neworleans: Riots at City Hall

Drunah (

drunah) wrote in

neworleans,
@ 2007-12-20 11:43:00

Riots at City Hall
We'll make national news tonight.

http://www.wwltv.com/

(Post a new comment)

	bifemmefatale 2007-12-20 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	Actual story link: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl122007jbhousing.33ea2e2b.html (Reply to this)

	humidcityloki 2007-12-20 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	I am SO sick of all the BS. Starting to think Thoreau was really on to something.... (Reply to this)

jdquintette
2007-12-20 05:53 pm UTC (link)

HUD says the redevelopment, in the works before Katrina hit, will mark an end to the city's failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.

If you believe this, I've got a bridge I'll sell you up in Brooklyn, real cheap.

You can argue about the details all you want, but the fact is that the powers that be have been reneging on these kind of promises since jesus was in the third grade. Anyone over 40 who's had anything to do with public housing who believes a single word these people say is a fool.

(Reply to this)

	zeldakitty 2007-12-20 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	Keeping that good ol' New Orleans BRAND out there and alive. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	drunah 2007-12-20 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	my mom already called, it's on CNN. And I argue with them on why I live here. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	infrogmation 2007-12-20 06:45 pm UTC (link)
	It was on the noon NPR news headlines. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	arisbranwin 2007-12-20 06:23 pm UTC (link)
	Oooh.. more local blood, gore, and violence.. WITH PEPPER SPRAY! You want to feel bad for people but at the same time you're like "Politics is THE most fucked up thing next to religion." [This is just my opinion, I'm used to being chewed on at this point.] Its always easy to get on the news if violence happens.. hard to get on the news when something good happens. (Reply to this)

deadhookerboxer
2007-12-20 06:42 pm UTC (link)

I work at a talk radio station here in the city and have to deal with chatter on both sides of all of this day in and day out. I truly do not understand the mentality of trying to bring back a broken system that not only keeps the people within it down, but the entire city as a whole down. Business leaders are watching this situation VERY closely as one of the factors that will either make them bail on the city or give us a legitimate shot.

The most frustrating part is that in the sea of protesters I'm seeing, I'd be willing to bet about 90% of them do not presently, and have never, lived in a project. The blind do-gooder mentality can do much more harm than good when misdirected.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	drunah 2007-12-20 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	I must admit that when we saw the people arrested last week, talk around my neighborhood was "Look at all those kids from Portland getting arrested." The news crews are having a hard time finding anyone outside of city hall who has ever actually lived in public housing. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

humidcityloki
2007-12-20 07:27 pm UTC (link)

The news item on WWL actually mentions this briefly. I'm not solid enough on the issue to comment either way other than to note that it is f*cked up, but the trustafarians are seriously wearing thin with me.

New Orleans is becoming more for the wanna-be protesters than for the natives or locals. At this rate in another few years it will be down to the murderers and the white boys from Portland with their blond deadlocks.....

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

drunah
2007-12-20 07:47 pm UTC (link)

I support people returning to this city that have been prevented from returning. I support low income housing, but not for generations. I support a better education system that will help people to have better opportunities. I support helping build a better city with more equality, opportunity and more importantly, less crime.

It seems like the conditions of the units are mixed. It seems like it should not have taken 2+ years to determine the condition, however, many are still rebuilding, including my friends in holy cross, right now without power.

I see that someone has to speak for people that couldn't get here to speak for themselves. I think that's fair, but when it's a bunch of protesting white kids who don't live in New Orleans, the argument is not as strong.

I watched the news crews on tv today walk around and try to find ANYONE who was outside of city hall that had actually lived in public housing, and they couldn't.

However, I did see one girl on tv that I know from my neighborhood and she was out there with a megaphone and she's a cool girl, activist, african american and I'll be interested in running into her and hearing what she thinks.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	humidcityloki 2007-12-20 08:05 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for that! I'm not very eloquent today and you have just summed up a lot of what I was getting ready to try to commit to words. I'll look forward to hearing what your friend's take on it is. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jane_doe_ 2007-12-20 10:05 pm UTC (link)
	lol trustafarians. Thanks for the new term. Also, agreed 100%. Uggghhhh I wish they would just go back to Portland. (Reply to this) (Parent)

Privilege reeks.

ahianna_nia
2007-12-20 07:53 pm UTC (link)

Those people are activists from other towns who have already experienced gov't subsidized gentrification. They know that demolishing low income housing is not the way to go. They are also representing the people who unlike everybody on this post, did not have a home to return to. Most project dwellers cannot afford the hotels in New Orleans they would have to stay at in order to take part in the protests. And the other people they could probably shack up with are all gone too.

Remember? There was a hurricane...poor people can't just get up and run off to a different town; they have to depend on the kindness of strangers.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: Privilege reeks.

drunah
2007-12-20 08:19 pm UTC (link)

I would have preferred to have had buses offered to people to speak for themselves. I also would have liked to have seen the city council move to a bigger arena to let more people speak.

Regarding poverty and personal stance on such issues. I grew up in a trailer park for 7 1/2 years. It was kind of like the projects, we couldn't afford an apartment or a home to rent. I also went to public schools. I was one of the ones that broke free of the statistics, and my education helped me achieve other things, such as homeownership in the 9th ward. I survived the storm and continue to fight for my city, in redevelopment plans, and I work as advocate for education in this city in New Orleans public schools.

And I like many others, had to depend on the kindness of strangers, who helped me return to New Orleans and continue fighting for this city.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

nawlins_penguin
2007-12-20 08:58 pm UTC (link)

Excuse me, but there were plenty of people that didn't have homes to come back to, not just project-dwellers. I'd bet many actually ARE on this post or are at least reading it. A lot of them fought to get back here the old-fashioned way: by working for it.

There's a surplus of government and subsidized housing right now, so I do not believe that there's a sudden need to save these dilapidated slum buildings that even the rats avoid. If it was such a vital argument for these protesters, where have they been for the past two years? Demolishing these buildings has been on the books long before Katrina came ashore. We have the backing and funding to make it happen now, so why not take advantage of the opportunity?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

ahianna_nia
2007-12-20 09:12 pm UTC (link)

I hear what you're saying, but employment opportunities for poor, mostly black, undereducated people is slim to nil. So that working for it argument just doesn't hold up against lack of opportunity.

And despite the fact that this only recently made the news, activists have been fighting against demolition for a very long time, more than two years even. Which kind of goes back to the opportunity question. Who writes the news? Who decides what is and is not news?

There's more to the story than you're getting. I'm just trying to fill in the blanks. I have an idea, why don't any one of you do that Black Like Me experiment? Paint your skin black, and try to get a job in New Orleans that pays more than minimum wage. It'll be fun. Let's see if you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

elpajaronegro
2007-12-21 02:32 am UTC (link)

"Paint your skin black, and try to get a job in New Orleans that pays more than minimum wage. It'll be fun. Let's see if you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots."

I've got news for you. Getting a job when you're white and educated ain't no cakewalk, either. I'm increasingly getting to the point where I don't buy the "poor little me" attitude of some people in this city. You want a better job that pays more than minimum wage? Work for it--go to school (there are grants, loans and subsidies to help pay for it), go to the library and educate yourself about what kind of job you want and what you have to do to get it, read everything you can get your hands on, save your money (even if it's only pennies at a time), bite the bullet and make it happen. In the end each person is responsible for themselves. It's nice to have a helping hand but you cannot and should not depend on anyone else for your own education, enlightenment or well-being. Nothing is impossible unless you keep telling yourself that it is. Unfortunately I see a lot of people here who allow themselves to wallow in their own victimization, pointing the finger at everyone but themselves.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

ahianna_nia
2007-12-21 02:50 am UTC (link)

It's not about the wahmbulance. It's about the very real problem of lack of opportunity. You don't think that there was ever a black graduate in the city of New Orleans? You don't think that any black person is capable of doing the research and trying everything that you recommended? They can still do all of that and walk into the place with a black face and hear the same old song. There's a study that shows that white folks are more likely to hire another white person with a GED that he got from prison, than they would be likely to hire a qualified black person. All you have to do is look around. Who has the best jobs, and why do you think that is? It's not because there are no black people with qualifications. Think again.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

elpajaronegro
2007-12-21 04:30 am UTC (link)

What you have said is true and it's sad. Unfortunately it means that black people are going to have to work even harder. It also means that ALL OF US are going to have to work harder to get past this black/white, us/them thing and start thinking in terms of simple humanity and not skin color. I've seen racism on both sides of the table. Until we get past it, all of us, none of us are going anywhere.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	agreed. katiecometrue 2007-12-20 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	i've seen enough white hippies trying to protest something they know nothing about. what do they know about living in the projects? pfft. only in new orleans. getting rid of the projects is the best idea since trying to elect mitch landrieu (Reply to this) (Parent)

	blackwinterbyrd 2007-12-20 06:42 pm UTC (link)
	yahoo sez "eventually, violence erupted." I do wonder. Such implications in that statement. (Reply to this)

	dianalily 2007-12-20 06:54 pm UTC (link)
	This is making local papers all over the country at lunchtime, too. I'm never glad to see violence. On the other hand, perhaps it's time for a bit of revolution. And Jackie sayd it's "not a behind the scenes done-deal" I call bullsh*t on that. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	misterchurch 2007-12-20 07:00 pm UTC (link)
	Revolution? Led by a bunch of kids who never set foot in the projects? Really? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	dethcherub 2007-12-20 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	i find it baffling that only the people who lived here pre-k understand that? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	dianalily 2007-12-20 07:49 pm UTC (link)
	Who said anything about kids? "Revolution" was used to say: a repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government by the people governed. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	misterchurch 2007-12-20 07:55 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, and let me know when Elvis shows up... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	dianalily 2007-12-20 08:01 pm UTC (link)
	Perhaps when he's done helping Santa. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	the_automatik 2007-12-20 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	Guess the more things change the more they stay the same. Watching roaches climb the wall If you called your dad he could stop it all ETC. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	deadhookerboxer 2007-12-20 07:41 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, bringing the projects back is the complete OPPOSITE of a revolution. It's back to the same old system that made people flee this city long before the storm. If you look at the truly progressive cities in this nation, most of them are using mixed income housing and other models. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	headhouse 2007-12-22 12:27 am UTC (link)
	This isn't a revolution. It's a temper tantrum. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	revned 2007-12-21 01:07 am UTC (link)
	It was the lead story on CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News. It made ABC World News too, but it was fourth or fifth and didn't last thirty seconds. Travis Mackel is on CNN as I type this. I didn't watch BBC News but I'm sure they mentioned it as well. (Reply to this)

_siggi
2007-12-21 04:31 am UTC (link)

Funny, what's really bad is if you just turned the power back on in those buildings they would burn down in less than three weeks. Why? Because the insultion on the electrical wiring was cloth-wrapped when they were built. My co-workers have been out there doing some of the prelim work before the construction can get the go ahead. Most are Pre-K natives. They say most of the residents wanted the new, functional buildings; its the morons from Brooklyn and elsewhere that have a problem with it. Honestly, for many of those buildings its easier and safer to rebuild than repair.

Here's what is depressing, most all of my co-workers who were Pre-K natives are planning on quitting to take jobs elsewhere now. The protesters were the last straw for them. They have taken everything else from Katrina on but the verbal abuse was the final touch. Way to go making more people leave NOLA. To the protestors: you people are scum.

(Reply to this)

hfc_tom
2007-12-21 02:46 pm UTC (link)

You'll not convince me of the "slum conditions" of section 8 housing by sitting on a brand new couch in front of a plasma screen bigger than my truck bitching about sticking doors, lights that don't work & peeling paint. I've yet to be in *any* apartment/rented house in this city that doesn't have all those things...except the plasma screen. (nola.com's front page yesterday)

As for higher rents? Pffft. Join the rest of the world. I'm sorry, I can't afford to live Uptown, in the Garden District, on St. Charles, or on Audobon Place for that matter, but you don't see me out front with a big sign or trying to force my way through the gates (I'd probably get shot, not pepper sprayed)

The short story is the middle class isn't back. You know, the people who *pay* for your free apartment? They aren't coming back. Watch the news in the morning, I'm watching the traffic report now, about all the people coming across the causeway, in on I-10, or across the bridge. They don't pay Orleans Parish taxes. They won't move back *because of you* and all the rest of the stupidity in this city.

We don't need more houses (have you seen the number of abandoned houses in town), we don't need more handouts. What we need is people who know which end of the shovel to hold, which end of the hammer the nail goes on.

Get to work, catch up with the rest of us already.

What we need is more jobs. We need more industry.

Unfortunately, nobody is willing to move into this town while everyone's crying for more handouts.

But every time someone mentions opening a Border's, or a Wal Mart, or god forbid a less-than-small density retail strip mall out come the NIMBY folks.

Anyway, unlike someone waiting in front of BW Cooper on a bulldozer, I've got to get to work.

-=Tom

(Reply to this) (Thread)

katiecometrue
2007-12-21 06:29 pm UTC (link)

I couldnt agree with you more.

The middle class is being wiped out. That's a huge problem with this country. And New Orleans is nothing but a welfare state...no wonder people dont want to come back, no wonder people are leaving. We cater to the poor and the rich while the middle class is feeding those who dont care to help themselves.

I'd rather my money stay in my pockets.
Not to fund lazy, angry people who depend on the government for housing.

[Katie - RP08!]

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	Ah what the hell... misterchurch 2007-12-21 09:44 pm UTC (link)
	You can't say things like that! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	headhouse 2007-12-22 12:34 am UTC (link)
	It's beyond being surreal, at this point. I don't even know where to start. I want to predict, right now, that Sharon Jasper will run for office in the near future. Just out of sheer arrogance and self-entitlement. (Reply to this)

	marcikay 2007-12-22 11:20 am UTC (link)
	in paris at the moment for christmas and it even made the news here. (Reply to this)

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