Palmyra Closed

Street construction has erupted all around the VA footprint...and while New Orleans' streets inside and outside the footprint certainly need help, it's interesting to see how the mass of street work has effectively blocked off key points of ingress and egress in the VA footprint.

It's probably coincidental, but it's not too far-fetched to wonder whether it's part of an effort to drive residents out of the place - residents who either continue to own their properties or live as tenants in those properties.  While the hassle likely doesn't yet rise to the level of a government taking, it begins to verge on that tipping point - when one can barely access one's property because of a mess of government actions.

For example, just today, Palmyra, a one way street dense with houses, became impassable at S. Rocheblave, as the photo above shows.  The block of Palmyra between S. Miro and Galvez was already rendered a non-thoroughfare due to construction.  And S. Miro ends now with signs at Cleveland, barring anyone from proceeding to Canal Street.  Construction at Cleveland and S. Rocheblave has also severely reduced the roadway available to go lake-ward on Cleveland.

At every turn, normal life in the VA footprint is being curtailed and limited.  That would be one thing if people no longer lived in the properties - if they had already been acquired by the VA or LSU - but few have.