Residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward starting to move home.
City leaders talked post-Katrina about razing houses in New Orleans’ 9th Ward to create green space in that part of the ravaged city. Residents were scattered across the states and local rents skyrocketed after the storm, making it very difficult for people to return.
But former residents pushed back from any plan to redevelop the Ninth and are actively restoring the working class neighborhood that had been home to many jazz and blues musicians. And they are doing it with or without government help.
ACORN, which is based in New Orleans, has been a unifying force in the effort to restore and rebuild the ward. With the help of volunteers and donors, it has coordinated the gutting of more than 2,000 homes and built two new homes. In the past two weeks, more than 200 college students came to town for alternative Spring Break, suited up and tore down moldy sheetrock on several houses to enable New Orleanians to come home.
The neighborhood has been home for generations and residents have taken matters into their own hands. The Los Angeles Times wrote today about the Ninth Ward’s rebirth, "Bringing back home in New Orleans."
See more at www.acorn.org/cleanout