(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.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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.
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]
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]
Friday, January 1, 2010
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
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
Monday, December 28, 2009
Open Letter to Katy Reckdahl, Laura Tuggle and Tracie Washington
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
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
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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