"We wanna build what we wanna be and not go back to the past."

What a silly statement.  That was Dr. Karen DeSalvo's comment on the proposed UMC at yesterday's UMC Board meeting on behalf of Mayor Landrieu.

As usual, this very un-New Orleans comment either reflects the Mayor's failure to grasp the concept of creating an entirely modern hospital facility inside the sound shell of an existing structure or, more likely, his willful attempt to kill the back-to-Charity move because of some unstated motive that's driving him to be so aggressive.  It certainly can't be driven by a push for jobs - because many jobs would be created either way.  Perhaps it's a desire for actual control of the Charity building...several months ago, a BioDistrict board meeting did reveal that the City had told the BioDistrict to back off from its interest in the giant structure on Tulane Avenue.

The DeSalvo statement is a bit disingenuous, too, because it implies that somehow the facility's form of care and range of services provided would not be any different from those provided before the storm at Charity Hospital just because of the location.   It's been very clear that UMC backers, especially in all their Houston and Birmingham envy, are calling for a different model when it comes to "what's inside" the UMC complex.

Finally, for someone who loves to talk about all the innovation in New Orleans in the post-storm era, it's sad to see the Mayor so gung ho about supporting a very old-school, 1950s-style, scorched earth, "urban renewal" push in Lower Mid-City.  The continued state-led destruction of the buildings and neighborhood there touched off in fall of 2010 and has been one of the least innovative things to unfold in the wake of the storm.  The outdated urban renewal model has been proven destructive and short-sighted time and time again.

Echoes of Robert Moses...in the UMC Footprint

"Before construction was to start, the state of New York hired an engineering firm, Day and Zimmerman, to study the feasibility of adding a mass transit line along the road's right of way.  Moses was so alarmed at the prospect of trains cluttering up his highway that he ordered construction to start before the report could be issued, borrowing $20 million from the Triborough Authority's slush fund to do so.  By the time Day and Zimmerman issued their report - which, of course, recommended the addition of a rail line - the subject was moot because to incorporate it would require the demolition of the work already completed."


"Moses also learned the trick of misleading the state legislature to get his projects underway.  He called it "stake driving."  He would grossly underestimate the cost of a project to get it underway fast.  Then he'd blackmail politicians into funding the rest, saying that their ignorance about the real cost of the project made them derelict in their duty and unfit for office."

*Both excerpts from James Kunstler's "The Geography of Nowhere"

We're seeing a loosely analogous "inevitability" situation play out - demolish away until there's no other option than to proceed.  But we'll see if the politicians in Baton Rouge ultimately play along with that set up.

It Could Happen Here - The East Baltimore Example

After displacing 600 people, razing a neighborhood, and sitting in limbo for ten years, "The New East Baltimore," a biotech park in Maryland, has failed.  Questions swirling around the proposed development have now led to investigative hearings.

The many parallels to the LSU/VA hospital complex - and the 1,500-acre BioDistrict New Orleans that engulfs the complex - are troubling. 

Here's some audio on the big failure.

Here's the massive investigative reporting series by The Daily Record.  Here's a good place to start.

An Open Note to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan as he visits New Orleans today

Dear Secretary Donovan,

As you visit New Orleans today, I hope you'll take a moment away from your time mingling with the BioDistrict staff to visit Lower Mid-City.  There, you'll see the true urban devastation that HUD has wrought in a National Register Historic District, in a dense, mixed neighborhood that was rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.  Along with other government entities, HUD helped to finance the project.

I also hope you'll finally address the extensive HUD administrative complaint about the agency's involvement in the LSU/VA project.  It was filed by local attorney Mary Howell months ago, and, for all intents and purposes, it has effectively been negated by sheer inaction.

I hope, too, that your visit includes a tour of the over 20 structures demolished in the site of the proposed UMC Hospital despite inadequate financing, especially that one that was demolished after the UMC Board's own consultant provided it and the state's project officials with notice that additional site preparation moves would jeopardize HUD mortgage insurance.  Take a look at the incredibly poor UMC design, which does not make any effort to design around historic buildings like the beautiful McDonogh No. 11 School, which shows that the footprint for the proposed hospital is excessive.

You said in August of 2010, writing about the Gulf Coast recovery, that "the Obama Administration is committed to doing things differently in the Gulf."  Differently than what?  HUD's involvement in the LSU/VA Hospital affair has shown the Obama Administration to be no different than the misguided "urban renewal" advocates of the 1950s and 1960s.  Displacing over 500 residents by supporting a project that did not require the destruction of 67 acres of land is the antithesis of sound housing policy.  Helping major institutional tenants vacate the historic downtown to do just that is the antithesis of good urban policy.  HUD's support of this hospitals project is without a doubt a stain upon its reputation.

Photo courtesy of Sandra Stokes.

Go and see the HUD-funded moonscape in Lower Mid-City.  And ask to see the BioDistrict's "consolidated scheme" map which envisions the pocket historic neighborhood across Tulane Avenue along Gravier Street getting destroyed in much the same way.  Ask the BioDistrict why it needs 1,500 acres of historic cityscape.

HUD and the Obama Administration should be doing things differently.  But unfortunately, that very clearly hasn't been the case.

"planning on a scale that resembles the worst of the urban renewal era."

New Urban News published a great piece today about the failings of the LSU/VA hospital site in Lower Mid-City.

The blog post/article quotes a number of the individuals most intimately familiar with the drawbacks of the project - and links to this blog.

While I think the house moving aspect of the project was ultimately a positive - even if the roofs did have to come off because of serious time constraints - the piece nevertheless gives a better understanding of the laundry list of concerns the continue to encircle the site.

Christian Science Monitor Writes Story On LSU/VA Hospital Project

While the piece, which appeared online today, focuses on the house moving - one of only two moves where the owner went "with the house," the piece does get to some of the stark realities:

"Soon, this area will be flat as a prairie. Everything that once was Lower Mid-City is being dismantled, including the streets, lampposts, curbs, electric lines, and sidewalks."

I should note that this piece is not just a reprint of the AP story that I noted earlier today - it's a separate article that the Christian Science Monitor wrote, which just happened to come out on the same day (although interestingly...people working on the story for the publication were in the VA Footprint weeks ago).

AP Story on VA Hospital Footprint Appears on sites of Washington Post, Fox News

A mainstream media reporter from the AP shows that he gets it - he sees the story of the VA Hospital Footprint for what it is - an attempt at urban renewal that has consequences for people who were simply trying to get back on track following a major disaster.

The headline alone shows a deeper understanding of the sad irony involved in the project than many of the pieces from media outlets thus far: "Neighborhood survives Katrina - not urban renewal"