State of Louisiana Threatens Remaining VA Footprint Residents

While it's couched in concerned language and talk of outreach and support, the State Division of Administration's release today serves a darker underlying purpose as an unspoken warning shot across the bows of remaining residents and especially the 12 properties that it has not yet acquired or expropriated in the VA Footprint.

The real message: we're coming, we're going to make it impossible for you to persist even if you still own your property.

No matter how much outreach the state does or what it provides upon request later on, the bottom line is still very clear.  People are still living lawfully in the VA Footprint and the state is going in to disrupt basic, essential services.  An unelected state agency is more concerned with completing a development project for a federal agency than it is about the state's citizens.

State of Louisiana

Division of Administration

Office of the Commissioner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 13, 2010

Contact: Michael DiResto, 225-342-7158

State to begin utilities infrastructure removal for VA hospital site preparation

BATON ROUGE – The state Office of Facility Planning today began outreach efforts to the remaining residents in the new VA Hospital footprint in the Mid-City area of New Orleans, informing them in advance that removal of utilities infrastructure will begin next week and that all utilities – which includes electricity, gas, water, sewerage, and phone service – will be disconnected by Friday, October 28.

After that date, any residents in the footprint of the VA Hospital will be provided access to temporary utilities service, which will be provided upon request. While the state has acquired 182, or 94 percent, of the 194 properties in the hospital footprint boundaries between Tulane to Canal and Galvez to Rocheblave, state officials anticipate that the utilities disconnection may impact about half a dozen properties.

“We are committed to fulfilling our agreement with the Veterans Administration to provide them the hospital site by November 30, which entails removal of all utilities infrastructure, clearing all properties, and having the land prepared for construction by that time,” said Jerry Jones, Assistant Commissioner of Administration.

Jones said that removal of all utilities infrastructure in the area is expected to take up to six weeks.

“At the same time, I want to make sure we fully inform everyone, so we are going door to door in the hospital footprint to tell people about our plans to disconnect utilities. We are particularly focused on people who still have legal rights to be in the footprint area. We are doing everything we can to help them with relocation and housing assistance. We have also made arrangements to provide temporary utilities services should some people decide to remain in the area beyond October 28th.”

ADDED: For the record, I do recognize that this press release may help with the effort of getting notice out to residents, even if I do disagree deeply with the timeline and approach.  My comments may seem rather bitter, but I would encourage you to step into the shoes of one of the residents: how would you like it if this happened to you and your home?  That's always been a touchstone for me in this entire affair.   

Many proponents of the hospitals project like to portray anyone who questions its advance as an obstructionist.  That's an unfair framing of the issue.  The abysmal site selection created the need for people to be obstructionists just to ensure that their rights and the rights of others weren't violated.

On the LSU Footprint Side

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VA Footprint Acqusitions: Ms. Brenda Breaux's Update

As you can see, there are very few properties left to squeeze out.

A total of 91 properties have been acquired by expropriation (eminent domain) to date - in the VA Footprint alone.  That's not counting whatever LSU has expropriated in the LSU Footprint.  And, from the tail end of the list, one can see that more expropriations are coming. 

What is expropriation?  It's not simply a benign tool for making a project happen.

Imagine living in a house for much of your life.  Your children were born there, you rebuilt after Katrina.  Someone comes along from the state intent on buying your property.  You don't want to move.  You negotiate to get a higher price, one you believe you deserve.  There's some bargaining, but ultimately the state thinks your asking price is too high.  The state then files a notice with a court, deposits an amount it thinks appropriate, and tells you that you have so many days to leave whether you want to or not.  The City Council talks about having extensive hearings...after the deed is done.

That, in a greatly simplified nutshell, is how expropriation has proceeded in the VA Footprint.  And, while I wouldn't wish it on anyone, perhaps Ms. Breaux, too, will experience the joys of expropriation firsthand some day.

It's also interesting to see that the Dixie Brewery parcels are still hanging out there.  They have not yet been acquired.  Yesterday, I happened to encounter the owners of the properties on site.

Ms. Breaux also reported on the number of demolitions and moves in the Footprint, and they were different from my own tabulation - likely due to a few outbuildings or connected residence/business spaces that I did not include in my numbers.  Roughly speaking, though, as of this weekend, approximately 30 structures have been demolished and 30 have been moved off the VA Footprint site.

Prices Paid by State to Acquire Properties in the VA and LSU Footprints

Taxpayer Funds Expended to Acquire Homes 

- Some listed homes demolished, all others destined for landfill after salvage unless moving plan comes to fruition


*This post is a work in progress.  It will be updated as data is added, and I'll place a link on the sidebar for "Property Acquisition Costs to Taxpayers."  The list is intended to a) account for the waste of taxpayer dollars in acquiring properties, and b) monitor home prices to ensure just compensation.


VA FOOTPRINT

2421-23 Banks (DEMOLISHED):  $178,000            + Photo of House

2422-24 Palmyra (DEMOLISHED): $248,000         + Photo of House

300-02 S. Miro:  $40,000                  + Photo of House

325 S. Tonti (DEMOLISHED): $39,500      + Photo of House

327 S. Tonti:  $8,300

2336 Cleveland: $65,000    + Photo of House

2412 Palmyra: $37,000      + Photo of House

229 S. Galvez: $95,000      + Photo of House

232-34 S. Miro: $227,051    + Photo of House

319 S. Tonti (DEMOLISHED): $135,000             + Photo of House

2420 Palmyra (DEMOLISHED): $124,000           + Photo of House

310-12 S. Miro: $135,000   + Photo of House

2410-12 Cleveland (DEMOLISHED): $75,000    + Photo of House

321 S. Galvez: $210,000    + Photo of House

2205 Banks Street: $200,000

2217 Banks Street: $47,000

2319 Palmyra Street: $230,000    + Photo of House

319 S. Galvez: $54,568    

314-16 Rocheblave: $114,000    

217 S. Tonti: $164,304    + Photo of House

2307-09 Banks: $404,854

2311-13 Banks: $72,413

2315-17 Banks: $443,795

2411-13 Banks: $160,000

2324 Canal + 2330 Canal + 2317 Cleveland: $3,942,000

2224 Cleveland: $141,933

2314 Cleveland: $70,192

2217 -19 Palmyra: $229,150

2323 Palmyra: $250,000

2419-21 Palmyra: $136,000

2434 Palmyra: $230,000

301-03 S. Galvez + 2212-14 Palmyra: No value stated.  Transferor: Willie H. Franklin Sr.

305-07 S. Galvez: $18,150

311-13 S. Galvez: $162,000

2323 Tulane: $82,000

2316 Palmyra: $350,083

239-41 S. Galvez: $244,552

228-30 S. Tonti: $51,000

2430 Cleveland Avenue: $164,520

2416 Cleveland Avenue: $136,000

212-14 S. Tonti: $226,512

224 S. Tonti Street: $143,068

318 S. Rocheblave Street: $19,500

322-24 S. Miro Street: $43,000
 

LSU FOOTPRINT

218 S. Prieur:  $165,000                   + Photo of House

236 S. Galvez: $8,104

240 S. Galvez: $20,293

1925 Cleveland Avenue (listed as Street in Times-Pic): $165,697

1926 Cleveland Avenue: $330,000

Palmyra St. 1918-20, 1924-26-28, 1932-34, 1938; S. Prieur St. 314-16-18, 322-24; Tulane Ave. 1919-21, 1927, 1935, 1939 – no value stated, New Orleans Medical Complex to LSU Supervisors

303-05 S. Roman St.  - $83K, Herman Jerome Scott to LSU Supervisors

2105 Cleveland ave. – $375K Cox Communications to LSU

2109 Cleveland Ave.  - $195K Cox to LSU

1919-23 Cleveland ave.  - $65,252 Janice R Manuel to LSU

2122 Cleveland Ave., S. Galvez St. 200,218, 220 - $517,100 Deutsches Haus to LSU

2028-30 Palmyra: Louisiana Land Trust to LSU Board of Sup. and Div. of Administration Office of the Governor - no value stated.

1808-10 Cleveland Avenue: $35,700

Status of Acquisitions

As the VA seeks to break ground symbolically tomorrow, it's interesting to look at the status of property acquisitions in the footprints for the proposed medical complexes.

Here are the numbers for private property acquisition as of May 2010, the most recent I could find, per a report by the contractor, as linked to by the Louisiana Department of Administration:

VA Footprint:

 25 closings completed out of 194 total parcels to acquire.

LSU Footprint:

10 closings completed out of 245 parcels to acquire.


If anyone has more up to date figures, I would like to see them.  But it seems there's still a rather long way to go.