Inside the Footprint

Outside the Footprint

2011-09-29T19:47:00.001-05:00

Exactly two years ago, I made my first post here at Inside the Footprint after my initial steps into the Footprint itself. Nearly one thousand two hundred and twenty five posts emerged since that date.

And now, while there are still things left to cover - like the impending relocation of McDonogh No. 11 School - it's time to step out of the Footprint for good and end what has very clearly become...a counting of the costs.

I can only hope that the words and images recorded here, inadequate as they are, serve as some cautionary tale.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Sandra Stokes

2011-09-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

No other figure has done more than Sandra Stokes to galvanize the effort to re-use Charity Hospital and avoid the destruction of an historic New Orleans neighborhood. Her relentless pursuit of a better way forward has kept the issue alive for years. No other person has brought the same mixture of persistence, people skills, strategic thinking, and righteous indignation to the cause. A Board Member with the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, Sandra illustrates the New Orleans phenomenon of "preservationist as all-around good government watchdog" to a tee. Her work on making the RMJM Hillier/FHL report on adaptive reuse of Charity also provided the key point of argument about a true alternative to the destructive plan that has since extinguished a neighborhood.

Brad V: Very briefly, what got you involved in the Charity Hospital/LSU/VA fight at the beginning?

Sandra S: I got involved when our organization, the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, was charged by the Legislature with conducting a feasibility study on reusing Charity Hospital.

It was a unanimous vote of the Legislature. I was naive back then and believed that they really wanted this study to reuse Charity. Little did I know...it was a done deal - and they never really wanted it at all.

Brad V: What really got you involved? What made you decide to take up this challenge to the extent that you have?

Sandra S: Up until now, I believed in justice. I believed in fairness and the goodness of people. And, the more I heard the stories of the doctors, the military cleanup, these military men who came in and did what they were supposed to do. They said this was the least damaged place. It would have been cherished in any other country. But in Louisiana, they shuttered it and left it for naught.

I mean, it was cleaned up and ready to go. Ready to receive patients. And through this hoax, they've shut it all down. And left people without healthcare for, now, six years.

Brad V: So, at this point, we're looking at a largely destroyed site here at the UMC. And behind us, the VA site has been almost entirely cleared. What are your thoughts about this whole affair at this point in time?

Sandra S: I still can't believe it's gotten to this point. It still brings me to tears to be out here. I can't believe people have lost their homes and their community. People have lost their lives without healthcare. We're killing off downtown New Orleans. We've killed off a neighborhood. And we still don't have the money to rebuild. It's just injustice at every level. And it's about a bad plan that some people came up with and pushed through at all costs, no matter what the logic, no matter what the reasoning.

And for me, it's also a loss of innocence. I did believe in justice. I did believe that the right thing - and common sense - would prevail. And it hasn't. It's just insane.

It's the idea that you had all these building downtown that you haven't reused. You could've had the jobs back. You could've had the buildings reused. You could've had the vital resources of New Orleans intact.

The you come into a neighborhood and you take down all the houses. You've destroyed the community - and taken that resource away. You've taken healthcare away, you've taken the teaching hospital away. This all could have been stopped. This all could have been fixed. We could have had a hospital in three years - a hospital open now.

Instead, we have a destroyed landscape. We've moved people out of houses rebuilt with federal money. We don't have the jobs, we don't have the healthcare, the teaching hospital. And they don't even have the money to build the hospital.

It's insane.

A different kind of portrait

2011-09-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't classify Alex Glustrom as one of the Stalwarts. His role in the Footprint and the Charity Hospital controversy has been one of documentation rather than advocacy. But he deserves mention because he has been onhand, for years now, at many of the crucial moments, video camera in hand.

Brad V: How did you get involved in covering the LSU/VA/Charity controversy?

Alex G: I first got involved when I was in college at Tulane University. I've always loved film and documentaries. I wanted to make a documentary, and my first documentary idea was to make an overarching film about all of the changes in post-Katrina New Orleans. It was going to be about the changes in the schools, the public houses, the healthcare. And I just thought I could make this overarching documentary - that would have been 10 hours long - to even begin to cover these issues.

I was filming at a United Nations fact-finding mission on adequate housing, and they were going all over the city talking with former public housing residents, current public housing residents - and talking with current homeowners, lessees, and business owners in the footprints of the hospitals. It was basically a mission on people being forced out of their homes.

That's when the people from Save Charity Hospital (Jonah Evans and Eli Ackerman) made a presentation to the United Nation officials. And I listened to the presentation, and I got to know some of the people involved. So I began to film some of the stuff they were doing, their efforts to reopen Charity Hospital and save the neighborhood. I tried to include Charity Hospital and the neighborhood into the documentary. But then, as time went on, I realized I needed to re-focus the documentary. It would have been too long.

So, I started focusing on Charity Hospital and on the neighborhood. There was a lot of misinformation out there - on both sides - about what was going on, the hospital, the homeowners. For me, doing my research -and I did a lot of research - it seemed difficult for me to come to the truth. So, I felt that making a documentary that put the facts out there was key. I really wanted to show both sides. I didn't want to push an opinion or sway the facts. So, I've been trying to interview both sides.

I've been trying to make a documentary that just puts the facts out there. That shows the potential for the hospital - but also what was sacrificed to get to it, the process that it took to get to this point, the setbacks, the sacrifices. And really, just an accurate depiction of what's happened over the past six years.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Jacques Morial

2011-09-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

*Photo courtesy of Ms. Sandra Stokes

For years, Jacques Morial has been a key figure pointing out the financial and healthcare-related flaws in the plans for replacing Charity Hospital and the existing VA Hospital building.

Whether it was observing and analyzing the machinations of the UMC Board, reading the legislative tea leaves, taking arguments to the airwaves, or speaking at rallies about the issues that mattered, he was there and in the mix, a crucial part of the effort.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: The Anonymous

2011-09-28T09:20:00.000-05:00

Many individuals, due to their positions within various institutions, due to various threats or coercion, were unable to advocate publicly for a better way in the LSU/VA/Charity affair.

Nevertheless, numerous anonymous individuals made great contributions - some of them for years - to the fight. They know who they are. Many of them are still at it.

From Above

2011-09-24T18:04:00.000-05:00

Annihilate, verb \ə-ˈnī-ə-ˌlāt\

"to cause to cease to exist"

A helicopter flight reveals the tragic scene in New Orleans, where hundreds of structures - and hundreds of people, along with dozens of businesses - have been carved out of the cityscape.

In the first photo, the wreckage of the recently occupied Blood Center facility lies strewn in the upper left corner of the shot. Nine houses sit in a staging area for theoretical moves off the site. McDonogh No. 11 School, too, remains. Four additional houses, near the bottom of the shot, are to be moved off, also in theory, at some future date. Note, too, that the high voltage power line still crosses the site and one lonely tree is cordoned off with orange fencing.

The second photo shows the former Grand Palace Hotel and the large existing parking structure behind it. They are scheduled to be demolished in about November.

The final photo shows the full extent of the loss in both the VA and UMC footprints - the vast, unnecessary emptiness.

*All photos in this post courtesy of Ms. Sandra Stokes.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Janet Hayes

2011-09-23T17:04:00.002-05:00

Ms. Janet has been a tireless, self-sacrificing part of the effort to engage the community on the Charity Hospital issue, then the LSU/VA issue, and most recently - you may have seen her, a door-to-door Paul Revere on foot - the encroachment of BioDistrict New Orleans.

Brad V: What got you involved with the Charity Hospital/LSU/VA issue?

Janet H: When my friend Kane Masaile died because Charity Hospital was closed and she had to go to Tulane Hospital and ended up in OPP in five point restraints in their psychiatric unit...a friend of mine emailed me to tell me that there was a meeting going on about Charity Hospital - and had it been open, Kane probably would have been alive. And it was probably something I'd be interested in.

So I went to the first meeting at CC's on Esplanade. Derrick Morrison and Brad Ott were chairing the meeting. Jacques Morial was there and a few other people. And it was my first taste of New Orleans injustice as far as it goes with healthcare issues. And that's what got me involved. From there it was just natural for me to stay involved.

Brad V: And what do you think, at this stage in the game, about the LSU/VA project, specifically the impact on the neighborhoods?

Janet H: I think it's a horrible injustice that's been done to people, to residents that live in New Orleans - that came back to rebuild the city, to rebuild their houses. They used Road Home money and then had a moratorium imposed on them where they couldn't rebuild. And there are a number of different scandals going on - that I see as landgrabs by politicians and real estate developers who have only money and power to gain - as opposed to the residents who are lacking in healthcare, who don't have the power to fight these people with all the resources.

Brad V: What do you think is the overall lesson that you want people to take away from this whole thing?

Janet H: BE VIGILANT. Stay alert. Pay attention to flyers (laughing)- when someone comes to your door with a flyer, read it. Because generally, they're not doing it for nothing, they're doing it because they want you to know something. Either it's going to be people that are fighting for you or it's going to be people that are fighting against you. So pay attention to flyers.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: K. Brad Ott

2011-09-22T07:24:00.001-05:00

Brad Ott has been involved in the healthcare arena in Louisiana for years. He has long known of the "centrality and cachet of Charity Hospital" in the Louisiana health system. After Hurricane Katrina, he went around to field hospitals set up in tents and other locations in New Orleans - even as Charity was closed by the state - and ended up heading to testify in Baton Rouge.

Brad V: As one of the leaders of the Committee to Reopen Charity, how did you get involved with the Charity Hospital fight?

Brad O: Charity Hospital saved my life. I was a patient at Charity. I got involved because we needed the healthcare; people have died because Charity Hospital was closed. It was closed even though Interim (University) was more damaged. It was closed despite a case that I found that says legislative approval is needed before a hospital can be closed.

Brad V: Where do things stand today, from your perspective?

Brad O: There needs to be an investigation if all original services offered at Charity are not restored in the UMC. It'll be ten frickin' years before we have full healthcare restored because the Charity option was dismissed. Governor Jindal is not telling anyone, but 6-7 charity hospitals around the state will be on the chopping block - threatened with closure because of the LSU/VA project.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Bill Borah

2011-09-21T07:09:00.000-05:00

Brad V: Briefly, back when you first decided to get involved in this particular fight (Charity Hospital/LSU/VA), what got you involved in the issue?

Bill B: Well, I was a latecomer to the hospital controversy. After Katrina, I and others were very much involved in trying to change the City Charter so the city would be required to do a plan for its future physical development - called the Master Plan - that would have the force of law (meaning citizen-based, everyone would have to follow it). And what happened, unfortunately, was that Mayor Nagin and his recovery czar, Ed Blakely, told Goody Clancey, the firm that was to do the Master Plan, that they were not permitted to study the hospital situation. So here we had the biggest economic health decision that this city will make in the next 10 or 15 years...excluded from the Master Plan planning process.

It was the way that New Orleans and Louisiana traditionally planned - top down, ad hoc, and ultimately corrupt. And that's how I happened to get involved. Because I was outraged by the fact that the LSU and VA hospitals were excluded planning process.

And, of course, when I got in it and saw how terrible it was - the fact that they were wiping out 165 historic buildings and destroying a New Orleans neighborhood that had every possibility of coming back and being viable - and that could satisfy the residential and commercial needs that two new hospitals would have. And they would not consider adaptively reusing Charity Hospital.

That's how I got involved. And then of course I read FHL's (Sandra Stokes) report and was incredibly impressed by it, done by an extraordinary architecture firm with a health/preservation background. It said that you could re-do Charity, get back in it 3 years faster, 34% cheaper. That's why I'm here.

Brad V: And what do you think about the entire LSU/VA situation at this point, seeing as things have changed significantly since you got involved?

Bill B: I'm incredibly depressed by it. I think it's an absolutely outrageous decision by the city, the state, and, of course, the federal government. It's urban renewal in its worst sense. It's from back in the 50s and 60s. It's the kind of thing that this country said it was getting away from. And, quite frankly, that this administration - namely, the Obama administration - said they were moving away from. Quite the contrary. It's an absolute disaster. Now, of course, people are trying to make the best of it. It's a very sad time.

I got involved in the Riverfront Expressway back in the 60s. We were trying to stop the interstate highway going through the French Quarter. We were successful. But in terms of decision-making and the ad hoc, dysfunctional system that I grew up with...it continues to this day. And all the hopes and dreams we had after Katrina...there were some things done that were positive...but the city and state, looks like it's reverting to the way it was before Katrina. And of course the federal government is cooperating with the local politicians...and you know, we're at war. As we've always been, if you believe in historic preservation and decent planning and trying to preserve the unique character of the city. And at the same time, God knows, it really needed development. Everyone supports the hospitals. But, God, this is not the way you do this stuff.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Martha Owen

2011-09-20T06:58:00.002-05:00

Brad V: How did you get involved in the Charity Hospital fight?

Martha O: It was one of my customers. An LSU representative had come on her property and flung his finger in her face and said "You're going to have to move." And I had no idea that that was the way the business was going to be conducted. I mean, the only way that I would describe it is: disgraceful. It was outrageous. Now it's outrageous and disgraceful.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Derrick Morrison

2011-09-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

Brad V: Originally, how did you come to be involved in the Charity Hospital/LSU/VA fight?

Derrick M: I got involved because I felt that it would be easier to get Charity open after Katrina than some of the other struggles going on - because it had been cleaned out, because it had basically been readied for operation, and because of the fact that, initially, the City Council and the state legislature were asking that Charity were asking for it to be re-opened on a temporary basis. So it seemed like it would be easy to get Charity re-opened. But as it turns out, it was not that easy. It's gonna take...a lot more effort to get Charity re-opened.

Brad V: At this point - I know you've been very active in the neighborhood and in the adjoining neighborhood - what do you think of the state of affairs of the LSU/VA project today?

Derrick M: Well the LSU/VA project, right now, basically...the campaign right now is for justice for the people who were given unfair property appraisals by the LSU Board of Supervisors - to get LSU to fork over some more money for them. Also, to get the VA to do right by the adjacent neighborhood - Cleveland Avenue, Palmyra Street. Also, the effort to save McDonogh No. 11 School is uppermost in my mind. It's clear that LSU doesn't know how big this project is going to be. The whole effort now should be to save the school in light of the fact that LSU's plans are probably going to be changed. And even if they aren't changed, LSU is still only using half the area - so the school should be saved. The big thing now is to force LSU to redesign its design to save McDonogh No. 11 School.

Portraits of the Stalwarts: Mary Howell

2011-09-17T20:43:00.001-05:00

Mary Howell, whose law office stands just a block outside the VA Footprint, was the chief figure who led to my involvement in the LSU/VA issue, drawing me into the broader effort several months after I began this blog.

Mary, who came to know the residents of the VA Footprint especially well after the storm, gave up a great deal of her time, effort, and more to stand up against the "bullying" that was so deeply interwoven into the push to destroy the VA Footprint neighborhood. She was also the prime mover on the effort to save the VA houses from demolition. Regardless of how the effort turned out due to other actors, it cannot be denied that 79 structures were ultimately relocated, avoiding total demolition and marking a sudden, major change in events in the hospitals saga. Mary was also a major presence at many of the VA neighborhood meetings, a relentless advocate for the residents being negatively affected by the project.

BV: What, originally, got you involved in the Charity Hospital/LSU/VA fight?

MH: I went to a neighborhood meeting, and I walked into that meeting. It was held in this sort of gutted out building in the neighborhood. And I looked around the room. And it was filled with predominantly African American, working people, but it was a really diverse group of people. Homeowners, people who struggled to come back, people who struggled to rebuild their homes, people who had formed a really deep community and fellowship - actually unlike anything that existed before the storm. The storm really brought this neighborhood together in a powerful, transformative way.

As I was listening to what was being said about what was getting ready to happen here...I realized they were all going to be annihilated. And that people just really didn't understand what was about to happen. The bulldozers were literally coming through. All these promises were being made about "what a nice process this is going to be" and "how fairly everyone was going to be treated" and I looked around. Many of the people in the room were older - there was a mix of people, including several newcomers - but I looked around at the longtimers who had been here and really struggled hard to come back. A number of them were tired, they were elderly. And I thought, "Oh my god." This is like the kiss of death. They're not just losing their homes, their losing their neighborhood, their community, their safety net, their network - everything.

I've often said, if I could have just sneaked out of there - and pretended that I hadn't seen this, hadn't realized what was happening here - it would have been a relief. Because I went down a major rabbit hole for about three years. I was rebuilding and trying to come back at the same time.

It was awful, what happened here. It was as ugly...a bullying kind of power maneuver...as I've ever seen. And it remains that way.

BV: What do you think of the current state of affairs of the LSU/VA project?

MH: Oh, it's ridiculous. It's terrible. I can count on my hands, my fingers, the number of deaths that I believe are a direct result of the closing of Charity Hospital. And the financial waste of all of this is extraordinary. It's mind-boggling, especially given this economy. But the callous disregard of people's need for quality healthcare and particularly in the mental health area...shutting down that third floor of Charity Hospital. We've had terrible misfortune, a number of deaths as a direct result of that.

The terrible thing about it is that many of the people advocating for this have been doing it under the guise of bringing better healthcare to this city. It's the idea that we'll burn down the village to save the village. They've completely destroyed a community, they've destroyed lives.

You know, the Hippocratic Oath...that first line: First, do no harm - ? Massive harm has been done here in the name of promoting good healthcare. And it's a lie. This has never been about healthcare and the needs of the community, about what's right or just. It's always been about greed, about money, about power.

And so it goes

2011-09-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

The done deal gets done.

Stalwarts: Portraits of the Good Guys

2011-09-16T14:18:00.000-05:00

Later today or tomorrow, I'll be launching a series of posts here at Inside the Footprint.

The series, built on photos and quotes, focuses on the individuals who've lead the effort to engage, oppose, and critique the LSU/VA hospitals project - and who've long called for the retrofit of the existing Charity Hospital as a far less damaging alternative.

Each person in the series has given up a great deal of time, energy, and resources in persistent pursuit of what they believe is right. They deserve some recognition.

Former Southern Electronics site

2011-09-13T10:29:00.001-05:00

With roofless houses apparently awaiting a move offsite to parts unknown.

"web of financial unknowns"

2011-09-13T08:40:00.002-05:00

The UMC is caught in one.

Kennedy-Tucker-Vitter on the Verite Plan for the UMC

2011-09-12T09:15:00.001-05:00

Here, briefly.

Magical: Debt disappears, annual state subsidies shrink, and hundreds of Medicare patients appear

2011-09-09T07:01:00.000-05:00

+ The UMC business plan presented yesterday by Verite

+ Times-Picayune piece that notes, rather tellingly:

"When the University Medical Center governing board committed earlier this summer to hiring two consulting firms to craft a new business plan for a Charity Hospital successor, Gov. Bobby Jindal hailed the move and encouraged the board not to chain itself to the model long sought by the Louisiana State University System. UMC Board Chairman Bobby Yarborough, a Jindal appointee, said "all options" would be on the table.

When Verite Healthcare Consulting, aided by Kaufman, Hall & Associates,presents its recommendations today at a 1 p.m. meeting of the UMC board, analysts will advocate a facility of essentially the same size and scope as has been on the table for several years."

+ Not everyone bought it:

Janet Hayes of New Orleans accused the board of adopting a "damn-the-consequences attitude."
"This meeting is rigged and predetermined," said Brad Ott, of the Save Charity Hospital organization.

+ No really, not everyone bought what the UMC Board was selling:

"A business plan that has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese and if you're willing to face the public and face the pages of history go on and approve this plan,” said Resident Jacques Morial who has questioned the project for years.

In the end the board approved the new business plan, even as opponents maintain Charity Hospital can be renovated of its Katrina damage.

...

"It's absolutely criminal. It could have been faster, cheaper,” stated Stokes.

From the plan presented today at the UMC Board meeting

2011-09-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

There's some blah blah blah in the report from Verite...

"Reuse of the Charity Hospital facility. The UMCMC Board is not responsible for and has no authority over the disposition of Charity Hospital. The state Office of Facility Planning and Control has responsibility for administration of design and construction for capital projects for the State of Louisiana. That office has considered alternatives and options for the project. With expected federal funding, options were required to be considered as part of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), 16 U.S. C. Section 4701, and 36 CFR Part 800 (section 106). Options were considered under the “Programmatic Agreement among the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the City of New Orleans, the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Officer, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Regarding the Funding to Repair or Replace Healthcare Facilities Comprising the VA Medical Center and the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans.” That Agreement specified project alternatives for the repair or replacement of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans."

The UMC Board, if it was doing its job and being responsible to the people of Louisiana, most certainly would have looked at the Charity option because of the significant time and cost savings involved in that option.

And then there's some interesting items to note in the excerpt:

"The options were carefully weighed by the federal government and the state. Multiple public meetings were held. The result of the process yielded a determination that the most appropriate option was the relocation to a new site with the construction of new facilities. Revisiting other options may render the entire process null, requiring further analysis to comply with Section 106.

Whether or not reusing Charity Hospital is in the UMCMC Board’s purview, the Board has concluded that building a new University Medical Center is by far the preferred alternative."

The options were weighed carefully? No - the state/LSU simply decided it wanted a new hospital and shuttered a barely damaged hospital building. The VA has been using several portions of the VA building that was supposedly beyond hope.

Multiple public meetings were, functionally, not held. Only one public meeting actually occurred - the state's own records show that no members of the public showed up at the ostensible second and third public meetings because the state and Jacobs changed the means of notifying consulting parties and did not do anything resembling adequate outreach and notification.

Also, the process "yielded a determination" that a new hospital was necessary? In every aspect of the process where the public did manage to wiggle in, it expressed in no uncertain terms that it wanted Charity Hospital reused. The overwhelming majority of public comment and consulting party comment pushed for that option. So it's entirely absurd to say that the process "yielded a determination" to the contrary. The passive and evasive language employed in the excerpt is a good sign that the state is obfuscating.

Finally, what "other options" would render the entire process null?

"Yet another anniversary — and still no substitute for Charity Hospital"

2011-09-07T07:05:00.002-05:00

Here, at The Lens.

Uh oh...River Birch crops up again

2011-09-03T10:57:00.000-05:00

Now, the feds are zooming in on a key media figure here in New Orleans...with monetary connections to the landfill.

You'll recall that I've already pointed out that at least some of the contaminated soil/underground tanks from the VA Footprint went to River Birch.

Here's the broad question that must be asked and answered: Where did all of the many tons of debris from the VA and LSU site demolitions end up? Who got paid to take all of that debris that would not have been generated if Charity and the existing VA hospital had been retrofitted instead?

UMC Board Meeting - September 8, 2011

2011-09-03T09:01:00.000-05:00

Where is all that fill coming from?

2011-09-02T14:56:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a bit about the massive amount of surcharging fill that will be used in the VA Footprint.

But what about the truckloads of fill that was coming into the LSU Footprint today? Where is it coming from? And, more importantly, who's getting paid to provide all that fill...that wouldn't have been needed if Charity had been retrofitted to house the UMC?

"537 historic artifacts...included a number of artifacts dated to the French and Spanish colonial periods (ca. 1720-1780)"

2011-09-02T14:27:00.000-05:00

After another public records request, we've begun to sift through the archaeological reports that continue to be generated in the VA and LSU footprints. While several individuals requested the archaeological reports for months at the VA neighborhood meetings, it wasn't until now that we've been able to access them.

The quote in the title comes from the "Management Summary" for the VA Footprint, and it pertains specifically to the plot of land that was once 219 S. Miro - the site that hosted the S.W. Green Mansion.

If you zoom in on the photo above, you'll see, out on the prairie that has replaced the former neighborhood in the VA Footprint, a number of dig sites in "Block 551" - the area that contains the 219 S. Miro archaeological deposits.

There are all kinds of interesting things in the archaeological reports. And I'm going to do my best to post portions of them here before the VA site gets "surcharged" with about 7 feet of fill...and as the UMC site gets torn apart. One word that shows up frequently in the latest VAMC archaeological diggings (from a report issued in July 2011)..."bone":

The UMC site records, as of as recent as August, show numerous references to "faunal remains."

"What are they afraid of - that Charity was right all along?"

2011-09-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Sign here.

Exclusive: A cursory look at the Dixie Brewery structural assessment

2011-09-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

Here, thanks in part to the kindness of a number of people, is a brief look at the VA-commissioned structural assessment of the Dixie Brewery complex in the VA Footprint.

Obtained by public records request (after multiple direct requests meetings), the assessment contains an executive summary that continues to make it unclear just what parts of the complex will be retained and what will be demolished.

The work commissioned focuses largely on a portion of the original, red brick 1907 portion of the building - the structure that rises to a height of six stories with a dome along Tulane Avenue - but also cascades down multiple levels to what used to be Banks Street in the back.

This diagram and several others makes it clear that VA really only seems to envision utilizing a very limited portion of even the 1907 building in its adaptive reuse - it cuts off the back of the original part of the brewery after the first step down of the wedding cake, so to speak, along what used to be S. Tonti (right side of picture...the third and fourth "steps" down of the building are not shown...or really investigated, it seems, with much seriousness):

Note below, too, that only a limited portion of the original 1907 building is shown in many of the specific studies done by various expert consultants. It doesn't look like VA even intends to use the bulk of the original building that extends above the carriageway (about four stories) - other than the facade wall along Tulane and where it curves back in a bit (left of picture below):

Still, a portion of the draft document report shows that the report authors acknowledge that "in fact, demolition and abatement costs are less than they would otherwise be because portion of Dixie are being salvaged and not demolished."

And the report then specifically gives a bit of hope about the potential to adaptively reuse more portions of the four-story section along Tulane Avenue: "further savings can be gained if testing of the structure behind the western portion of the Tulane facade can be conducted and validates that portions of this structure can be retained."

Still, this draft document is where we begin to see that the two renderings from April 2010 showing Dixie incorporated into the VAMC research facility...really show us, by and large, all there is to know. It seems that nothing beyond what's visible of the existing Dixie structure in this rendering shot and this rendering shot will be saved or utilized as VA sees it - not the adjoining, long white, wooden bottling building built along Tulane Avenue in 1919 and designed by architect Emile Weil. There is, tellingly, no rendering showing the facility from a mid-point, at, say, Tulane and S. Tonti (*I will note that one recommendation in the document calls for either hardening the Tulane Avenue walls internally to make them blast proof...or to permanently take the parking lane along Tulane).

The language about demolition in the executive summary is rather muddled and evasive:

The presence of lead, asbestos, and mold in the site is no surprise given its age, purpose, and openness to the elements since Hurricane Katrina.

The troubling thing about the executive summary is this section:

It's great to see that the VA genuinely appears to be committed to reusing portions of Dixie Brewery in its research facility. Importantly, the report notes that various consultants involved in the assessment are designing emergency measures to deal with significant deterioration of some of the bays along the former S. Tonti facade (brick and mortar deterioration that has long been visible to any passerby). That's good to see.

However, it's not good to see the "other additions" simply written off...largely, it seems, because VA only wants to use the six-story tower portion of the 1907 building.

My recommendations to SHPO - and to anyone else who cares - after my first initial skim of the document:

1. Push for retention of greater portions of the original 1907 building. For example, push to retain the full extent of the "wedding cake" steps down the former S. Tonti Street facade - even if it is just the brick facade for the third and fourth steps down. Push for retention of the full four-story part of the original 1907 structure that is lakeside of the carriageway, not just the facade.

2. See if the Tulane Avenue facade of the white, 1919 portion of the building can be retained - keep the awning, the loading docks, the sign, etc. Despite the dismissive language in the report, a modern facility could rise up behind this facade, but it would, even if modified for more entry points, provide a character-filled face for a greater portion of the Tulane Avenue facade. In the long run, put trees and cafe tables outside between the awning/facade and the street.

3. Examine the retention of the brick portions the 1934 portions of the complex at S. Rocheblave and the former Banks Street intersection. If the bulk of the new research facility can simply rise up out of the center of the block, keep as much of the external corner faces that give historic character as possible.

There will likely be more to say and share as we dig into the draft document. Let us know what parts of Dixie Brewery are important to you in the comments.

Say farewell to Schadler

2011-09-01T14:38:00.000-05:00

The modernist "Miracle Mile" building, known as the Schadler Building, that housed Southern Electronics began to fall along Tulane Avenue today in the LSU Footprint.

What will take its place? Either a second parking garage - that may or may not get built, as I've outlined (and if it is built, it would ironic seeing as an existing parking structure in the site is still seemingly slated to be imploded along with the old Grand Palace Hotel in about November). If not a parking garage, the original plan called for surface parking. Or it might be lovely greenspace, aka nothing.

Abracadabra

2011-09-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

Voila - suddenly, Governor Jindal announces, via admirer Eric Paulsen, that the UMC can be built for $300 million less - without sacrificing "size or features."

After insisting on a $1.2 billion UMC project for years, the Governor pulls a $900 million rabbit out of the hat...and says it's the same thing.

Paulsen's piece can only be described as the work of a mouthpiece. Note how he actively tries to weave in an assertion that there will still be shared services between VA and UMC (which has been deflated in the Times-Picayune) and he obtains exactly zero comment from anyone concerned about or opposed to the UMC as planned.

Rest assured, this isn't over yet.

Ghosts of the Footprint

2011-08-31T21:35:00.005-05:00

Recently, I went to hear a friend's band at Banks Street Bar, back behind Jesuit in Mid-City.

As I walked into the dim ramshackle establishment that I evening, I felt, in a strange way, like I was back in the VA Footprint in Outer Banks Bar.

There, standing next to a pole, was James, the loyal Outer Banks patron, the wall boards leaning behind him.

Across the way, seated at a table near the neon glow by the door was another Outer Banks regular-in-exile, Bryan. He sat there with his hat, white pants, shades, and grin looking like Burma Jones exiled from the Night of Joy.

Still, it wasn't quite the same.

Down what was left of Banks Street, down a ways under the dark of the remaining oak boughs, a great expanse of dirt stretched out under the night sky.

Inside "The Trapezoid"

2011-08-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

The proposed sites of the UMC and VAMC hospitals (LSU Footprint and VA Footprint, respectively) both fall within an area of New Orleans that I've called The Footprint.

Those who've been following the blog know that The Footprint falls within a much larger footprint - the 1,500-acre site of BioDistrict New Orleans.

The Footprint also falls within a giant, roughly trapezoidal shape that HANO and HRI are calling the Iberville-Treme (I don't think it will stick - the areas involved are too disparate). Today, HANO/HRI received a $30.5 million grant from the federal government (HUD) for a variety of activities within that trapezoid, including the demolition of about 2/3 of the existing buildings in the Iberville Projects campus.

Even though the plan calls for renovations of some major historic buildings in the area - such as the Mondy and Augustine schools, I'm concerned that the federal government, as it did with LSU/VA, continues to fund grandiose projects (with dollars that the federal government doesn't have) that create additional waves of uncertainty that ripple out through an already weary community that is just trying to figure out which giant new footprint it happens to fall within on any given day.

At the very least, the project features less of an emphasis on full-scale, old-style urban renewal. But it deserves full attention, as some neighborhood groups, like one in historic Treme, did not even know a few weeks ago about the specific, dense, infill developments proposed for within its boundaries.

"I can't control a state hospital"

2011-08-31T16:21:00.000-05:00

Outgoing Council Member Fielkow stated that just now on WBOK radio this afternoon as he talked about the Council's influence over where various government dollars go.

Unfortunately, I don't think that's entirely accurate.

Looking back, Fielkow, as a City Council member, was involved at the very beginning in permitting the LSU/VA project to move forward. For example, he was involved in the March 2007 Regional Planning Commission resolution pushing for a "downtown" VA site - which an April 2007 CEA between the City and State revealed to be...the RPC site above S. Galvez. The CEA also laid out the current site of the UMC.

He also voted in support of the December 2007 ordinance that established a moratorium in the LSU/VA footprints, banning people from even repairing their homes and functionally establishing a blanket of planner's blight over the site that depressed property values as expropriation was getting underway.

Fielkow also voted for the revocation of the streets in both the VA and UMC footprints.

So, council members did have several opportunities to control the state hospital (and the federal hospital)...it's just that they didn't choose to control the hospital - or the funding involved.

"No members of the public attended"

2011-08-31T15:20:00.000-05:00

Here are the official summaries from the 2nd and 3rd "public" meetings on adaptive reuse of Charity Hospital, held this spring:

March 16, 2011

March 30, 2011

As I said some time ago, nobody attended because nobody knew about the meetings - and neither the state nor its contractor emailed notice to consulting parties (the method by which the first public meeting was announced) despite having all the email addresses.

Suspended in a haze of smoke

2011-08-30T16:32:00.000-05:00

Fires burning off in the east cast a sickly shadow over the site of the proposed UMC today. Charity Hospital, still vacant, was barely visible off in the distance through the smoke. As a friend agreed this morning, the acrid lungfuls are appropo for New Orleans - there's always a tinge of the apocalypse in the air.

The churned remnants of S. Johnson Street sat in the heat.

Dust from equipment on the site added to the thick air.

At the old Grand Palace Hotel, workers had the wooden cover off the entry to the former parking structure.

The sooty air lingered in the French Quarter.

It hung like a pall over the tombs of St. Louis #2 Cemetery, visible below the elevated expressway that may yet disappear. The roofs of the Iberville Projects are visible as well - many of the buildings will soon be demolished under a redevelopment proposal put forward by HANO and Pres Kabacoff's HRI, likely under a federally funded "Choice Neighborhoods Grant."

Remember the mystery walker?

2011-08-30T08:08:00.000-05:00

Well, she has a few videos up from her walk.

Like this one - a typical visit with a resident of BioDistrict New Orleans who knows nothing about the existence of the BioDistrict, much less the planning process that started last fall:

*Sumbitted video.

Why are neighborhoods even included in the boundaries of the BioDistrict - which is charged with developing biosciences infrastructure? My hypothesis is that the district, despite contentions that it wants to improve neighborhoods like Mid-City (which is not its legislatively assigned mandate), needs a tax base to tap into down the road.

A good prescription.

2011-08-30T07:59:00.001-05:00

Dr. John says: Study ALL the hospital options...

And follow the Doctor's orders.

Video of David Simon's Keynote Address at Rising Tide

2011-08-30T06:56:00.000-05:00

David Simon - Keynote Speaker, Rising Tide VI from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

Palmyra Street, Six Years After Katrina

2011-08-29T14:50:00.001-05:00

To paraphrase Tacitus:

To ravage...to usurp under false titles without funds, they call progress; and where they make a desert, they call it development.

Today, instead of a functioning University Medical Center humming along in the sturdy shell of the former Charity Hospital building, there still isn't even a business plan for the UMC proposed for Lower Mid-City. Nor is there adequate financing in place to build the first phase of the hospital.

There is, however, a largely destroyed swath of the city standing increasingly vacant between Canal, Tulane, S. Galvez, and Claiborne.

If the State of Louisiana, LSU, UMC, City of New Orleans and various federal agencies had pursued the retrofit of Charity three years ago, we could have had a state-of-the-art hospital in place today - and it would have been less expensive (the state has the money onhand to realize the Charity option at present).

Instead, there are no signs that the UMC Board has even considered the Charity option, and is instead bulling forward with the disastrous Lower Mid-City site out of embarrassment.

Not long for this world (and more on the origins of the done deal)

2011-08-29T08:07:00.000-05:00

Some 2008 chatter about the fate of the giant old Grand Palace/Delta Towers hotel building, located in the LSU Footprint, dredges up this old image from 2008:

Ah, if only. Note that the truly "joint" site pitched to the news media at the time did not extend above S. Galvez Street. One must question whether anyone involved with the project actually thought that the layout pictured above would be pursued when the image appeared in the press in 2008.

In the spring of 2007, all sorts of regional leaders were ready to sacrifice the neighborhood in what we now know as the VA Footprint - and were making official pronouncements and legal agreements in furtherance of construction on that site. The Regional Planning Commission passed a resolution about a downtown VA hospital on March 13, 2007 - although it did not specifically mention the "RPC" site. An April 30 Cooperative Endeavor Agreement entered into by the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana's Division of Administration, however, did specify the current VA site, the one that goes all the way to S. Rocheblave Street:

The City, State, and RPC essentially ensured that the jump across S. Galvez would occur. The "RPC" site, the current VA Footprint, was the only site that they all pushed via various agreements and arrangements for more than a year before the actual "official" site selection from a list of three ostensible options was made by VA.

Given that the City employed over $70 million in CDBG funds for site preparation...and the state had the LSU Board of Supervisors employ its quick take expropriation power to acquire many of the properties...that mattered a great deal.

Times-Pic highlights David Simon's skepticism about LSU/VA, BioDistrict...but conveniently skims over his harsh comments about the Mayor

2011-08-27T21:09:00.000-05:00

Here.

Readers of Inside the Footprint will already be familiar with the Baltimore example that Simon cited and the Times-Pic references in the article, specifically one Baltimore paper's in-depth report that includes the line:

"The nation's largest urban redevelopment, a projected $1.8 billion effort to transform 88 acres of East Baltimore into a world-class biotech park and idyllic urban community, lies derailed amid vacant lots, boarded houses and unfulfilled dreams a decade after it began,"

A Letter about the BioDistrict

2011-08-27T18:21:00.000-05:00

...appeared in today's Times-Picayune from Lili, who lives in Mid-City.

Note the first comment, which points out that key points have been carved out of the version that was actually published.

More on David Simon on the Mayor, demolition, and the folly of LSU/VA

2011-08-27T18:17:00.001-05:00

Here, in a somewhat pointillist splatter, are some Twitter perspectives and quotes from David Simon's keynote address at the Rising Tide 6 Conference today at Xavier.

I was in the crowd, and it was incredible to hear Simon say some things that needed to be said - both about the LSU/VA project and the scuffle over the "Treme" row of houses on Derbigny Street. While I disagreed with some of his lump comments about "preservationists" as it related to the Derbigny houses, I think he had some incendiary and eye-opening things to say:

superdeformed...
David Simon winning back the audience with some Ad Hominem on city hall/Biomedical district. #RT6

@The_Gambit
Gambit
David Simon: "I've got news for you - LSU is NOT the premier medical institution in the South" #Rt6 (But tops in bar fights!)

@The_Gambit
Gambit
Now David Simon forecasting doom for LSU/VA project based on John Hopkins' tear downs in East Baltimore #Rt6

@skooks
skooks
Wait. Did Simon actually accuse the Mayor of "a shakedown" to his face? Or was he relating to us his internal monologue #rt6

@TheLensNOLA
The Lens
“@cohenlensnola: #davidsimon is really, really not a fan of the LSU-VA medical center plan.” #RT6

@nomusicman1
David Eidler
Simon relates Baltimore John Hopkins fiasco to LSU downtown project #rt6

@The_Gambit
Gambit
David Simon at Rising Tide talking about the call from @MayorLandrieu re demolitions - "He went batshit" #Rt6

@ChMaldonado
Charles Maldonado
Simon: "He told me that they were doing this and doing that and did I know what a great mayor he was." #rt6

uǝןɐʞ (@lunanola)

#rt6 David Simon re: the demolition of blighted property debacle: "Your new mayor -- the new guy who was better than the last guy -- at the moment when the cameras were on him, he'd have thrown anybody under a bus."

@Pistolette:
I'd love to be in the room when Landrieu sees this David Simon video. #rt6

@superdeformed
Proposal: New Orleans and Baltimore form a dirt field sisterhood. #RT6

@risingtide
risingtide
Simon deconstructing the fallacy that is holding up Baltimore's (non) development of East Baltimore as an example for cities to emulate #rt6

Inside the Footprint did not ultimately win the Ashley award, but did receive some kind words of honorary mention from Mark Moseley up on the dais.

David Simon at Rising Tide

2011-08-27T14:53:00.001-05:00

He's using the example of Baltimore to savage the idea that the LSU \ VA project will solve New Orleans' problems. He notes pointedly that Baltimore's bioscience demolished 20-acre site remains largely fallow today.

A Telling Blue Scrap

2011-08-27T07:07:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday, this blue sunburst portion of the decorative trim (gingerbread) that once graced the gable of the house at 226 S. Galvez Street lay partially ground into the dirt in the LSU Footprint.

Under the Salvage Agreement in an appendix of the Programmatic Agreement for the hospital project, the following architectural elements were mandated for salvage:

Decorative “gingerbread” trim

Inside the Footprint nominated for Ashley Morris Award

2011-08-26T18:51:00.007-05:00

I'm stunned to be considered for the award, given out annually at the Rising Tide Convention, which kicks off this evening.

Here are the two comments that constitute the nominations:

Editor B said...
I can nominate more than once? In that case: Brad V of Inside the Footprint. http://insidethefootprint.blogspot.com/ Relentless coverage of the razing of a neighborhood, asking the questions that need to be asked.
Thursday, August 4, 2011 3:16:00 PM CDT

Robert Morris said...
For "fierce passionate defense of New Orleans," I'd say the Inside the Footprint blog deserves strong consideration. Purely original reporting, delivered in both quantity and quality. I rarely make it inside the footprint myself, but Brad V.'s work takes me there on a daily basis.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 1:53:00 PM CDT

Many thanks. I remember attending the conference in 2008, and I didn't quite understand some of the sentiments at the time. After nearly two years of blogging here, though, it all makes total sense. I've seen plenty.

I will say that each visit to the Footprint does give one an overwhelming desire to say....

"Modular Grid Modern" - and Mid-City Historic District Expansion

2011-08-26T15:00:00.000-05:00

Recently, Crescent Growth Capital, the entity that's redeveloping the former Lindy Boggs or Mercy Hospital site near the end of Bayou St. John, proposed an expansion of the period of significance for the Mid-City National Register Historic District. It also proposed boundary changes.

The period of significance, key for obtaining historic tax credits, is proposed for extension to include the period of 1943-1961 - which would sweep in more Mid-Century Modern buildings, like the LSU Footprint building on Canal Street shown above. It was pictured in Crescent Growth's Baton Rouge presentation as an example of Modular Grid Modern, one of the styles that would be eligible for the National Register under the expanded concept of the district. The building, to my knowledge, is still set to be demolished.

The presentation also acknowledged two small reductions in the district due to new infill housing being built by Providence Community Housing, along with "a larger contraction" due to the destruction wrought by the LSU/VA project, which largely fell within the Mid-City District.

In total, the numbers of contributing historic properties in the district have dropped since the last survey years ago, falling from 3,811 structures to 3,567 structures. In the non-contributing department, there are now 539 structures, down from 678.

The proposed change to the district also seeks to sweep in industrial buildings, such as the brick warehouse and shop buildings along the former Carondelet Canal, now the site of the proposed Lafitte Greenway.

The National Register of Historic Places will ultimately have to decide on whether or not it will accept the proposed changes.

A Letter from the Advisory Council

2011-08-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

The Lens unearths a letter sent from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to the City of New Orleans regarding the treatment of the moved VA houses.

As someone who's been both a long-time supporter of the house moving alternative - a majority of the moved houses are secured and re-roofed - and someone's who's concerned about the failure to get the remainder back into some semblance of order...I can say that I have seen the letter and thought about it a bit.

A key problem with the letter is this: the Programmatic Agreement (PA) that the ACHP cites as it chastises the City...doesn't actually address the house moving that the Landrieu administration ultimately pushed for in response to the calls made citizens and preservationists. That's not meant as an excuse, just a hard look at the text.

The PA only contained stipulations that addressed a much more modest house moving effort that the VA agreed to fund at the outset of the hospital project - and only 3 houses ultimately moved under that program (with owners, with roofs intact). The 72 additional houses moved as part of the effort that materialized in summer of 2010 (covered extensively on this blog - without owners, without roofs) are not envisioned in the PA. Thus, for better or for worse, the PA proper, as governing document for effects on historic resources, arguably has nothing to say about the vast bulk of the houses that moved off the site - the City effort that came after demolition had started was and is entirely "extra-PA."

A somewhat better hook - and the one that the ACHP probably should have used in its letter - is a provision in a letter from the State Historic Preservation Office that's constitutes part of an appendix to the PA (below in blue). In the letter, the SHPO makes it clear that the "Area of Potential Effects" for the project would have to be expanded if any houses moved off site. In other words, it's likely that more process would have been required to address the potential effects of the moved houses on the historic neighborhoods where many of them landed (and possibly the effects of roof removal, etc. on the moved houses themselves):

To my knowledge, the SHPO understanding in 3(c) has never been been realized despite the moving of many houses into different locations, as I've mapped here. I know of no extension or change to the "APE" that would serve to acknowledge that more historic buildings and neighborhoods were being affected by the project.

Finally, the piece in The Lens notes the handful of houses that moved into Historic Treme. Of all the houses that moved off site, these really are the most incongruent with their new surroundings in terms of historic and architectural context (parts of Hoffman Triangle come close, but the existing neighborhood was not as deeply historic as Treme). That's why I was fine with the article employing the photo from this blog.

In the end, I remain hopeful that the house moving effort will succeed. Many of the properties continue to creep forward toward better condition, and I still say that even if only 2/3 of them ultimately come back in commerce with historic character intact, it will be better than the alternative faced in June of 2010 - mass demolition of all 72 houses along with the scores of other structures that were in fact demolished.

Letter to the UMC Board

2011-08-26T07:13:00.000-05:00

Martha Owen, a small business owner, staunch advocate for good government, and supporter of the Charity Hospital alternative site for the UMC sent this timely letter to the UMC Board recently.

I share it here with her permission (click on any portion to enlarge):

Note especially the attachments listed - like the inclusion of the over 10,000 petitions delivered to Mayor Landrieu last year calling for the building of a modern hospital inside Charity Hospital according to the RMJM/Hillier study.

The UMC Board is scheduled to meet on September 8. I wonder if they'll finally have a business plan - now that the LSU Footprint has been almost entirely destroyed.

Quick call for funds

2011-08-25T15:25:00.001-05:00

If you'd like to support a public records request that relates to the Footprint (a request for documents regarding Dixie Brewery), please make a donation on the sidebar - the request has been submitted, but the cost is more substantial than anticipated. Any help would be appreciated.

ADDED: Thanks to those who've donated - it's a great help.

Watching, wondering

2011-08-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

As of yesterday afternoon, the modernist building - this one - on Banks Street in the LSU Footprint...was gone, yet another piece of New Orleans modernist architectural heritage (it was designed by Colbert - same as the recently demolished Phillis Wheatley School) lost to the wrecking ball.

The property line stake appeared only recently. It's interesting because the parcel that it's stuck in the middle of - Pershing Place, a small pocket park, is still shown as owned by the City of New Orleans on the Assessor's map, the property being listed as 29348 Tulane Avenue.

Perhaps the stake marks where the highway right of way ends.

But the Assessor's record showing this parcel as still owned by the City is interesting.

1. Is the park land supposed to be incorporated as part of the UMC project? Every map and rendering I've seen presented publicly shows the park being subsumed into some sort of plaza at the corner of S. Galvez and Tulane Avenue:

I've inquired about the fate of the statue in the park, and it sounds like VA may incorporate it into the adjacent VA site.

Still the June 2011 report on the site posted at the DOA website...does not appear to show the parcel (or the other tiny little triangular parcel immediately riverside of the park - which has no assessor record) as one of the parcels involved in the project:

One would think that the parcel would be shown below the far left lower corner if it was meant to be a colored parcel on the map.

2. If the parcel is in fact going to be transferred as some renderings show - or has been transferred - to the LSU Board of Supervisors for the UMC project...will the state have to pay or did it pay? The property is listed at $389,000. To my knowledge, the state did not compensate the city for all that land that it gained from the tearing out of the street grid in the LSU Footprint.

Test Pile Driving Underway in UMC

2011-08-25T12:03:00.002-05:00

"this is a relatively clean site"

2011-08-25T07:58:00.000-05:00

Recovery Czar Ed Blakely had this to say about the VA site in 2008:

As for the loss of the historic homes, Blakely doesn't see it as a deal breaker.

"No, jeez, I've been involved in projects where we've moved over 1,000 (houses)," Blakely says. "The federal government does this all the time, so this is a relatively clean site."

You know, this site...not like there was anything there:

I'd like to know what projects Blakely was involved in that required the moving of 1,000 houses.

Of course, he's known to embellish just a bit.

A Spotlight on Site Selection

2011-08-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

Recently, I talked about the 2007 MOU between the City of New Orleans and the VA, the one that focused in great detail on the current VAMC site between S. Galvez and S. Rocheblave. It was signed on November 19, 2007, and it very clearly envisions a VA site that has already "jumped Galvez" into the neighborhood centered on Outer Banks Bar:

The City was already proffering this "targeted developable and usable area of land" - also known as a dense, recovering, historic neighborhood - to the wolves as of August 2007 per the letter. And it had signed an earlier April 2007 CEA specifying the site.

But all sorts of official documentation in the summer of 2008 kept up the myth that all sorts of alternative sites besides this "RPC" selected site were still being considered.

Here's a letter from VA to the State Historic Preservation Officer in August 2008 sustaining the illusion of three alternative sites:

Did VA ever have any intent of actually selecting one of the alternatives...given the MOU legal agreement with the City that was signed nearly a year earlier?

A letter from VA to SHPO in November 2008 further sustained the mirage:

....the key language being...

For more on this series of events, see this classic Gambit piece from December 2008. It's important to keep a clear timeline in mind.

Big crowd turns out for info on Mitigation Grant, Historic Tax Credits

2011-08-24T15:24:00.000-05:00

Nearly 100 people showed up at a Mid-City Neighborhood Organization meeting last evening to learn about the Mid-City Mitigation Grant program, which stems from the LSU/VA destruction of a large portion of the Mid-City National Historic District, as well as historic tax credits.

The Prairie

2011-08-24T07:09:00.000-05:00

The VA Footprint, S. Rocheblave Street still under construction in the foreground, as seen from just outside the perimeter looking toward the river. The Blood Center and the former Grand Palace Hotel, along with Charity Hospital, are all still visible off in the distance. The LSU or UMC Footprint starts where the trees visible along S. Galvez.

The live oaks off on the right are the ones that remain of the many that lined what was once Banks Street.

In the words of one Anthony Turducken: "lower mid-city = urban prairie"

On Cleveland Avenue

2011-08-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

Here's what the remains of Cleveland Avenue looked like today in the LSU Footprint, as seen from S. Galvez Street. Approximately 20 historic buildings, mostly residences, lined the strip that's visible when I first started walking the footprint. The unfunded wasteland grows.

Off in the distance, you'll note one other interesting recent development if you click on the photo and zoom in - a temporary external lift on the side of the former Pallas or Grand Palace Hotel, which crews appear to be preparing for demolition.

Expropriation Law Inside the Footprint

2011-08-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

I've noted the existence of a variety of law suits relating to the over 150 expropriations in the VA and LSU sites over time.

Derrick Morrison from the Committee to Reopen Charity recently excerpted from one that I haven't highlighted in depth to date here on the blog - the suit filed by the Blood Center of Southeast Louisiana.

The Blood Center was evicted from its facilities earlier this month after expropriation (see above notice photo and move out photo below) and is now operating temporarily out of a former car dealership in New Orleans East.

What are the chief legal arguments involved in the suit against the LSU Board of Supervisors? Well, many of them align quite closely with the more general arguments that have been raised here and elsewhere:

The attorneys for The Blood Center make some great observations:

Here's a view of the Blood Center's current home out in The East:

"We're gettin what they promised. They said we'd be last. And we are last."

2011-08-23T09:14:00.000-05:00

At the most recent VA neighborhood meeting, I noted that the ongoing work on streets like S. Rocheblave, Palmyra, and Cleveland - the streets immediate above the VA Footprint - is being done explicitly in furtherance of the VAMC project. Some seemed to take umbrage at that assertion, but I think it's relevant given the problems the street work has been causing for residents for months and the constant attempts to shift blame.

The title quote comes from Mr. Leon, a resident on S. Rocheblave, who has been facing tumult on his street, the lakeside boundary of the VA site, since the fall of 2010 - dust, digging, mud, vibration, sudden lack of access, etc. He's been at almost every VA neighborhood meeting since they began early last fall to discuss the issue. And, as he noted, it's still not over.

A look at a 2007 letter from the City of New Orleans to the VA Administration, incorporated as Attachment B in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the City and VA, shows that the street work is very explicitly being conducted in furtherance of the VA project:

The text reveals that the VA, even if it is not conducting the street improvement work on the adjacent and feeder streets, was very much involved in the planning of what the reasonable improvements would consist of...

....which, one would think, would entail some planning to ensure that the work was conducted in a manner that reduced impact on the peripheral neighbors.

At any rate, the VA's construction contractor has at least made greater outreach efforts to address existing and potential damage to homes than the City of New Orleans has - or the City's contractors.

On a different note, the meeting also revealed that VA had consulted with the State Historic Preservation Office regarding Dixie Brewery to see how much of the building can be saved, the 1907 portion being the part VA wants to save. A VA rep said that VA was seeking ways to stabilize some of the weaker external wall bays from the inside.

'an area "suffering disinvestment"'

2011-08-23T07:04:00.001-05:00

There was no mention of the PA-mandated Charity Hospital adaptive reuse process in the Friday Times-Picayune story on a new downtown development plan.

The quote about the historic medical district suffering disinvestment is heavy with irony, even if the administrations have changed since the decision to support the abandonment of the core made during the Nagin administration (aided and abetted by the full City Council).

The vacancies and disinvestment in the area around City Hall and Charity Hospital are the direct, causal result of government actions post-Katrina - city, state, and federal.

The Myth of Synergy

2011-08-22T17:13:00.000-05:00

It's been proclaimed dead here and on sites like SaveCharityHospital.com for years (literally), but the supposed synergy of the LSU/VA hospital projects finally took a death blow in the mainstream media when the Times-Picayune delved in on Sunday:

The separate plans highlight the evolution of the two medical centers from visions of a true joint project to talk of shared facilities and, finally, to the reality of two adjacent complexes with considerably fewer "synergies" than what state and federal authorities once agreed were possible. Even the prospect of any remaining cooperation is up in the air.

LSU, as has been clear to many of us all along, simply used the VA as its stalking horse to get what a man at a recent public meeting called "LSU's play pen" in what is now the ruined LSU Footprint site.

The Times-Picayune also finally makes a comment touching on some of the skepticism about BioDistrict New Orleans:

Even with partnership options available, the fluidity of the plans stand in stark contrast to the way government officials have pitched the two new medical centers, which in turn are framed as the public's $2 billion-plus anchor investment for a New Orleans BioDistrict, which is both a state-chartered entity and a concept that envisions downtown and Mid-City blossoming into an epicenter for health care, medical research and scientific innovation.

It's largely a mirage at this point - a dangerous mirage that puts large swaths of Mid-City neighborhood as risk.

Like the UMC, the BioDistrict as its currently configured is excessively ambitious and incompatible with the historic fabric of New Orleans. It's not an inherently bad thing - it's just being incredibly sloppy and sprawling in its push for development.

State failed to remove all underground storage tanks in VA Footprint

2011-08-22T12:38:00.000-05:00

If you look closely, you'll see mounds of dirt in the shadows before Dixie Brewery.

At last week's VA neighborhood meeting, I asked why they were there. I knew that the location was very close to where the contractors had dug up a great deal of seemingly contaminated soil - and "UST"s that were transported to River Birch landfill.

Well, I was told that an additional UST was discovered - which the state had not removed. And VA said the state was now going to have to remove the tank.

It makes one wonder what else was not completed...and what else will get covered by the approximately 7 feet of fill that will be coming in soon to "surcharge" the VA Footprint - compact the soil and "de-water" it through sheer weight.

Ms. Stokes asked where all the 450,000 cubic yards of fill will be coming from - again, relevant because some entity will be getting paid that would not get paid if the hospitals had been put back in their CBD location. The answer was a bit unclear, but the word "Murphy" was in the mix, a company providing sand located "12 miles away" - perhaps Murphy Sand Company out of Chalmette.

McDonogh No. 11 - Relocation Update

2011-08-21T23:50:00.000-05:00

Here's what I know.

Recently, the bids were opened in response to the RFP issued by the state for relocation of the McDonogh No. 11 School out of the LSU (UMC) Footprint. Only two companies bid on the project.

One company, Patterson Shoring, bid approximately $1.4 million. The other company, Orleans Shoring, the winning bidder, bid approximately $300,000.

You may recall Orleans Shoring as one of the key contractors involved in the VA house moving effort (and the possible UMC house moving effort as well).

The chasm between the bid amounts seems a bit stunning, as does the low number of bids.

In the end, my chief concern is for the continued integrity of the structure as the move proceeds. Patterson appears to have significant experience with moving large, masonry structures. Orleans was involved in the successful moving of the S.W. Green Mansion, but that's about the only somewhat analogous example I can find.

Two in the Times-Pic

2011-08-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

1. http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/08/dream_of_joint_medical_complex.html

2. http://www.nola.com/health/index.ssf/2011/08/new_va_medical_center_is_going.html

More later on these two pieces.

What does this mean for the UMC?

2011-08-19T19:37:00.000-05:00

Interesting.

Grand Palace Hotel

2011-08-18T19:34:00.000-05:00

Fencing went up around the large building in the 1700 block of Canal recently.

Today, crews were visible inside the fences.

A bid notice regarding demolition went out weeks ago.

As far as I can tell, the existing parking structure is included within the scope of the planned demolition.

Starting Tonight

2011-08-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

The 2011 Louisiana Smart Growth Summit starts this evening in Baton Rouge - although it seems to have nothing to do with the organization called Smart Growth for Louisiana that is active in a number of ways in New Orleans.

In fact, it's rather interesting to see that MAPP Construction, LLC (Skanska/MAPP is the construction manager at risk for the proposed UMC project) is one of the major sponsors.

Here's one of the most interesting panels, set for early Friday morning:

NOLA Rising: How Downtown New Orleans is Redesigning, Rebuilding, and Rebranding Smarter Post-hurricane Katrina

James McNamara
BioDistrict New Orleans

Zoey Devall
Downtown Development District of New Orleans

MODERATOR:
Michael Hecht
Greater New Orleans, Inc.

Session attendees will hear from three New Orleans organizations as to how the city has rebranded and marketed itself to improve its economic future.

Hmmm.

Streets vanish in the LSU Footprint

2011-08-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

Palmyra has been gnawed at.

And most of those stretches of street that remain, like part of S. Prieur, have been blocked off.

Even S. Roman Street, below - which was not being torn up as of yesterday.

Scraps

2011-08-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

The LSU Footprint looked like this from afar yesterday - McDonogh No. 11 School surrounded by a smattering of remaining historic homes set for moving and a number of other buildings - the former Southern Electronics site, the former Blood Center building, and a former Cox warehouse building off on the right.

How did they get away with this?

2011-08-16T08:14:00.003-05:00

So how was the proposed University Medical Center (UMC) project here in New Orleans allowed to devastate a neighborhood so irresponsibly?

Remember this? It's a provision in the Programmatic Agreement (PA) that was meant to govern site preparation for the LSU/VA hospital project. And it was meant to ensure proper treatment of the many historic resources in the site of the proposed UMC.

It was designed to ensure that the historic neighborhood inside the LSU Footprint was not destroyed unnecessarily, to make certain that a business plan and full funding was in place for the proposed UMC.

The provision clearly didn't serve its function. The UMC still has no business plan. And it still doesn't have adequate financing lined up to complete the full first phase of the hospital as envisioned. Meanwhile, the LSU Footprint has been largely razed.

On June 24, 2010, the State of Louisiana's Facility Planning and Control department sent a letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal entity, claiming that the state had met the requirement. But you'll see, as you read through the following summary excerpt, that even on that date, the state had in fact not secured a full funding stream. It only had $800 million on hand out of the $1.2 billion necessary:

Nonetheless, Jerry Jones signed off on the letter - one that claims there is a business plan.

This summer, one year later, even Governor Jindal has admitted publicly that there is still no business plan for the UMC. His words and actions in response to the Tucker-Kennedy-Vitter alternative plan made that quite clear.

As early as July 26, 2010, Sandra Stokes with the Foundation for Historical Louisiana countered the letter, laying out a list of specific concerns with the state's representations. The letter closed with this prophetic language:

I've found that historic preservationists often pull double duty as good government watchdogs here in New Orleans - sometimes they're the only ones watching massive, contract-laden projects with a skeptical eye.

On July 19, 2010, however, the Advisory Council had already seemingly signed off on the weak sauce justification by the state:

That second sentence could be relevant - I wonder if the Advisory Council is fully aware of the effects on historic properties like McDonogh No. 11 School and the houses theoretically about to move off the LSU Footprint.

In August of 2010, Mr. Reid Nelson at the Advisory Council subsequently responded to the Stokes letter with language that the Advisory Council should, given the events of the past year, regret deeply:

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation was given a chance to demand a responsible outcome, and it has very clearly failed. Dozens of historic buildings and a large part of a National Register Historic District were destroyed because of the lack of adequate oversight.

The Advisory Council's position is made even more embarrassing by the fact that a July 25, 2010 Times-Picayune article made it quite clear that the UMC project, per multiple sources, had neither adequate financing nor a completed business plan:

How do things stand today, more than a year later?

There is no business plan - no really, there is no business plan.

177 demolitions have been completed.

The project does not have adequate financing in place - and the UMC Board has decided not to try for HUD mortgage insurance to guarantee bonds....something Fred Cerise effectively said was necessary just about one year ago.

Not only did the federal government proactively participate in the funding and planning that permitted this destructive project, it also failed to protect the city and neighborhood when it had an express opportunity to do so, even as all the warning bells were ringing.

The Last Sycamore - and a look back

2011-08-15T11:11:00.000-05:00

There's only one sycamore tree in the LSU Footprint. And from my wanderings over nearly two years, I believe it was about the only one after Katrina in the 70 acres that now comprise the VA and LSU Footprints.

Sycamores were favored as a street tree in New Orleans before live oaks came to be the signature boulevard tree in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

Esplanade Avenue, for example, was once lined with sycamores that were young in the 1840s and 1850s, according to some of the city's foremost architectural historians.

This large, mature sycamore on the little stub of Banks Street that remains between S. Galvez and S. Johnson (across from Pershing Place, the old Billy Goat Park) may date from that heyday. A number of the early, "first wave" sycamores can still be seen, towering amidst the live oaks on the Esplanade Ridge, so it's certainly possible.

A wise friend of the blog has made it very clear that much of the LSU Footprint was actually drained and inhabited at a much earlier date than some might think. The small corner house at 301 S. Galvez that I highlighted recently, for example, appears to date from the 1840s, as revealed by some additional investigation on the friend's part:

The house at 301 S. Roman probably dates from the 1840s.

The block was sold as a set of 28 lots, in May 1840.

Daily Picayune, 10 May 1840
Mass auction of real estate to settle a joint interest between George Washington Lafayette and John Hagan. Auction house of J. A. Beard and S. Guilault, May 11th 1840
Square 28, 28 lots bounded by Roman, Palmyra, Common, Prieur
Note: Square 28 of Faubourg Hagan = modern MD1/Square 466

Here's a look at that notice:

As a note, Tulane Avenue, where it now touches the LSU Footprint, was formerly known as Common Street.

Vented

2011-08-15T06:56:00.001-05:00

While the roof of the elaborately decorated three-bay shotgun at 226 S. Galvez is gone, a portion of the overhang that once covered a porch remains braced and intact...suspended out over dirt and rubble as the building is prepared for moving.

Built to Last

2011-08-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

Construction equipment slumbers in the afternoon heat in the LSU Footprint. At right, the 1879 McDonogh No. 11 School remains in place. It is unclear when or if the building will ultimately be moved. At center, the 1892 St. Joseph's Church, subject of a successful earlier preservation fight, stands with its downriver facade shaded. On the far left, the central massif of the late 1930s Charity Hospital rises out of the CBD. The building's fate remains unclear.

Update

2011-08-13T15:44:00.001-05:00

Five homes are now lined up on the vacant land along Tulane Avenue in the LSU Footprint - the spot in the 1900 block where the "groundbreaking" took place months ago.

Interestingly, except for one, these houses in the staging area are up on blocks - not tires/moving assemblies. My read: the houses are being moved out of the way...but they aren't moving off site in the near future.

Workers took the roof off of Ms. Ella's golden shotgun today, a pile driver is not set up, and crews kept working to make the old clinic into a base for site contractors.

S. Johnson Recedes

2011-08-12T15:23:00.000-05:00

Another section disappears between Cleveland and Palmyra.

What's that?

2011-08-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

As of last evening, two houses from the LSU Footprint had been moved to a staging area near Tulane Avenue and the now-closed S. Prieur entrance off Tulane.

It remains unclear to me where the houses, 2000-02 Cleveland and 1933-35 Cleveland, will be headed.

Up on blocks

2011-08-11T11:47:00.000-05:00

The great four-bay double shotgun at 2000-02 Cleveland Street in the LSU Footprint has been prepared for relocation. Note that the roof is now gone.

The destination lots for the houses that are set to be moved...have not been made known.

"The impacted soil...was placed in dump trucks and transported...to River Birch"

2011-08-11T06:59:00.001-05:00

Interesting. Very interesting.

You may recall the post I made some time ago wondering where the many tons of debris from the VA and LSU Footprints were going - debris that would not have been generated at similar levels if the state had decided to reuse the existing Charity Hospital.

Well, a recent public records request (an excerpt of which is shown above) has revealed the destination of some of the contaminated soil removed from the VA site. River Birch landfill. As I recall from watching the removal of some of the contaminated soil near Dixie Brewery, the 408-410 S. Tonti site involved in this report, there were many trucks.

Petition for a full study of all UMC options

2011-08-10T18:36:00.000-05:00

Sign here.

Streets start to disappear in the LSU Footprint

2011-08-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

This stretch, S. Johnson between Canal and Cleveland, is being torn up.

A Review of the June 2011 Jacobs Report on the UMC Site

2011-08-10T08:28:00.000-05:00

Here's the full document via the state's DOA site.

Wading into the Executive Summary, you'll note the reference to historic structure relocation as one of the UMC (LSU Footprint) site preparation activities, reinforcing the notion that houses will actually move off site.

In terms of funding, the report still only lists $300 million in state funding and $474.8 million in FEMA funding - a total of $774.8 million, not the full $1.2 billion required. The rest is assigned to "bond sale proceeds."

When it comes to timeline, the report reflects "realities current impacting the program." That translates to the following revised schedule:

The following adjustments are based on the completion of real estate transactions on the UMC site in July

2011: Site Fill start - August 2011; Hospital Substantial Completion – September 02, 2014; Hospital Move in and Activation complete – February 28, 2015

Delays appear to be costing the project, as some funding has been shifted:

$17 million has been moved from the Contingency line item to establish a budget line item for escalation. Further delay will result in additional escalation at the rate of $1.5 million per month. The Utility Building budget has been moved into the AFC at $35 million

And one of the elephants in the room, budget uncertainty for the overall UMC project, is hinted at obliquely:

"Budget refinement is ongoing"

As far as control of site properties go, the state says it has obtained title to all 242 parcels, although 2 offers are still being considered (seemingly for "critical activity" properties "LSU435 LSU-43"). There are also a few specific notes about things that were supposed to happen in July:

The Notice to Proceed for the abatement and demolition of the Pallas Hotel should be issued the week of July 18th
.
BOH is scheduled to start relocating homes in early July

Issues with differences in the elevation of the VAMC and UMC sites at S. Galvez are also noted:

The City issued road profiles for review by the State in determining the resolution for the elevation difference between the UMC and VAMC sites at Galvez Street. Upon completion of the review follow-up meetings will be scheduled.

What are the overall issues and concerns raised? These - mostly about delay, funding, and the nettlesome high voltage power line that crosses the site:

● The Master Schedule has been adjusted to reflect the impacts of
the CM delivery approval, funding requirements, site
surcharge/wicking requirements, and Clerk’s Office of the Civil
District Court computer problems.
● The Financial Feasibility Study is still being developed as part of
the HUD requirements and is critical to funding the full GMP.
● Construction price escalation impact to the AFC budget due to
delays.
● Impact of medical equipment and utility building costs on the
overall program budget.
● The proposed route for the relocation of the 230kV line was
walked with Entergy on May 11
th
. A general agreement was
reached to locate the poles in the tree line within the public rightof-way. Details are being worked out.
● A schedule delay exists between Entergy’s proposed duration of
the installation of the 230kV line and the scheduled completion
date of March 2012.
● Ongoing coordination with City of New Orleans and franchise
managers to identify the existing utilities and determine the route
for new utilities

The power line issue comes up again and again throughout the report. Locate it in the treeline? Along Canal (what other tree-line is left on the UMC site?) - that will look horrible.

On the demolitions front, the number employed by the contractors for the UMC site is quite high:

● Site Demolition: Coordination and oversight of the UMC demolition and site preparation activities. 177 demolitions have been completed and the sites are ready for construction.

Looking at site prep budgets, it looks like nearly 25% of the real estate/demolition budget had not been committed or used as of June 2011. That left a large sum in place:

$18,275,994.00

And then, there's always this - a sort of summary of the reason the UMC hasn't gone away as an issue. Namely, it's the continued uncertainty on so many fronts regarding the project:

Site development: The schedule is continuously being updated to identify issues/concerns with regards to the UMC site.

Tracking funding to restore the moved houses

2011-08-09T11:26:00.000-05:00

Here are two items that popped up recently that pertain to the need to restore some of the scores of houses moved from the VA Footprint:

The City is requesting a release of $6 million in federal funds from the LA OCD. Enterprise Community Partners will administer the program, a "Construction Take-Out Loan Program." The program will finance loans to developers and individuals rehabilitating single-family and two-unit homes.

Importantly, "Structures relocated from the VAMC and UMC sites will receive first priority for construction (rehabilitation) loans."

It's interesting, too, that the notice also serves as a "Finding of No Significant Impact" - and mentions NEPA, but not Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (unless one discerns it in "NEPA and related laws and authorities").

-----

Here's the other item - a proposed allocation of $7 million to rehabilitate the moved houses located in the City's 2011 "Consolidated Plan" for use of its HUD CDBG dollars:

Creole on the Corner

2011-08-09T10:10:00.000-05:00

The two remaining houses in the 300 block of S. Roman Street, inside the LSU Footprint, were wrapped as of last evening. The small shed behind the house on the left has been demolished. Humble Rumble's former house - a shallow double shotgun - is on the right.

The diminutive house on the left, a corner property with deep eaves overhanging, is 301 S. Roman, a structure with creole influences and several architectural elements that indicate a date of construction from around the time of the Civil War, if not before.

The house's location in the lower part of the LSU Footprint aligns with an earlier construction date, as the part of the footprint closest to the river was settled first as pumps progressively made more land available for construction.

Update on Mid-City Rehab Grant Rollout

2011-08-09T08:35:00.000-05:00

Last evening, Cynthia Steward from the State Historic Preservation Office rolled out the new Mid-City Rehabilitation Grant program.

The presentation, given at the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization meeting, was largely informational and uneventful. A good crowd was in attendance, however, including a few former LSU/VA footprint residents who have since relocated to the greater Mid-City area. Several residents from the area immediately above the VA Footprint were also on hand.

A number of questions emerged at the end. One of the key points about the grant program: it's a reimbursement grant, so property owners will have to make expenditures before being reimbursed for approved work. Reimbursement for various stages is expected to take about 1 month.

Work will also be limited to exterior rehabilitation, and some Mid-City residents whose properties do not fall within the technical boundaries of the national historic district will not be eligible.

As one Mid-City resident noted after the presentation, "Finally, something good that has come out of this whole thing." She mentioned the possibility of obtaining funding for repair of her family's porch.

Here's more from the Times-Picayune, including a helpful map of the eligible district.

Sans Roofs in the LSU Footprint

2011-08-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Several of the homes being prepared for relocation out of the LSU Footprint stood without their roofs today.

More on Orleans House

2011-08-08T08:47:00.000-05:00

As I noted recently, what appears to be renovation work began on Orleans House, an 1880s mansion at 1800 Canal Street. The parcel is inside the UMC or LSU Footprint, but the Office of Facilities and Planning Control has shown the building "still standing" after construction of the UMC in its various presentations at City Hall here in New Orleans in the past year or so. Still, as with many aspects of this project, uncertainty about the ultimate fate of the building remains because the Programmatic Agreement for the LSU/VA project speaks to a number of possible different outcomes for the historic building.

Fortunately, at present, all outward signs point to the building remaining intact and benefiting from repair work.

Additional research shows that the property at 1800 Canal was transferred this spring on the Ides of March, March 15, 2011. This came several months after the heels of Omni Bank's attempt to have the building sold at sheriff sale back in November of 2010. The building was ultimately pulled from the list before auction and the building then went up for sale in December 2010.

Orleans Parish Assessor's records indicate that RKG Enterprises, LLC and SLH Holdings, LLC are now the owners - after paying $330,000 in March, more than $100,000 below the total assessed value for the 2011:

A look at the Secretary of State's website shows the following listing for RKG Enterprises, LLC:

Per one source:

"Roy Madere Jr., a former Hubbard business partner, and Mike Knox, a man formerly employed by Hubbard Enterprises, founded RAMJ Construction."

Secretary of State records reflect that Madere is also the listed agent and member for RAMJ Construction, LLC, which was founded in October 2009:

RAMJ Construction has been involved in the site preparation in both the VA and LSU Footprints. Here, someone notes the many RAMJ connections to Hubbard Enterprises.

SLH Holdings, LLC does not appear in the Louisiana Secretary of State registry. There are a number of similarly named Louisiana corporations, but no exact match. There is an entity by the same name registered in Florida.

The roofs come off

2011-08-06T17:26:00.001-05:00

As I drove by on the I-10 today, I saw crews removing the roof of at least one UMC house...

Echoes in the Past: June 5, 1935 - Big Buildings Can Be Moved

2011-08-06T07:02:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how many people have told me they don't believe that McDonogh No. 11 School can be moved. I tell them that it most certainly can.

And looking back, as a good, anonymous friend of the blog did, reveals a perfect example in timeline of the Charity Hospital complex itself. Here's the story from June 5 of 1935, before Big Charity itself was even constructed:

"the unique academic experience that students have come to expect"

2011-08-05T16:04:00.000-05:00

Is that the unique experience of moving campuses multiple times in four years...only to get kicked out of your school at Christmas for a project without financing or a business plan...and then get moved to modular units far away?

The long, sad saga of Priestley Charter School continues beyond it's time at McDonogh No. 11 School in the LSU Footprint:

The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) announced on July 21, 2011, that Priestley Charter School of Architecture and Construction will be re-named Architecture Design Engineering Preparatory High School (ADEP High).

In late 2010, the Priestley Board of Directors voted to relinquish its charter to OPSB, citing ongoing concerns over finances and enrollment. ADEP High, located at 4300 Almonaster Ave., is now being run as a traditional school under the OPSB, with open enrollment for the 2011-2012 school year.

Gift-Wrapping

2011-08-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

I hope there's been a chance for documentation of Olreans House fully before its renovation - which seems to be underway.

I'm still not clear as to who owns the building at this point. But here's the relevant Programmatic Agreement provision if the state's Facilities Planning and Control office is doing the work:

Demo Diva Dumpsters and Tough Skanska Trucks

2011-08-05T15:45:00.000-05:00

For the past week or so, crews have been working inside the former HIV Outpatient Clinic building in the UMC Footprint. Note the license plate and other details.

UMC Board crawfishes yet again - delays Sept. meeting

2011-08-04T17:04:00.000-05:00

Seriously. This comes after cancelling the August meeting set for today.

Things are getting curioser and curioser:

6,300 flyers

2011-08-04T07:07:00.000-05:00

*Submitted photo.

The mysterious BioDistrict walker, going door-to-door, delivered 6,300 flyers to houses and businesses in the 1,500-acre BioDistrict New Orleans in the past week or two. Pretty incredible.

The mainstream media's continued refusal to cover the months-old controversy surrounding the BioDistrict is similarly incredible.

Work suddenly begins on Orleans House

2011-08-03T17:47:00.000-05:00

Brackets and other items were being removed today from the Orleans House mansion at 1800 Canal in the LSU Footprint. I was quite concerned as I drove by and noticed it. Two "No Trespassing" signs popped up as well.

Two workers wrapping up for the day informed me that the building is not being taken down, but is instead being renovated. Let's hope.

Finalized Details on Mid-City Mitigation Grant Program

2011-08-03T14:28:00.000-05:00

Here, via the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation.

The full roll-out of the program is set for the August 8, 2011 Mid-City Neighborhood Organization meeting:

August 8, 2011
6:30 PM
Grace Episcopal Church
3700 Canal Street

The program is designed to award rehabilitation grants to owners of historic properties in the Mid-City National Register Historic District.

As I noted in my earlier post providing the first public details of the grant, the program was set up as part of the Programmatic Agreement that governs the LSU/VA project.

Rooftop removal reprised

2011-08-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

Fox8 and The Lens took a look at the houses moved from the VA Footprint last evening (here and here).

The good news? A majority of the homes have had their roofs restored and the bulk of them are secured. Some of the moved houses, like Wally Thurman's former home, which is now located in Central City, are almost entirely complete.

The bad news? Approximately 28 of the properties, including 21 in Hoffman Triangle, have not had their roofs restored. And many of those, like the former home of Kevin Krause and Bobbi Rogers, are in generally poor condition.

As someone who advocated strongly for moving houses as an alternative to mass demolition in the VA Footprint, it's truly a shame to see the deplorable state of some of the houses. I did not push for moving houses after tearing their roofs off. Nor did I push for moving houses and then leaving them sit in a blighted state for months on end. Despite providing all kinds of input and suggestions on how to do things right, I've seen that the follow-thru on the part of the contracting parties involved just isn't cutting it.

The worst news, however? According to the piece in The Lens, the dozen or so houses set to be moved off the LSU Footprint WILL have their roofs removed. That's a really bad idea, something I've warned numerous involved parties against. It's going to lead to additional problems. It's also troubling to hear that neither the city nor BOH will release the destination lots; if they are still trying to secure lots, they should say just that - and they should ask for help.

I want the house moving effort to succeed, and I have done what I could to try to suggest better ways to go about moving in the LSU Footprint based on the lessons of the VA moves. But the continued delay in resolving issues surrounding the VA houses continues to threaten the legitimacy of the entire effort.

As signs come down

2011-08-03T13:43:00.002-05:00

The Schadler Building at 1909 Tulane Avenue, in the LSU Footprint, housed Southern Electronics Supply until recently. The sleek modernist lettering was removed from a spot near the front door. Why Schadler?

Southern Electronics Supply was founded in 1932 as Southern Radio Supply by Alfons Schadler, a German immigrant with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He was forced into making this move because of losing his job during the Great Depression. The company has grown over the years into one of the most successful regional distributors in North America!

New Orleans tax rolls lose $45 million worth of property due to LSU/VA project

2011-08-03T07:52:00.001-05:00

From a chilling caption in today's Times-Picayune:

About $45 million worth of real estate fell off the tax roll this year because of the clearing of more than 70 acres in Mid-City to make way for a new state teaching hospital and a new federal hospital for veterans.

Think not only of that figure. Think of how much room that overall value figure had to grow based on the fact that many of the properties in the Footprint were still revitalizing and coming back online after the storm when they were stopped cold by a 2007 city-imposed building and repair moratorium.

More importantly, think of that figure multiplied by five years of non-collection. By 10 years. By 50 years. The lost revenue to a city that is repeatedly facing budgetary problems and a shrunken population has been exacerbated by the LSU/VA project, and it's a problem that will compound over time. And this staggering loss will happen despite the fact that the state owns Charity Hospital as we speak, which could have prevented the destruction of a great many of the Lower Mid-City taxable parcels involved.

The Assessor's comments about some compensation from the increased value of properties nearby along Tulane Avenue offer little consolation. Their ultimate values depend on the project being completed - and the UMC hospital does not have the resources necessary at this time - years after it should have had its ducks in a row. The values along Tulane Avenue come with built in speculative risks. And they're built on the backs of people who wrongly had their properties expropriated for projects that took more land than they needed - because sprawling, mid-rise suburban-style designs were insisted upon.

There's also the fact that some of the property owners who had their properties seized still have not been compensated. I just received an email last night from one former VA property owner who told me "And no I never got paid for my house on Palmyra.... Yet."

Yet another glaring example of how bull-headed, destructive, and short-sighted this project has been from the start...rears its head.

Incredibly ill-advised

2011-08-03T07:23:00.000-05:00

You heard it here first, but Fox8 News traces the hectic and premature departure of the Blood Center, long located in the proposed LSU Footprint, to a temporary facility in an old car dealership in The East:

"It's just hard to sit here and watch it. We put so much into that facility. This is my life," said Blood Center President Billy Wheales. It's really mind boggling for me considering we have been here for more than 50 years."

The state gave the Blood Center an August 1st deadline to be out of the remainder of the building.

This has made for a hectic few weeks and an unusual move to New Orleans East to the site of an old car dealership. For a facility that supplies the entire region with blood, it's been a challenging transition," he says.

And there you have it. Functionally, by forcing the Blood Center out of the site unnecessarily, the State of Louisiana, LSU, and the UMC Board have jeopardized the blood supply, an important aspect of the metro region's healthcare.

The site plan for the UMC could have easily incoporated the Blood Center facility, but as with McDonogh No. 11 and Deutsches Haus, it decidedly quite forcefully not to do so. There was no reason to weaken or put the blood supply at risk when the land the facility sat on was not essential to building the proposed medical complex - a hospital that does not have adequate financing or a business plan.

As with so many aspects of this process, I'm forced to sit back and ask rhetorically, once again...where are the adults in the room? Can someone tell me what is really driving all this belligerent insistence? One can look at land, at power, at financial greed...but this just does not make any sense.

What happened last week at the UMC event in Kenner?

2011-08-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

This, courtesy of a friend (after the break):

"On July 27, the Jefferson Chamber will host an informative session on the economic impact of the new University Medical Center in New Orleans."

The UMC Economic Impact Forum was divided into a three-part presentation. First, Dr. Fred Cerise, who developed the current plan for the LSU Medical Center, outlined the background of the project and addressed some of the arguments against his plan. Next, Mr. Tom Rish spoke about the project planning, including the overall goals of the project. Last, Skanska/MAPP, the construction management company, discussed their vision on managing and coordinating the construction of the center.

Dr. Cerise began by giving an overview of the center itself, emphasizing how the medical center will be supporting research and serve as an academic center for medical students. He began with this point to address the “bed” issue right off the bat, and he stated that the top academic medical centers have more than 700 beds to adequately support research and the academic needs of medical students. In order to attract the top students to New Orleans and the UMC, he argued, a top-of-the-line medical center needs to be built, and the 424-bed hospital is absolutely necessary. He seemed completely opposed to scaling down the project because it would lessen the academic appeal of the center and make it more difficult to recruit students nationwide. There was a proposal to have the center spread across several hospitals, which would have allowed the medical students the large number of beds without saturating the market by putting 400+ beds in the UMC building, but Dr. Cerise was opposed to this proposal because “a single model” is more attractive to students, rather than a complex of several hospitals spread throughout the city. Moving on from the bed issue, he then discussed the finances of the project, and stated that of the $1.2 billion necessary to finance the Center, approximately $900 million has already been earmarked for the project. He stated that they are anticipating more FEMA funds to finance the project, and that he will not “sacrifice the overall integrity and scale” of the Center just because the additional FEMA funds have not been confirmed yet. He ended by saying there is a demand for the 424-bed facility, both in the academic world and in New Orleans itself for the healthcare of its people.

Next, Mr. Tom Rish, Senior project manager, spoke on the more pragmatic details of the project. The only significant topics he mentioned in terms of the controversy was that one of the goals of the project is to “be a good neighbor,” and that they are committed to being “conscious of the needs of the surrounding community.” In his discussion of being a “good neighbor,” he mentioned that of the parcels in the footprint of the center, 181 have been cleared (either by being moved or by demolition), 55 are in the demolition process, and 6 are awaiting possession. The rest of his talk focused on the layout and construction of the building itself, go give the people in attendance a preview of what the center will look like when completed.

Lastly, there was a presentation by Skanska/MAPP, the two contractors in control of the construction of the project. The head of Skanksa, which manages construction, gave a pitch about their company and how they expect the construction of the project to unfold. This part of the talk was mainly targeted towards people in attendance interested in bidding on different aspects of the construction of the building, and after he finished his pitch, they briefly offered to answer any questions about the project. One man in the audience [apparently Rep. Cameron Henry] asked Dr. Cerise about the bed issue again. Earlier in the presentation, Dr. Cerise had mentioned several facilities that had introduced 700-bed hospitals, and the man in the audience asked if these centers were phased into their cities, or if all 700 beds were implemented at the same time, and if so, what kind of impact that had in those areas. Dr. Cerise avoided the question by talking again about how such a large facility is necessary to attract top medical students, and the head of the board of LSU Medical School then stood up and reiterated the same point, but in a slightly more antagonistic way. He then asked if he answered the man’s question, to which he replied, “No,” asked it again, and got essentially the same answer. At that point, the man in charge of the presentation said that it was 10:00, so we had run out of time for questions, and ended the presentation.

Overall, the presentation was very focused on limiting any negative attention that the project has received. The majority of it was spent on the Skanska/MAPP portion, which does not have anything to do with the either economic impact or the controversies associated with the project. Dr. Cerise’s talk focused on the advantages of building a top-tier medical center and glossed over the financial issues the undertaking has presented, and Mr. Rish’s presentation was primarily on the physical layout of the center and the amenities it will provide when it is finally constructed.

Robert Lashes Out

2011-08-02T15:39:00.000-05:00

A strong proponent of re-using Charity Hospital - and opposing the excess of BioDistrict New Orleans - had this, among many other things, to say as he resigned from a neighborhood group in protest:

"Where are the City Council and the Mayors in all this? The question must be asked. I prefer to think they have been misled by glamorous promises of a new medical center and fail to understand that all those promises can be fulfilled by rehabilitating the Historic Medical Center. It is time for them to defend the City against a rabidly aggressive LSU and the State an d tremember we can have both contemporary development and historic preservation at the same time."