What We Would Miss About Lower Mid-City
What is it like to lose the home you were born in? Or the street where you opened your very own business? Or the neighborhood you helped rebuild after an inexplicable catastrophe? Or the community you've been fighting for because it seems like so many other people have already turned their backs?
Many of us will never know, but in the coming days the people you see here might. They are the many faces of Lower Mid-City New Orleans – a historic neighborhood that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Louisiana State University have chosen to demolish to make way for their new medical complexes. Read their stories about what they would miss most about their homes, businesses, friends and neighbors, and then learn more about our ongoing campaign to protect what matters most to them.
Diana Monley, Lower Mid-City Resident
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"My home and this area are special to me because my husband and I raised our daughter here. We had and still have neighbors who are like family here. I met many people who helped rebuild our area and some stayed and became neighbors and friends. I was within walking distance to my job of 31 years. I would miss Mardi Gras parades two blocks away and seeing fireworks on the river from my front porch."
Daniel Hammer, MPS, Lower Mid-City Community Advocate
"I would, of course, miss the historic buildings of Lower Mid-City. More than this, though, I would regret that, despite the persistent efforts of an empowered neighborhood group and its many allies in the local, state and national preservation community, and despite the existence of viable alternatives in Orleans Parish, the city of New Orleans still does not have the communal foresight to prioritize the conservation of its most important existing commodity – its history – while pursuing economic development. In cases like this one where we, as a city, prove to be unable or unwilling to choose preservation, we need to at least leverage our assets. Instead, we are about to fill our landfills with 70 acres worth of bargeboard, heart pine and cypress. What a waste!"
Mary Howell, Mid-City Business Owner
"I own a civil rights law office one block outside of the project's footprint, so for me, I would be losing my neighbors. My favorite time of day in Lower Mid-City is around five or six in the evening when everyone is walking their dogs, visiting on their porches and taking food to one another. This is not just about bricks or stones or mortar. It's about human life in a viable and nurturing community that is being threatened by the same government organizations that failed us during and after Katrina."
Virginia Blanque, Vice President, Mid-City Neighborhood Association
"As a civically-active resident of Mid-City, I believe our ingredients make this neighborhood special. The diverse people who reside in equally diverse surroundings producing the culture we love so dearly. It is incumbent for our city officials to have an imagination and a plan for the future, but it should not be at the cost of our historic past. Taking so much of this residential historic neighborhood for the hospital complex when other viable alternatives are near saddens me. Mid-City New Orleans would have its ingredients forever changed because bulldozing becomes the equivalent of losing the cherished family recipe. This says nothing about the population lost in transition...the spice that was misplaced in the cupboard. It is challenging to be a post-Katrina New Orleanian. This action is not a sign of confidence to those who choose to rebuild in a challenged area. Nationally, this city is still perceived as wet."
Keith Hardie, Advocacy Chairman, Louisiana Landmarks Society
"I would miss projects which bring in the bulldozers only after funding is guaranteed. If these projects go forward without secure funding, neighborhoods will be demolished on the hope of finding funding in the midst of a recession. I would miss small infill projects that mend rather than rend the fabric of the city. The scope of the LSU and VA projects recall the 'urban renewal' movement of the 1960's, which more often than not resulted in urban blight. I would miss the activity which used to surround Charity. If LSU abandons Charity, 20 buildings in and near the central business district of New Orleans will be left in limbo, abandoned by the state without a plan for redevelopment."
Barbara Dillon, Lower Mid-City Resident
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"This was our very first home. We chose this area because of the easy access to transportation and hospitals. We felt safe here. We would truly miss the neighborhood and the bond that has developed between our neighbors and family, both before the disaster and during the rebuilding that followed."
Mickey Weiser, Mid-City Business Owner, Weiser Security Services
"I think more than anything I would probably miss New Orleans. This whole thing has me sick over city hall politics, and as a result, I would probably leave town. You know, they want you to come back and to rebuild, but only until you've served their purposes. What is going on in Mid-City is politics as usual and shows that nothing has changed in this city. It's just unbelievable that all of this can happen without the public really being involved, especially those whose lives will be severely affected by it."
Gayle Ruth, Lower Mid-City Resident
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"We formed our neighborhood association following the flood and worked as a team. I would miss the bond and camaraderie that developed with neighbors who lived through this disaster together. I would miss the friendships that were formed by neighbors helping each other and sharing whatever resources or information they had for the common good."
Sandra Stokes, Executive Vice Chair, Foundation for Historical Louisiana
"In the last year, I have been blessed with the opportunity to get to know some of the amazing people from Lower Mid-City. They are the hard-working, kind-hearted, community-minded citizens that you would want as your own neighbors and best friends. They love New Orleans and have fought passionately to rebuild it. They represent the best of Louisiana. They had faith in the future of New Orleans and stayed when others left. If they lose their homes now, it would be a loss for all of us."
Wallace Thurman, Lower Mid-City Resident
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"Rebuilding my home was more important to me than the money because it has been in my family for three generations and was originally built by my relatives from Italy. I had to rebuild because I promised my mother to take care of our family home. When you were born in the home that you live in, there are too many reasons and memories to list about what makes it unique and special."
Kevin Daniels, Trustee, National Trust for Historic Preservation
"Recently, I've had two opportunities to travel to the city with others from the Seattle area to work on preserving a number of historic homes there. I would miss city, state and federal officials having the same respect and appreciation for the need to preserve New Orleans' amazing heritage as individuals 3,000 miles away. What is being proposed destroys an important historical neighborhood within the inner city and sends a clear message that those without a voice, or those who aren’t as financially well off, are second priority."
Sam Jupiter, Jr., Lower Mid-City Business Owner
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"I would miss new friends I've made in the neighborhood since the flood. I've made some unique renovations that would be hard to find in another property. My location is only two blocks to the streetcar and is extremely convenient for me."
Dolores McDonagh, Vice President for Membership Development, National Trust for Historic Preservation
"I first visited New Orleans as a tourist in 1983, and I fell in love with the French Quarter and the Garden District as many tourists do. Since Katrina, I have been back several times for work and have had the privilege to visit more of New Orleans, including 'heart and soul' neighborhoods like Lower Mid-City where residents – against seemingly insurmountable odds – are practicing true vigilante revitalization in their efforts to save this world treasure of a city. The loss of Lower Mid-City won't change my experience of New Orleans as a tourist, but as a preservationist, I would mourn the loss of community that we all value so much, especially since there are common sense alternatives that would allow LSU and the VA to achieve their worthy goals without destroying the neighborhood."
Submitted by Mice at: January 8, 2009
I am necessarily affected by this act of sophisticated gangsterism on the part of the political powers that be because it demonstraton a callous disregard for the residents humanity. I could not help reminiscing as I listended to Sam Jupiter Jr.because he was my barber during my teenage years (I'll be 72 years on June 6th), and I highly appreciate his and all the others' determination to resist this immoral landgrab to their maximum potential. Mwalimu Johnson