Dust Bowling

Large clouds of dust rolled across the bleak expanse of VA Hospital footprint this afternoon, driven by high winds.

Along S. Rocheblave

This evening, I was out photographing the S.W. Green Mansion along the edge of the VA Hospital Footprint.  High winds were blowing dust everywhere when I encountered Ms. D standing outside her residence.  She told me about the many inconveniences that have piled up for the people living just outside the footprint - the people who weren't planned for.  She was quite upset, and said she recently had to go to the hospital due to breathing problems she blamed on the site preparation just across the street where tons of river sand have been placed as fill on the roughly 30 acres of cleared land.


Her neighbor, also upset, asked me to wait a minute.  When he returned, he laid out a long row of medications and said that all of his troubles stem from the hospital project work across the street - and the dirt road track that passes for a street itself.  He insisted that I take a photo.

Another neighbor is actually a construction worker - and he, too, pointed out the many failings of the site preparation work when it came to inconveniencing and endangering neighbors.

Poor Derrick Morrison, who was flyering the area for the Committee to Reopen Charity, got an earful from the residents - who peppered him with complaints and questions about problems that were not his doing.  The dust, the lack of sidewalks, the gaping open holes, the vibrations, the occasional intense lights shining in windows at night, the occasional pitch darkness, construction debris and equipment in yards, the general uncertainty, etc., that were being caused by government actions - are things Derrick has consistently raised as issues for the news media and for city officials on behalf of the residents.  In fact, I'd say he's done more for the residents affected by the project than just about anyone else.

Across the way, a band of kids chanted in unison as they pretended they were in a military unit or a band and marched across the VA Footprint - with stakes of some kind in hand.

As the Sun Goes Down

Across the no man's land of the VA Footprint, in a drifting cloud of dust, workers remove the last of the debris from what used to be the second story of 2310 Palmyra Street, the artist's house.

The Fall

While it's listed as a contributing property, the one house in the VA Footprint that I was not too concerned about seeing demolished...went down yesterday.  It was in deplorable, unsalvageable condition, which was apparent to anyone, and it was riddled with termite and other damage, from what I was told.

Just Dust

The Dust Problem in the VA Footprint Site

On Tuesday evening, I went to a neighborhood meeting put on by the VA regarding the VA Footprint.  A few neighbors from the residential area peripheral to the Footprint showed up.  One of their chief grievances: the staggering amounts of dust that was being blown around and off of the site.

Several complained about having to clean off cars daily to drive them.  Two individuals asked for compensation for cleaning out their air conditioner.

Personally, as my post that day indicated, I'm familiar with the dust bowl aspect that has now come to dominate the site.  A sandy soil mixture is piled onto any lots that are cleared, and this has proven to be the genesis of much of the dust.

It's difficult to capture, but here are a few photos that convey some of the problem:

No Demolition Today

The VA Footprint and the LSU Footprint appeared quiet this afternoon.

It seems there's an ongoing effort to formalize the mechanisms of moving houses from the VA Footprint; with a number of parties involved, that makes sense.

The wind kicked up fiercely as I departed - sending up sand clouds at the very edge of the LSU Footprint near a small homeless tent encampment under the I-10 offramp.  Given the daily rains, it was strange to see dust clouds on the move.