock through the so-called “Choice Neighborhood Program” and the proposed PETRA bill now in Congress, a more apt title for his address might have been, ‘How I Make Appearances to End Homelessness, while actually expanding it through continued public housing demolition and forced evictions”

Indeed, Donovan has an aggressive plan to expand homelessness. He is working with HUD-imposed administrators in New Orleans to demolish the badly needed 800+ public housing apartments at New Orleans’ Iberville development—one that even convicted human rights violator George Bush and his henchman Alphonso Jackson could not get their hands on after Katrina. Donovan and his New Orleans collaborators are promoting the demolition of Iberville as a model for what can be done nation-wide under a generously funded and approved PETRA bill. But Donovan is not happy with just expanding homelessness by demolishing and selling off public housing. He’s an ambitious man. He also opposes any measures to stop the massive home foreclosures that bankers are carrying out, telling the New York Times recently that any measures to stop the forced evictions “would do more harm than good” (New York Times, October 28, 2010). Harm to who — banker’s profits or peoples’ lives?

Why would an oufit named the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty provide a platform to this enemy of public and affordable housing and a friend of bankers and homelessness?

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty invite is a disturbing sign that they and other NGO’s and ‘tenant leaders” are ready to be ‘realistic’ and sit down with Donovan to provide a fig leaf cover for the handing over of public housing to the banks and real estate sharks—on a larger scale than they already have.


We need to ask NLCHP and other NGO’s where they stand on PETRA and the attempt to demolish New Orleans Iberville Public Housing development?

We at C3/Hands Off Iberville denounce PETRA, Choice Neighborhoods, or any other scam to privatize public housing. We oppose efforts to ‘improve' the bill that some NGOs and sell-out tenant leaders are advocating. These bills and plans are rotten to the core. We also call for an immediate moratorium on all home foreclosures. On top of these defensive demands, we call for the creation of a massive, direct government employment Public Works plan , open to all workers, including immigrants and the formerly incarcerated, to rebuild housing, schools, hospitals and a infrastructure. This is what we need to fight for. Join the growing campaign!

In addition, call and/or email these officials and demand that HUD not approve funding for the Housing Authority of New Orleans' application for a "Choice Neighbrohood" grant to demolish and 'redevelop' the Iberville public housing development. We demands instead that all the 800+ apartmwents are repaired and maintaied as Public Housing, in which tenants pay 30% of their income for rent and utilities.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Email: Secretary.Donovan@hud.gov Phone: (202) 708-0417

New Orleans Mayor- Mitch Landrieu.
Email: mayor@cityofno.com Phone: (504) 658-4900

U.S. President-Barrack Obama.
Email: president@whitehouse.gov Phone: (202) 456-1414



Jay Arena
Hands off Iberville

Lessons of History for Defending Iberville Today

HOW THE PEOPLE STOPPED HANO’S ATTEMPT TO DESTROY IBERVILLE IN 2005 & WHAT THEY CAN DO TO SAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD FROM HANO TODAY!

The widely disseminated idea that a Big Four style “redevelopment” of the Iberville Housing Development is a done deal fails to account for why HANO and HRI attempted to impose a virtually identical scheme on the public housing neighborhood in 2005 but failed. If anything, in 2005, the position of the forces that wanted to destroy Iberville by way of mixed-income housing reform was stronger than today. Iberville was closed at the time. Its residents were scattered throughout the country. And HANO was under the control of the Bush Administration. Yet Iberville, the conventional public housing neighborhood, reopened despite the opposition of then Mayor Nagin, City Council and HRI.. Why?

Come to a public discussion putting the spotlight on the people’s fight back of 2005 that forced the Administration of George W. Bush to reopen and maintain the Iberville Housing Development. Learn how a grass roots coalition of Iberville residents and non-resident public housing supporters accomplished what most “experts” at the time thought impossible, the reopening of the Iberville Housing Development as a conventional public housing neighborhood. And get insights into what can be done to stop HANO’s new attack on Iberville.

7pm Thursday
October 14, 2010
St. Jude’s Basin Hall
410 Basin Street

Sponsor: C3Hands Off Iberville. 504-587-0080

Please forward.

C3/Hands Off Iberville member Malcolm Willison: Letter to Editor Denounces Demolition Plan

To the editor:

Your recent editorial on News Orlean's housing crisis (September 2, 2010) is much appreciated by those in the city faced with a continuing crisis in af-fordable housing.Rental housing scarcity, as you point- ed out, means that a major part of the income of low-pay workers and of those retired or handicapped or oth-erwise unable to work full time or at all, has to be de-voted to rent. Far too many pre-Katrina New Orleans residents are stuck far away, unable to come back to their city. In abandoned housing, shelters, or on the streets are between three and twelve thousand home-less, many veterans, twice the number before Katrina. Yet HUD continues its recent mass demolition of loc-al public housing: the HUD-run Housing Authority of New Orleans is pursuing federal funding for demoli-tion and radical downsizing of conventional public housing at the Iberville Development, the last of the sturdy, repairable public housing aimed for the low-income, retired, and disabled. The “mixed-income” housing redevelopment HANO has sought is part of the disastrous post-Katrina HOPE VI “revitalization” of the city’s Big Four housing developments, eliminating 5,000 crucial public housing units after Katrina. Yet Congress has sharply reduced funding for HOPE VI, and private corporations involved struggle to sell bonds for the building, while long waiting lists bedevil those seeking inadequately funded Section 8 housing, with constant difficulties with landlords and evictions.The administration needs to improve its housing policies.

Yours sincerely, Malcolm Willison

The Iberville Development: No Murders, No News!

The Iberville Development: No Murders, No News!
By Mike Howells

With the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching the struggle to defend and expand public housing in New Orleans continues. As part of that effort the local public housing support group C3/Hands Off Iberville held a press conference on August 3rd highlighting the Iberville public housing development’s status as one of the few murder free neighborhoods in New Orleans over the last year. The press conference was held on the date of the national Night Out Against Crime. The press conference was met with a corporate news blackout. The refusal of the corporate news to cover the Iberville press conference is perfectly in line with the longstanding media practice of nurturing an image of Iberville as a spawning ground for criminal violence. The general drift of this news coverage reinforces the widely held view of the public housing complex as a hothouse for violent crime in dangerously close proximity to the French Quarter. Recent crime statistics, however, contradict the widely disseminated view that Iberville is one of New Orleans’s ultra-violent neighborhoods.

The absence of the local press is not due to a lack of notification or media interest in violent crime in the Iberville Housing Development The news blackout happened even though press releases were forwarded the day before the event by organizers to the city desk of the Times Picayune and the news rooms of WWL 4, WDSU6, WVUE 8 and WGNO 26 on August 2nd. These news outlets devoted coverage to neighborhood based Night Out Against Crime in previous years and 2010. And the post-Katrina murders that did occur in Iberville also received media coverage. For example, the Times Picayune, the New Orleans paper of record, carried articles on each of the three murders in the public housing complex in 2008. These same news sources ignored the message the Iberville is a murder free neighborhood. And the fact that Iberville went murder free in a city with the nation’s highest murder rate did not convince the TP and company of the newsworthiness of this development. The New Orleans media is clearly in no hurry to highlight a public housing success story in the midst of the city’s murder epidemic.

A dearth of murders and shootings in Iberville did not stop the corporate news from linking the public housing development to violent crime. A WWL news report broadcast on August 18, 2010 described Iberville as a “hotspot” for crime. The same report makes no mention that the neighborhood went murder free the twelve preceding months. A September 23, 2009 article in the TP put Iberville in the headline of a piece covering a non-fatal shooting that transpired in another neighborhood, the Sixth Ward. And the headline of another TP article, dated October 28, 2009, identified Iberville as the site of a murder on Bienville and North Derbigny. This intersection is actually located in another neighborhood. Even when Iberville is free of murders and shootings the corporate media insists that the neighborhood is experiencing murders and shootings.

The widely disseminated view that Iberville is the French Quarter’s ultra-violent neighbor is contradicted by crime statistics. From January 2008 through July 2010 New Orleans suffered 443 murders. Iberville was the scene of 6 of those murders. This accounts for 1.3% of the city’s murders. And the widely disseminated view that Iberville is a publicly subsidized killing field located dangerously close to the French Quarter does not withstand an examination of murder and shooting statistics. During the period mentioned above the French Quarter, like Iberville, recorded 6 murders. On the matter of shootings in this period Iberville registered far fewer than the city’s oldest neighborhood. A total of 10 people were shot in Iberville..In the city’s oldest neighborhood 21 people were shot. Judging from these figures the high income, privately owned French Quarter is actually a greater source of criminal violence in New Orleans than the low-income, publicly owned Iberville Housing Development!

The media image of Iberville as a haven for criminal violence serves the agenda of the cabal of politicians and real estate developers determined to eliminate public housing from the landscape of post-Katrina New Orleans. HUD responded to the epoch shortage of affordable housing following the storm by first closing and then demolishing 5,000 of the city’s 7,000 public housing apartments. The vast majority of the demolished apartments came out of the storm and flooding in habitable or easily made habitable condition. When HUD finally began demolition of these public housing apartments in late 2007 the size of the local homeless population was double that of the local homeless population in 2005. As of this writing, New Orleans has the highest per-capita rate of homelessness of any city in the nation. This bleak situation did not prevent the Housing Authority of New Orleans from announcing in August that it will seek HUD funding to radically downsize the number of public housing units at Iberville.

No persons were murdered or shot in the Iberville Housing Development during the twelve months that preceded the 2010 Night Out Against Crime. This reality clashes with the media supported image of Iberville as a breeding ground for criminal violence. This caricature of Iberville implicitly sends the message that government support for the neighborhood amounts to taxpayers subsidizing violent crime. This is a false message. Iberville is not a hot house for violent crime. And this is an inconvenient truth for the news establishment of the Crescent City.




Crime Statistics

Iberville/ French Quarter Murders and Shootings.[1]

Murders/ Shootings
2010[2]
Iberville 0 /0
FQ. 1 1

2009
Iberville 3/3
FQ. 4/7

2008
Iberville 3/ 6
FQ 1 /13

Totals
Iberville 6 /9
FQ. 6/ 21

New Orleans Murders[3]

2010 90

2009 174

2008 179

Total 443







[1] From January 1, 2008 through August 3, 2010. Sources examined: Online reports from WWL 4, WDSU6, WVUE8, WGNO26, NOcrimeline.com; and the New Orleans Times-Picayune
[2] Period surveyed for 2010 ends August 3, 2010.
[3] From January 1, 2008 through July 2010. Sources: New Orleans Police Department,
Administrative and Support Bureau for 2008 and 2009 murder statistics. The murder stat for 2010 is 58% of the 2009 murder total. NOPD murder totals for 2010 through July were not available online.

Media Fails to Cover Good News About Iberville--No Murders in Over a Year

For the Night Out Against Crime 2010 residents and supporters of the Iberville Housing Development held a press conference to announce that the neighborhood is one the few in New Orleans to have gone through the last year murder free. The relative safety of Iberville in comparison to most of the city's other neighborhoods contradicts the image, carefully nurtured by the corporate media and real estate developers, that the neighborhood, indeed all public housing developments, is a de-facto killing field. Not wanting to put forward information that challenges the crime friendly depiction of public housing, the Times-Picayune and the television news reports on New Orleans television chanels 4, 6, 8 and 26 passed on invitations to cover the Iberville's Tuesday Night Out Against Crime press conference.

The refusal of the corporate news media to cover the good news on the crime front from Iberville is in stark contrast to what happens when a murder does occur in the neighborhood. When a murder does occur in Iberville, as it does at some point or another in virtually all New Orleans neighborhoods, news crews from the Times-Picayune and channels 4,6, 8. and 26 can be counted on to cover the tragedy. The slanted news coverage of the crime issue as it pertains to Iberville sends a loud and clear message of the type of image of Iberville that the media sends to the general public.

Mike Howells

Take Action NOW to Defend Sharon Jasper, Free Speech, and Public Housing

Public Housing activist and human rights leader Sharon Jasper is facing political repression --an attack that threatens the free speech rights of us all. On May 30, 2010 Ms. Jasper participated in a non-violent protest at the former St Bernard public housing development, renamed “Columbia Parc”, to denounce the exclusion of former residents. The protest was part of the nationally coordinated “take back the Land” actions. The following week a NOPD SWAT team arrested her at her home, charging her with “battery”--totally unsubstantiated and baseless---against a Columbia Parc employee during the May 30th protest. Then, on July 9th, she received a letter from the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) revoking her section 8 housing voucher because of the battery charge. As part of the unconstitutional “one strike” law, passed under the Clinton administration, public housing residents can be evicted for being charged--not convicted--of a crime!

This attempt to evict Ms Jasper is a clear cut case of political repression. The phony “battery” charge and eviction order are designed to silence not only Ms. Jasper but the larger struggle against the real estate sharks and privatizers scheming to grab valuable land and carry out ethnic cleansing in New Orleans an across the country. Very powerful forces are behind the attack on Sharon Jasper. The partner of Columbia Residential in their redevelopment of the former St Bernard public housing community is an outfit called the, “Bayou District”, with, among others, former president George H.W. Bush, and influential local “venture capitalist” Gary Solomon sitting on the board. In addition, the Columbia Parc development is backed by the so-called “Purpose Built Communities”, with billionaire Warren Buffett, hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, and real estate shark Thomas Cousins being major investors. These capitalists identify valuable public housing proprieties as “emerging markets”, and activists like Sharon Jasper stand in the way of these vultures cashing in. We can’t let them get away with this crime.
For more information call C3/Hands Off Iberville at 504-520-9521

Call and/or Fax these officials and demand that the charges and eviction order be dropped against Sharon Jasper
· Columbia residential--Noel Khalil, CEO--(404) 874-5000, x111; Fax (404) 874-0999
http://www.columbiares.com/about/principals.html

· Bayou District--Gerard Barousse, Jr., Chairman, (504) 272-0307 Fax: (504) 523-1704
http://bayoudistrictfoundation.org/

· Purpose Built Communities--Charles Knapp, President, (404) 591-1400, email: interest@purposebuiltcommunities.org
http://www.purposebuiltcommunities.org/network-members/overview.html

· Housing Authority of New Orleans--David Gilmore, Executive Director, (504) 670-3300
http://www.hano.org/

IBERVILLE SPEAKOUT ON THE BP OIL SPILL

The BP Oil Spill is a New Orleans problem!

IBERVILLE SPEAKOUT ON THE BP OIL SPILL.

The arrival of tar balls in Lake Pontchartain makes clear that the BP oil spill is reaching New Orleans. What impact will the oil spill have on the health and economic well being of New Orleanians? What can low-income New Orleanians do to avoid being exploited Katrina style by those forces who treat every catastrophe as another opportunity to rip off the poor? These are questions that Iberville residents and other low-income New Orleanians need to address and will be addressed at the Iberville Speakout On The BP Oil Spill.

You are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in the speakout below.


IBERVILLE SPEAKOUT ON THE BP OIL SPILL
6PM THURSDAY, JULY 15TH
IBERVILLE COURT(Near Basketball Court)
IBERVILLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Free and open to all.

For additional information call (504) 587-0080
Sponsors: Iberville residents and C3/Hands Off Iberville

All Out to Defend New Orleans Public Housing Activist Sharon Jasper

All Out to Defend New Orleans Public Housing Activist Sharon Jasper

Stop Political Repression Unleashed by
HANO/Columbia Residential/Bayou District

Attend meeting and/or make calls (see info below)
HANO Board Meeting
4100 Tour St.
(near corner of Elysian Fields and Gentilly)
9:30 AM—Rally
10 AM—Board Meeting

Public Housing activist and human rights leader Sharon Jasper is facing political repression because of her defense of New Orleans public housing and the right of return. On May 30, 2010 Ms. Jasper participated in a non-violent protest at the former St Bernard public housing development, renamed “Columbia Parc”, to denounce the exclusion of former residents. The protest was part of the nationally coordinated “take back the Land” actions. The following week a NOPD SWAT team arrested her at her home, charging her with “battery”--totally unsubstantiated and baseless---against a Columbia Parc employee during the May 30th protest.
Then, on July 9th, she received a letter from the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) revoking her section 8 housing voucher because of the battery charge. As part of the unconstitutional “one strike” law, passed under the Clinton administration, public housing residents can be evicted for being charged--not convicted--of a crime!

This attempt to evict Ms Jasper is a clear cut case of political repression. The phony “battery” charge and eviction order are designed to silence not only Ms. Jasper but the larger struggle against the real estate sharks and privatizers scheming to grab valuable land and carry out ethnic cleansing in New Orleans an across the country. Very powerful forces are behind the attack on Sharon Jasper. The partner of Columbia Residential in their redevelopment of the former St Bernard public housing community is an outfit called the, “Bayou District”, with, among others, former president George HW Bush, and influential local “venture capitalist” Gary Solomon backing sitting on the board. In addition, the Columbia Parc development is backed by the so-called “Purpose Built Communities”, with billionaire Warren Buffett, hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, and real estate shark Thomas Cousins being major investors. These capitalists identify valuable public housing proprieties as “emerging markets”, and activists like Sharon Jasper stand in the way of these vultures cashing in.

For more information call 504-520-9521

Call and Fax these officials and demand that the charges and eviction order be dropped against Sharon Jasper

· Columbia residential--Noel Khalil, CEO--(404) 874-5000, ext. 111; Fax (404) 874-0999
http://www.columbiares.com/about/principals.html

· Bayou District--Gerard Barousse, Jr., Chairman, (504) 272-0307 Fax: (504) 523-1704
http://bayoudistrictfoundation.org/

· Purpose Built Communities--Charles Knapp, Pres,. (404) 591-1400, email: interest@purposebuiltcommunities.org
http://www.purposebuiltcommunities.org/network-members/overview.html

· Housing Authority of New Orleans--David Gilmore, Executive Director, (504) 670-3300
http://www.hano.org/

The Iberville Public Housing and Mass Public Works Movements Make Gains!

The Iberville Public Housing and Mass Public Works Movements Make Gains!

HANO Commits to Repairing All of Iberville--the Mass Movement Must Ensure This Happens

All Out to Defend Sharon Jasper at July 21 Court Appearance

In a major reversal, Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) administrator David Gilmore committed, at the agency’s June 29th hearing on their 2010-2011 annual plan, to repair and reopen all of the over 800 apartments at the Iberville public housing development. Only a few months ago Gilmore had said only 500 would be repaired and that there were “other [privatization] plans” for Iberville. Clearly this change of course is due to the determined and consistent resistance of C3/Hands Off Iberville and other forces that have denounced HANO’s demolition by neglect strategy, and the maneuvering of the Downtown Development District-led Iberville Advisory Committee to demolish and privatize Iberville.

Yet, we cannot be led into complacency by words and promises. Let us remember that in October 2001, after five years of demolishing several thousand units of public housing, then-HANO administrator Ben Bell reassured attendees at a board meeting that, “We have vowed not to build another HOPE VI project without the replacement of one-for-one public housing.” These words, of course, did not stop them from demolishing over 5,000 apartments after Katrina, with plans to only rebuild a handful. Indeed, HANO has more downsizing on the agenda. While committing to repairing all the units at Iberville, HANO’s 2010-2011 annual plan calls for selling-off 500 of the over 700 apartments in their scattered site portfolio, and includes no plans to rebuild the Florida development (that had been over 700 units), nor the Imperial Drive complex. With the two “tenant leaders” for these complexes--Diane Connerly (Florida) and Paula Taylor (Imperial Drive)--both enjoying HANO contracts for the “non-profit” agencies they head, you can be assured that these vetted leaders will not raise many objections.

The only power that can assure that the all the desperately needed units at Iberville are repaired, and that we win the equally needed mass public works plan, is a mass, independent, racially unified, militant, working class movement. The nucleus of that type of movement was present at HANO’s June 29th hearing on their annual plan. In attendance at a pre-meeting press conference and rally were C3/Hands Off Iberville members, Mike Howells, Michele Perez, Cody Marshall, Eloise Williams and Jay Arena, Pax Christi representative Paul Troyano, Joe and Katy Heeren-Mueller from the Catholic Worker house, Sam Jackson with May Day New Orleans, Endesha Juakali with Survivors Village, Public housing leaders Sharon, Kowana and Shannon Jasper, Rose Kennedy and a member of the housing group STAND.

At the rally and subsequent meting activists not only demanded the repairing of all the Iberville units, more public housing and section 8 vouchers, and the creation of a public works program, but also denounced the arrest of Sharon Jasper by a NOPD SWAT team on June 3rd at her home. The arrest and phony battery charge were in retaliation for Ms. Jasper’s heroic and continued defense of public housing and against police brutality. The week before her arrest she protested Columbian Parc’s (the former St Bernard development) continued exclusion of former residents. She also joined other community activists to as they picketed the NOPD’s central city station to denounce the reign of terror the cops have been carrying out in the area, one that has faced massive gentrification since hurricane Katrina. Ms. Jasper made it clear that, despite the repression, she will not be silenced and will continue the fight for justice in the city she loves.

Activists also gathered at the July 1, 2010 city council meeting to denounce Sharon Jasper’s arrest and the city’s plan to expand repression by building the only type of public housing they seem to support—prisons!

C3/Hands Off Iberville invites all friends of justice to join the fight for public housing and a massive public works program. All are encouraged to attend Sharon Jasper’s next court appearance, which will be on Wednesday, July 21 at 3 PM in Municipal Court, Court Room “D”. For more information call 504-520-9521.

Tell the Iberville Advisory Committee:Hands of Iberville! No to Privatization! No to land grabs!

Tell the Iberville Advisory Committee:

Hands of Iberville! No to Privatization! No to land grabs!

Reopen and repair all the public housing apartments at Iberville NOW!
Stop the Demolition by neglect strategy.

Expand don’t destroy Public Housing and other Public Services.
Public Works Now!

The Iberville Advisory Committee (IAC), a sham outfit set up by HANO and developers, will be holding a “community hearing” to “gather input” on “short and long term improvement to the Iberville” on Thursday, June 24. Their real agenda is to justify Iberville’s destruction as a public housing development. We must use this hearing to expose IAC’s real agenda and present a genuine peoples plan to defend and expand Iberville and public housing.

The chair of the IAC is Henry Charlot, an operative of the Downtown Development District (DDD). The DDD, and Charlot’s boss, Executive direct Kurt Weigle, have long sought 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 medical district up to more than just retail and residential possibilities.” Weigle 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 investments around them.”

HANO’s appointment of a Weigle subordinate the IAC chair is a slap in the face of residents and non-residents alike who genuinely want Iberville to continue to be a source of affordable housing for low-income, working class New Orleanians.

Let your voice heard and demand that the hundreds of empty but badly needed public housing apartments at Iberville be repaired and reopened NOW!

Iberville Advisory Committee Community Meeting
Thursday, June 24
6 PM
St Jude Hall, 410 Basin St.


For more information contact C3/Hands Off Iberville, at 504-520-9521

Protecting homes and communities--Protest BP Oil Spill

COME TO N.O. HALLIBURTON TO PROTEST THE PERPETRATORS AND MISMANAGERS OF THE BP OIL SPILL.

More than fifty days after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Halliburton in New Orleans finds itself allowed to engage in business as usual in the major American city closest to the oil spill. The Halliburton office on Canal Street in the CBD has not, so far, been the scene of even a token attempt to put the spotlight on the pivotal role that this company has played in helping manufacture the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Halliburton was entrusted with the task of ensuring that the BOP of the Deepwater Horizon rig was sealed. Now faulty sealing of the Deepwater Horizon’s BOP is widely assumed to have been a major contributing factor to April 20th explosion that unleashed the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And this is exactly the type of work that allows Halliburton to profit enormously from oil industry activity in the Gulf.

Staging a very public protest at the site of the Halliburton office in the CBD sends the message to Halliburton, BP and the government that people in New Orleans are willing to directly confront, albeit peacefully, the worst corporate predators in our midsts. That we are pulling the welcome mat away from the corporate and political predators whose wretched handling of the crisis is resulting in ever greater encroachments on our welfare and the welfare of our neighbors. We are no longer willing to allow our righteous and healthy indignation to be funneled exclusively into dead-end corporate and government staged “public meetings” that are designed to imbue us with a feeling of powerlessness.

SO WE PROTEST!

4:30PM FRIDAY
JUNE 18, 2019
601 CANAL STREET
Bring signs, chants, friends and, most importantly, yourself.

Unity Based on a Common Interests and Principles

(Below is a post by Chicago Public Housing activist William JR Fleming regarding the debate on who should be included in the New Orleans Public Housing delegation that will meet with HUD on January 20, 2010 on the future of Public Housing. Following that is a response from C3/Hands Off Iberville member Jay Arena).

Hello All,
I am praying for all of us this just what the powers to be is counting on FOR US TO BE DIVIDED! As a resident of Cabrini Green in Chicago and all public housing in the world(my extended family) it hurts me to see what is happening in New Orleans my second home and where a lot of my family still resides. I am confident enough that Carol Steele and Cheryl Johnson can handle the Chicago representation so with that being said I am willing to give up my seat at the table if it would bring resolve to this crisis! WE ARE ALL WE GOT! WE SHOULD FIND COMMONALITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR HOUSING! We cannot continue to have in-fighting I plea with My New Orleans Family Today is a New Day and Year lets Move Together on the Promise tomorrow brings and not live on the mistakes of yesterday.

Catherine I'm not singling you out but please see what is happening and understand your POWER in this situation to bring resolve!Which reminds me of MLK Jr. Quote

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.


Peace Love Respect and Unity

WILLIE J.R.FLEMING

(Jay Arena's response)

Principled Unity is What We Need--Based on Defending and Expanding Public Housing

Yes, JR, we need unity in the Public Housing Movement, but unity based on common interests and principles. We need unity based on the principle, on the common agreement, that we are for defending and expanding PUBLIC HOUSING—where housing is based on NEED, not profit. Unity not based on these principles does not make us stronger, but rather weaker.

The New Orleans Public Housing movement demands that Sam Jackson and Kawana Jasper represent us at the January 20th meeting with HUD because they support our interests, our demands, to defend and expand Public Housing. The issue is not some childish concern that they been left out of a trip to Washington DC.

Cynthia Wiggins, in contrast, has another agenda. She—and other resident mangers-- has a material, an economic interest, in turning over public housing to private resident management. Wiggins is very clear about this. She does not want to defend the Iberville Public Housing development, for example. As she said, “The public housing that we knew is no more”. Instead, her interest is working with developers to “redevelop” public housing and ideally have them run by private resident managers like herself. And she wants to have as much power as possible, as any landlord would, over residents. As Wiggins told the Gambit weekly, she wants her and other resident managers to have the right to evict people that can’t find work—and this when we have the highest unemployment since the 1930s.

Wiggins has been clear that she will be representing not residents, but the class interests of the National Association of Resident Management Corporations, of which she belongs, at the January 20th meeting. Wiggins concern is how public housing can be “reformed” so she and her fellow mangers can make more money. Indeed, in a December 16th email , Wiggins placed as her number one concern to be addressed at the January 20th meeting at HUD was to overturn:

“* the $1m [$$1 milion] limit placed on resident own business during [doing] business with a PHA and the lack thereof”.

I have included as an attachment a slew of for-profit, and ‘non-profit’ businesses that Wiggins controls. Therefore her concerns about the money-making of her businesses—which she wants addressed at the January 20 meeting-- makes sense from her class position. But her interests and concerns are different from those of the Public Housing movement. WE need to be clear about that. If we gloss over those different economic interests in the name of some false unity, then we become weaker.

Therefore, JR, if you want to show solidarity with your friends and comrades in the New Orleans public housing movement DONT Give up your seat. Go to Washington and speak up for DEFENDING and EXPANDING Public Housing. To show solidarity demand that Catherine Bishop REMOVE Cynthia Wiggins as part of the New Orleans delegation-which was a conflict to begin with since Wiggins was a part of the selection committee, and picked herself! Instead of Wiggins, demand that Sam Jackson and Kawana Jasper, along with Stephanie Mingo, be our representatives.

C3/Hands Off Iberville

Kawana Jasper Speaks

(Below is the letter Public Housing Activist Kawana Jasper sent to HUD, dated January 14, 2010, explaining why she should be a part of the New Orleans delegation at the upcoming meeting with HUD . She also questions the credentials of those that have been chosen, including Cynthia Wiggins).


Hi, Mrs. Henqriuez, my name is Kawana Jasper im a public housing resident in New Orleans, La. I'm very interested in attending the meeting in Washington D.C., on January 20, 2010 on "The Preservation of Public Housing". I have fought tirelessly on the grounds in New Orleans for the rights of residents of public housing to be able to return to public housing post Katrina. Residents of public housing who have fought hard for preservations of public housing would not be able to get the opportunity to be apart of this meeting because of poor selection from the steering committee. I have earn a seat at this meeting unlike some people who have not defended public housing in New Orleans. I was displace from public housing due to the demolition of the "Big 4 Developments" that were torn down. I can bring to this meeting important issues that public housing residents are facing in New Orleans. I am supported by local and national organizations to be a part of this meeting.

CEO Cynthia Wiggins Responds, and Exposes Her Real Interests

(Below is the Response of Cynthia Wiggins, CEO of the Guste Resident Management Corporation to our earlier demand that she be removed as part of the New Orleans Public Housing Delegation that will meet with HUD on January 20, 2010 in Washington, D.C. She does a great job in confirming what we have said--she is concerned about her class interessts as a landlord, rather than the interests of Public Housing residents, and those that want to expand and defend Public Housing.)

Jay in response to your attempt to misepresent what is factual let me advise you that Cynthia Wiggins has no affiliation with thirteen corporations. I'm not the only Cynthia Wiggins in La let along the country. However I'll let you determine which ones I am affiliated with.

Who ever we is for a point of information the Guste Homes RMC is a non profit corporations developed for the sole purpose of managing public housing in accordance with federal regulation developed under the leadership of former Sec. Jack Kemp. To date there is 350 public housing properties managed by RESIDENTS organized under the direction of Jack Kemp. All of us are doing very well and all of us have financial interest if not we would not be able to employ residents, create economic and or business opportunity for residents nor would we be able to create healthy enviroments for the families that live in public housing. I promote resident management and not private management. You figure out the difference!

The voice of the public housing movement is the families that live in public housing who is crying out for decent safe and sanitary housing, which the families in Iberville and all the others have not seen for decades. What is criminal here is that the families that live in Iberville is subjected to inhumane living conditions i.e raw sewage, rodents, detoraiting apartments, crime, poor management. The Citywide TenantAssociation and Guste Homes have always demanded that HUD and HANO redeveloped the complexes through redevelopment. Families living in public housing deserve to live in decent housing and the conditions Iberville famlies are currently living in Jay is criminal. You would not know that because you live in New York and I'm certain the grant funds you receive help in your financial assistance to maintain you and your wonderful living enviroment.

Everything changes and public housing is changing. The lack of federal assistance has changed therefore our families must ensure they are able to care for their families for its there personal responsibility. When there children can't eat who's going to provide for them. When there is no real afforable housing who's going to assist them. Katrina was the wake up call for our families. You talk about demand it was Citywide Tenant Association that demanded that public housing in New Orleans be reopen. HUD had proposed to close all of them down even Guste. It was Constance Haynes and her residents that return back homes after a call from me to get back home or Fscher would be close down that backed HUD and HANO off Fischer. It was through our RESIDENT MANAGEMENT arrangement that BW Cooper and Guste Homes was reopen.

As a reminder Jay Guste Homes finance Survivor Village under Endesha and provided needed space and supplies. Also since you want to appear you can quote individuals, quote my comments at the City Council meeting.

The Public Housing Movement Chooses Kawana Jasper and Sam Jackson

To: Catherine Bishop, National Housing Law Project, Organizer of January 20, 2010 key meeting with the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD on the fate of Public Housing

The New Orleans Public Housing Movement Wants Our Voices Represented

YES TO KAWANA JASPER AND SAM JACKSON
NO TO SELLOUTS CYNTHIA WIGGINS AND CONSTANCE HAYNES

(Supporters: Call/email Catherine Bishop at (510) 251-9400 cbishop@nhlp.org
in support of our demands; Also contact NOLAC housing lawyer Laura Tuggle, who is on the local organizing committee, to stop her support of Wiggins and Haynes-- latuggle@nolac.org)

Demand: We demand that two True Defenders of New Orleans Public Housing, Sam Jackson and Kawana Jasper, represent the New Orleans Public Housing movement at the meeting in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2010. We OPPOSE the inclusion of Cynthia Wiggins and Constance Haynes in the delegation. Wiggins and Haynes both SUPPORTED the criminal destruction of Public Housing in Post-Katrina New Orleans, and Wiggins, under the guise of “Resident management” has a financial interest in the further privatization of public housing through the so-called ‘project basing’ plan HUD will float at the Jan. 20 meeting.

Ms. Bishop, as you have stated in a recent email “we at NHLP would have the final say as to who would attend and take full responsibility for which tenants are attending this meeting.” Therefore we are demanding that you listen to the voices of the Public Housing movement in New Orleans, and include those that will convey our positions, and not those UNREPRESENTATIVE voices that have worked to destroy Public Housing.

Who Are Sam Jackson and Kawana Jasper?

Sam Jackson and Kawana Jasper have been at the forefront of the Public Housing movement. They have worked tirelessly, even going to jail, for their commitment to defend Public Housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. The Public Housing movement is confident they will bring the MOVEMENTS message to the January 20th meeting, which are the following: We do not want to lose even one more unit of Public Housing. We reject the plan cooked up by recently appointed HUD staffer Barbara Sard to privatize public housing through her “project basing” scheme.

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2009/HUDNo.09-140

We want a commitment that ALL the 800+ units at the Iberville Public Housing development remain as Public Housing, where people pay 30% of their income for rent and utilities. We want the currently empty units to be immediately repaired and made available to the thousands of people now on the waiting list in city, where the homeless population has doubled since hurricane Katrina. We demand real enforcement of HUD’s section 3 rules that gives preference to local low wage workers on any HUD funded construction—a rule currently being flagrantly violated.

Furthermore we demand not only the defense of the Public Housing we have, but we call for a massive expansion. The expansion of Public Housing should be part of a larger Public Works initiative, with direct government employment, that would rebuild our public sector, from schools, to housing, to hospitals, with workers being paid prevailing wage.

Who is Cynthia Wiggins?

In contrast to Jackson and Jasper, Cynthia Wiggins is a supporter of the destruction of Public Housing. Ms Wiggins never once provided support for the movement to defend public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. Rather she and her organization--the City Wide tenants Association, whose terms have all expired--spoke out in support of demolishing Public Housing, including at the infamous December 20, 2007 New Orleans city council meeting. At this infamous meeting, N.O. cops, on orders from the city council, beat, tasered and arrested people for daring to attend the meeting and register their objections to the internationally recognized crime of demolishing public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Ms. Wiggins, and the National Association of Resident Management Corporations, of which she has been president, is a long time defender of privatizing public housing. Wiggins and other managers make money by turning over management to their corporations, and they want more of it. As can be seen below from records obtained from the Louisiana Secretary of State office, Wiggins has set up a series of for-profit and ‘non-profit’ corporations as part of her business operation managing public housing. We demand that she come clean on how much profit she has made from her entire corporate portfolio.

Therefore, considering how well she has done from privatization, it is no wonder that Wiggins paid homage to former HUD secretary Jack Kemp after his death last year, which was posted on the blog of the right wing Heritage Foundation. Kemp helped create the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, out of which the monster known as HOPE VI was birthed. This program, as we all know, has driven literally millions of poor people, especially people of color, from their homes and neighborhoods through demolition and gentrification. While this caused great harm to rank and file residents, this program has helped create more profitable opportunities for ‘resident management corporations’ such as the ones Wiggins heads.
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/05/08/tributes-to-jack-kemp-a-man-above-men/

Seeing how Wiggins has made out very well financially from privatizing public housing, it is no wonder she wants to finish off what is left. In October 2009 interview with the Gambit newspaper, Wiggins stated. "The public housing that we knew is no more…There's a shifting that's taking place and it's from the perspective of personal responsibility. The government is getting out of all of this subsidizing, so at some point in time, if we don't do something to force people back into the workforce, what's going to happen is you're going to have folks who are homeless."
http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/PrintFriendly?oid=oid%3A63286

Clearly, Wiggins is on board with eliminating public housing, and yet she has been selected to represent the interests New Orleans Public Housing residents in Washington at this critical meeting! NO WAY.

NO TO WIGGINS! NO TO THE PROFITEERS OF PRIVATIZATION!

C3/Hands off Iberville
**************************************************
Below is a listing of the corporate affiliations of resident council member Cynthia Wiggins as provided by the Louisiana Secretary of State. She has thirteen corporate affiliations. This information is a matter of public record.

Director of "Guste Homes Lowrise Economic Development Corporation." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Director of "Metro-New Orleans Community Development Corporation." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Vice-President of "New Orleans Public Works, Inc." This is an inactive non-profit corporation.
Director of "Guste Homes Management Corporation." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Director of "Optimistic Healthcare, Inc." This is an inactive business corporation.
President of "Housing Authority of New Orleans Residents Loan Corporation." This is an inactive non-profit.
Member of "Clip'n'Clean," This is an inactive business corporation.
Vice President of "The Guste Low-Rise Resident Council." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Director of the "Guste Low-Rise Resident Council." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Agent of "Moms Against Violence." This is an inactive non-profit corporation.
Agent of "Metro-New Orleans Community Development Corporation." This is an active non-profit corporation.
Agent of "Guste Homes Resident Management Corporation." This is an active corporation.


Total Results: 16
Name
Affiliation
City
Detail
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “GUSTE HOMES LOWRISE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “METRO-NEW ORLEANS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Vice-President of “NEW ORLEANS WORKS, INC.”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “GUSTE HOMES RESIDENT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “DEAR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION INC.”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “OPTIMISTIC HOME HEALTH CARE, INC.”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
President of “HOUSING AUTHORITY OF NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT LOAN CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Member of “CLIP - N - CLEAN L.L.C.”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Vice-President of “THE GUSTE LOW-RISE RESIDENT COUNCIL”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Director of “THE GUSTE LOW-RISE RESIDENT COUNCIL”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Agent of “MOMS AGAINST VIOLENCE, INC.”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Agent of “METRO-NEW ORLEANS COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]
WIGGINS, CYNTHIA
Agent of “GUSTE HOMES RESIDENT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION”
NEW ORLEANS
[Details]

Can HANO Director Gilmore be taken on his word?

(Below is an email from journalist Katy Reckdahl responding to my earlier post about her article on New Orelans Public Housing. Following the email is my response to HANO director Gilmore's assurances regarding the fate of the Iberville Development).

From: kreckdahl@timespicayune.com [mailto:kreckdahl@timespicayune.com]
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2009 5:37 PM
Subject: RE: Open Letter to Katy Reckdahl, Laura Tuggle and Tracie Washington

Jay:

Just FYI. Mr. Gilmore said at the last HANO meeting that he has been told nothing about the Iberville being demolished and that he thinks to do so would be a mistake. One of the residents that I think is still on your People's Committee, Sharon Jasper, was at that meeting and hugged Gilmore at the end of it.


Katy,

Thanks for responding.

I, as much as anyone, would like to take Mr. Gilmore--of Gilmore Kean LLC, whose company is making money from the privatization of HANO management, Mr Gilmore of the National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing (1989-1992) infamy, from which emerged the HOPE VI public housing demolition scheme, the Mr Gilmore that was appointed by the Obama administration which completed the demolition of the Lafitte development--on his word.

Yet, the reassuring WORDS allegedly uttered by Mr. Gilmore guaranteeing the continued existence of Iberville as a Public Housing development are contradicted the by the continuing ACTIONS of the agency he heads:

1. HANO/HUD's closure of vacated apartments continues at Iberville.

2. HANO/HUD continues to prioritize the distribution of section 8 vouchers to existing residents at Iberville, while there is a huge waiting list of families with no housing assistance. When Iberville residents take the section 8 voucher HANO contractors then place metal plates on these apartments and do not reopen them to any of thousands of families now on the waiting list for a public housing apartment.

3. Henry Charlot Jr, from the Downtown development district continues as head of the HANO appointed Iberville advisory committee, despite the DDD's long stated aim of destroying Iberville as PUBLIC HOUSING. The IAC continues to hold only closed doors meetings prohibiting members of the public from attending.

4. The stimulus money has been used mainly to place 'crime cameras' at Iberville, rather than make repairs.

5. HUD's recently appointed HANO advisory board is filled with players that have supported demolition and privatization of public Housing. They range from representatives of the Greater new Orleans Foundations, to the office of Mayor Nagin. Maybe the most objectionable is the ostensible tenant representative, Cynthia Wiggins, who has made a tidy sum providing support for the demolition of public housing and driving public housing resident from their homes. Wiggins , in her latest move, has joined hands with the notorious racist, poor-people hater, Stacey Head, in calling for the eviction of public housing residents that cannot find job--at a time when workers, especially Black Workers, are now facing Depression era levels of unemployment (see Gambit, October 19, 2009, 'work and Home')

Until these and other glaring contradictions are addressed, Mr Gilmore's reassurances will be greeted with healthy and warranted skepticism.

Investigating these contradictions, I believe, would be the basis of an excellent investigative piece. If only we could get it by the censors at the Times Picayune, who have been cheerleaders of public housing demolition, and, in effect, class and racial cleansing.

HANO advisory board members are:
John Alford, principal at Langston Hughes Academy; Rev. D.R. Berryhill, Sr. of First Zion Baptist Church; Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Tulane University School of Medicine's vice-dean of community affairs and health policy; Martin Gutierrez, who heads up neighborhood and community services at Catholic Charities; Nick Harris, who directs the Dillard University Community Development Corp.; Michael Hecht, president of Greater New Orleans, Inc.; Ellen Lee, senior vice president of programs at the Greater New Orleans Foundation; Maggie Merrill, director of policy for the city of New Orleans; U.S. Congressman Joseph Cao's deputy chief of staff Rosalind Peychaud, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu's regional manager, LaVerne Saulny; Laura Tuggle, who heads up housing law at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services; Tracie Washington, managing director of the Louisiana Justice Institute; and Cynthia Wiggins, head of the Guste Home Resident Management Corporation.

Jay Arena
Hands off Iberville