On the LSU Footprint Side

A small excavator appeared today at Palmyra and S. Galvez, ringed by caution tape.

Down at 216 S. Prieur, the nice little camelback was looking increasingly forlorn.  But I was surprised to see a much more extensive salvage effort underway that I'd seen at any other house in either footprint.  Flooring and joists, for example, were being extricated. 

It turns out that salvage expert Willie White was on the scene with a crew.  The salvaged items, he told me with a bit of a smile, don't go to Habitat for Humanity, but to "Willie's survival fund."

In the VA Footprint site, salvage is governed by an Architectural Salvage Agreement drafted pursuant to the Programmatic Agreement for that project.  However, I'm not sure what, if anything, governs salvage on the LSU side.  Understanding that there may be few salvage guarantees in place - and while I'd rather see the neighborhood left intact or the houses moved - it's great to see an expert salvage crew at work.  Willie did say he wished he had more time for each house, however.

The salvage effort underway on 2118 Cleveland Avenue in the LSU Footprint was also notably more extensive than most I'd seen on the VA side, but I presumed the items were going to Habitat's ReStore:

Down at the former site of 1809-1811 Cleveland, though, the site was almost totally cleared:

Over on Palmyra, one can't help but notice that LSU/the State of Louisiana is a rather poor land owner or neighbor.  Several parcels now owned by the LSU Board or well into the acquisition process are unsecured and massively overgrown (especially a stretch of Palmyra just below S. Prieur near a school). 

Additionally, architectural elements such as brackets have been stripped off a few of the houses in recent months: