Here, per the Times-Picayune.
And WWLTV, the source cited by the Times-Pic:
“We do not know if it is possible to move McDonough No. 11, and, if not, we hope the State will incorporate the building into the new hospital as we have long suggested.” Moran said.
Regular readers of this blog knew almost a month and a half ago that OPSB was mounting a legal challenge to the state's compensation for McDonogh No. 11.
Showing posts with label just compensation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label just compensation. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
OPSB Fighting State on McDonogh No. 11 School
Rumblings emerged several weeks ago, but on Thursday, at a preservation event, things became a bit more clear.
The Orleans Parish School Board is currently fighting the state, legally, over the amount of compensation proposed for McDonogh No. 11 School in the LSU Footprint.
According to OPSB officials, the state is apparently offering or valuing the building at $2 million, but the state is seeking replacement cost - the cost to building another school - because it was a public facility. OPSB says the replacment cost is $26-$30 million. Just a slight difference. A total of approximately $7 million was spent renovating the 1879 school building in the preceding decade - $3 million prior to the storm and $4 million after.
It does not appear that OPSB is looking to retain the school on into the future or prevent demolition; it is simply seeking what it feels is just compensation for the property in the path of the proposed hospital. As you likely recall, the students of what was Priestley Charter School were forced out of the school over the holidays and are now attending modular units out on Almonaster Avenue. A major New Orleans law firm has been retained by the OPSB, although the building had not technically been expropriated as of last Thursday evening. Despite that fact, the state's contractors were onhand as Cox cut various lines going to the school building some weeks ago.
I do not claim to be an expert in the nuances of Louisiana's law regarding eminent domain by one public entity against another. But one figure close to the story noted on Thursday that the fact that the state was expropriating a public building mean that the legal uncertainties could result in "OPSB simply expropriating it back" - which sounded pretty interesting. I am not aware of OPSB's expropriation powers - or if it has "quick take" authority like the LSU Board of Supervisors, the entity expropriating properties in the Footprint.
I also learned that the School Board intends to give the stone marker above the door at McDonogh No. 11 to the city's firefighters - it commemorates the death of two firefighters who died in the line of duty fighting the blaze that destroyed the Madison School, an earlier building on the site.
The Orleans Parish School Board is currently fighting the state, legally, over the amount of compensation proposed for McDonogh No. 11 School in the LSU Footprint.
According to OPSB officials, the state is apparently offering or valuing the building at $2 million, but the state is seeking replacement cost - the cost to building another school - because it was a public facility. OPSB says the replacment cost is $26-$30 million. Just a slight difference. A total of approximately $7 million was spent renovating the 1879 school building in the preceding decade - $3 million prior to the storm and $4 million after.
It does not appear that OPSB is looking to retain the school on into the future or prevent demolition; it is simply seeking what it feels is just compensation for the property in the path of the proposed hospital. As you likely recall, the students of what was Priestley Charter School were forced out of the school over the holidays and are now attending modular units out on Almonaster Avenue. A major New Orleans law firm has been retained by the OPSB, although the building had not technically been expropriated as of last Thursday evening. Despite that fact, the state's contractors were onhand as Cox cut various lines going to the school building some weeks ago.
I do not claim to be an expert in the nuances of Louisiana's law regarding eminent domain by one public entity against another. But one figure close to the story noted on Thursday that the fact that the state was expropriating a public building mean that the legal uncertainties could result in "OPSB simply expropriating it back" - which sounded pretty interesting. I am not aware of OPSB's expropriation powers - or if it has "quick take" authority like the LSU Board of Supervisors, the entity expropriating properties in the Footprint.
I also learned that the School Board intends to give the stone marker above the door at McDonogh No. 11 to the city's firefighters - it commemorates the death of two firefighters who died in the line of duty fighting the blaze that destroyed the Madison School, an earlier building on the site.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
All Alone
The one-time home of Robert Rogers stands alone on the last remnant of Palmyra Street left intact inside the VA Hospital Footprint.
Rogers fought (and seemingly continues to fight) bitterly against the pressure to force him out - especially after he found out that the person who had occupied the other half the shotgun got more compensation than he did.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Fight for Just Compensation
Fox8 reports on the trials and travails of several VA Footprint residents...some of whom had to file suit in federal court last week to get what they considered a fair offer.
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