Demolished - A New Orleans Tale

I have been auditing New Orleans city public records in an effort to understand how the building demolition process in the city has gone so haywire. I'm not sure I understand the motivations completely, but I have certainly gotten my arms around a lot more facts. And those facts are disturbing...

Two weeks ago, I announced preliminary results of my audit. I noted that over 300 properties had had their damage estimates increased above 70%, apparently in an effort by the city to hurry federally-funded demolitions before the money (and Corps-sponsored contractors) from Washington ran out. Under a city ordinance passed in April of 2006, properties to be demolished inside the Housing Conservation District (a large swath of the city designated as historically important) with damage estimates above 70% were exempt from review by the Housing Conservation District Review Committee, or HCDRC. The HCDRC is a committee made up mostly of mid-level city bureaucrats with little interest in historic preservation, but the committee at least affords neighborhood groups and concerned citizens an opportunity for input into how their neighborhood looks.

The HCDRC has jurisdiction over areas south of a line from the Jefferson Parish line at Metairie Rd to City Park Ave to Wisner Blvd to I-610 to Florida Ave at the St. Bernard Parish line. There is also a small area of HCDRC jurisdiction in Algiers, as well as in Gentilly and South Lakeview. Areas inside the Housing Conservation District already covered by local historic districts are overseen by the Vieux Carre Commission and the Historic District Landmark Commission (HDLC), and are thus exempt from the HCDRC. Also, due to the massive devastation there and a later consent decree, the Lower Ninth Ward on the lake side of North Claiborne Avenue is also exempt from HCDRC oversight.

However, everything else in that geographic region is fair game for local review. There are some exemptions for properties in danger of imminent collapse and such, but the intent is to bring as many properties as possible before the HCDRC to afford the most public input. This is as things should be in a robust democracy. But that's not how things are actually operating.

Two weeks ago, I believed that the 70% estimate increases were just the tip of the iceberg. So at that time, I said,

"I am endeavoring to account for all HCDRC-eligible demolitions which have avoided HCDRC review since June, 2006 (the earliest HCDRC agenda I have). I believe the group of "70%" properties is but a small sliver of that entire group, which I believe will probably total somewhere between 750 and 1000."

In fact, I received all the HCDRC agendas and results ever published. And I am pleased to announce that I have accounted for all residential HCDRC-eligible demolitions which have avoided review since October, 2005. The results are more troubling than I initially believed.

I audited the period from Katrina through November 22, 2007. I focused on residential demolitions, which make up the vast majority of all demolitions in the city. By cross-checking the complete list of residential demolitions against the list of HCDRC agendas, as well as determining which properties fell within the geographic boundaries of the Conservation District (making them theoretically eligible for consideration by the HCDRC), I have found the following:

- About 1570 residential demolition permits have been granted the city's Safety & Permits department (which also has the chair of HCDRC) to HCDRC-eligible properties across the city since Katrina. In that time, over 1200 of those demolitions have avoided HCDRC review. They never showed up on the HCDRC agenda to begin with. That is, over 75% of the properties which theoretically should have been locally reviewed for their impact on the historic fabric of the city simply bypassed the only opportunity for public comment, allow them to go straight to empty lots. This has made a mockery of the entire intent of the HCDRC, which was to ensure that historically important buildings were not arbitrarily demolished without public review.

- Of those approximately 1200 properties, over half (about 630) had damage estimates above 70%. According to that 2006 city ordinance I mentioned above, many of these properties (those that fall within National Register Districts, which the Conservation District overlaps in most cases) should have had their demolitions reviewed by the Historic Districts Landmark Commission (HDLC). This did not happen, bringing into question the legality of hundreds of demolitions.

- As I previously reported and have now confirmed, over half (about 330) of the approximately 630 HCDRC-eligible demo permits with damage estimates above 70% had their estimates actively increased during 2007 by Safety & Permits to reach that threshold, above which they should have been exempt from HCDRC review and shifted to HDLC. Surprisingly, over 50 of them still ended up on an HCDRC agenda.

- According to the files posted on the City's GIS website listing damage estimates, over 170  of those 1200 HCDRC-eligible demolition permits which bypassed HCDRC did so without any damage assessment at all. This is symptomatic of a larger problem of many hundreds of buildings having no damage estimate. Also, it raises the question: How could Safety & Permits determine if the property was eligible for HCDRC or HDLC review if there was no damage estimate at all?

I'm sure some with a vested interest in the status quo will come up with excuses like "The damage estimates were wrong to begin with," or "Those properties were Imminent Health Threats, and were thus exempt." The impulse when engaging in the irrevocable act of destroying a house should be toward full, correct review with legally-mandated citizen input, not expediency through exploitation of loopholes. A tremendous amount of New Orleans' economy is based upon its gigantic stock of historic homes, which is often cited as the largest in the nation. The city government should be leaning forward to ensure demolitions are conducted in a proper, above board manner, not looking for ways to hurry the process and cut residents out.

So what do these findings mean?

The HCDRC (and by extension, Safety & Permits, which compiles the HCDRC agenda) is broken and likely beyond repair. It has utterly failed as a backstop against demolition of historic structures and a forum for public comment. Can you imagine if any professional organization in the private sector only did 25% of the work it was assigned? It wouldn't receive much more work after that.
 
How long has this been going on? From the very start after the storm. The fourth and fifth demolition permits issued after the storm (for 5619 Magazine and 1714 Toledano) were for HCDRC-eligible properties, yet they did not ever go before the panel. It just went downhill from there, with over 1200 more instances in the over two years since then.

What about recently? The practices continue apace. There is another HCDRC meeting today. The agenda, released on December 4th, includes the following new business:

2500 Danneel St (commercial demo)
2427 Republic St. (residential demo)
2305 St. Roch St. (residential demo)
1701 Lafitte St - Lafitte Public Housing Complex
2850-A Magnolia St. B.W. Cooper Housing Complex
3646 Earhart Blvd A - C.J. Peete Housing Complex

Obviously the last three are huge attention-getters, and I'm sure they'll get lots of media play today. Over 150 people have shown up for today's HCDRC meeting at City Hall, which started at 10 AM CST. Normally, there's just a handfull at the meeting, including the committee members themselves.

But what gets my attention are the properties which are HCDRC-eligible, which have had demo permits generated by Safety & Permits since the last HCDRC agenda was issued on November 20th, and which do not appear on today's agenda. Some of those permits actually have the verbiage "Outside the Housing Conservation District" written right into them (such chutzpah!). Those 16 HCDRC-eligible, non-agenda properties are:

108 Portage Pl (residence)
605 N Rocheblave (residence)
609 N Rocheblave (residence)
2720 Bienville (residence)
3305 Louisiana Avenue Pkwy (residence)
2033 6th St (residence)
1610 Spain St (residence)
8830 Oleander (residence)
9438 Forshey (residence)
1405 Port (residence)
3135 N Galvez (residence)
3617 Lowerline (residence)
1838 Feliciana (residence)
3929 Erato (Florence J Chester Elementary School, 2 buildings)
1901 N Galvez (Valena C Jones Elementary School, 3 buildings)
2518 Arts (John A. Shaw Elementary School, 2 buildings)

Just for your edification, the last three are part of a batch of 22 schools the state-run Recovery School District has targeted for demolition, long before their vaunted master plan with tons of public input is completed. Most of those schools fall outside the HCDRC's jurisdiction, but the three I mentioned above, having had their demo permits pulled on November 30th, should most definitely be on today's HCDRC agenda.

Three of the 22 were on the last HCDRC agenda:

3240 Law St (Johnson C. Lockett Elementary School, 3 buildings)
5300 Law St (Lawless High School, 6 buildings)
2401 St Maurice St (Hardin Elementary School, 5 buildings)

The last one, being in the heart of the Lower Ninth Ward, was actually exempt from HCDRC jurisdiction by consent decree and shouldn't have been on the agenda.

The remainder of the schools with demo permits pulled on them are (forgive me if I get the names wrong - all I have are addresses, so I googled each to get the school names):

3059 Higgins (G.W. Carver High School, 3 buildings)
6026 Paris (Lake Area Middle School, 6 buildings, this was previously announced)
1200 Whitney (L.B. Landry High School, 5 buildings)
6519 Virgilian (Ray Abrams Elementary School, 4 buildings)
1456 Gardena (Bienville Elementary School, 3 buildings)
2401 Humanity (Stuart R. Bradley Elementary School, at least one building)
1700 Pratt (Edward hynes Elementary, at least one building)
6101 Chatham (Jean Gordon School, 6 buldings)
4348 Reynes (Barbara Jordan Elementary School, 7 buildings)
6701 Curran (Mildred Osborne Elementary School, 3 buildings)
10200 Curran (Little Woods Elementary School, 5 buildings)
7701 Grant (Ernest N. Morial Elementary School, 3 buildings)
4617 Mirabeau (Parkview Fundamental Magnet School, 6 buildings)
4801 Maid Marion (Sherwood Forest School, 4 buildings)
3800 Cadillac (Vorice Jackson Water Elementary School, 8 buildings)
5700 Wisner (John F. Kennedy High School, 5 buildings)

I haven't seen such a list anywhere publicly.

Most of the demo permits for these schools were pulled in single massive push on November 30th, with a scattered few on November 12th and November 7th. Note that some of these permits might be for storm-damaged temporary buildings, not every building on a given campus.

So not only is the HCDRC making it very easy for the city to slide residential demolitions through (by avoiding putting stuff on the agenda or by increasing damage estimates above 70%), apparently the RSD has also learned this, otherwise there would be three other schools on today's agenda.

So why all the verbiage from me? What's the hurry? Buildings have been getting knocked down for two years, so what has changed?

What has changed is that the city is now directly in charge of demolitions, even though they are still being funded by FEMA. Previously, demolitions were carried out under Corps of Engineers contracts, but the Corps pulled out at the end of the summer. One has to wonder whether the Corps knew the city was not following its own ordinances for the last two years...

Anyway, the city - in its infinite wisdom - did not have a contract waiting when the Corps pulled out, even though they knew about it for months. The city put out a request for bids in October, and within the last two weeks inked a multi-million dollar contract with DRC Emergency Services, LLC for nearly 2000 more citywide demolitions. This contract has not been announced publicly before now.

How do I know this? Because on Wednesday, December 5th, Safety and Permits pulled three clerks a day aside for two days who did nothing but issue demolition permits to DRC. DRC received over 120 demolition permits in a roughly alphabetical order last week. This was a massive uptick in the pace of demolition permits, and along with the alphabetical nature of it, could only mean one thing: the city is back in the teardown business big time.

We knew this wave was coming. A few weeks back, FEMA issued a little-noticed press release saying they would pay for an estimated 1800 demolitions still remaining in the city:

FEMA Funds Demolition of Remaining Damaged Homes in New Orleans
November 19, 2007
http://www.fema.gov/...

"The FEMA funds will pay a contractor to work with the City of New Orleans Legal Housing Unit to supervise and document the demolition and debris disposal of the remaining eligible structures. The contract should be awarded sometime this month. FEMA had paid USACE under mission assignment to perform this function prior to Aug. 29, 2007.

"Approximately 1,800 homes remain to be demolished, creating around 630,000 cubic yards of debris. Demolitions should be completed by Feb. 29, 2008. Under mission assignment, USACE had supervised the demolition of 4,248 homes, totaling 1.5 million cubic yards of debris.

"FEMA has obligated $11.1 million for this demolition and debris removal project management."

This first batch to DRC studiously avoids any historic areas, with most of the demolitions occurring in New Orleans East. Not one property in this batch is HCDRC-eligible. However, I am convinced there is a pile of hundreds of HCDRC-eligible demo requests sitting on someone's desk at Safety & Permits, just waiting to get released to DRC. Considering their now documented track record, I have no reason to believe Safety & Permits will change their practices and properly allow public comment on these properties through HCDRC, especially in light of the very tight deadline under which DRC and its subcontractors will be working - Feb. 29, 2008. More than likely, the skids will be greased by simply not putting the HCDRC-eligible properties on the agenda. Except now people are watching.

By the way, if DRC sounds familiar, it's because they were the firm hired by the state of Louisiana to clear away all the Katrina-damaged cars that remained after the storm.

So what do we have here? We have a city under a tight deadline to tear down nearly 2000 structures, with its credibility in Washington's eyes on the line. We have a city department and a city committee that is very willing to flout city ordinances and cut citizens out of the process of determining the look and feel of the very fabric of their city. We have other bureacracies taking advantage of these facts to speed their own demolition plans without public notice. And we have federal dollars powering the whole process, meaning the city has no incentive to act as an honest broker. This is a runaway train that needs to be stopped now.

What needs to be done?

1. An immediate moratorium must be called on all demolitions until clarity can be brought to the entire process on behalf of the citizens.

2. The 70% rule must be repealed immediately. It has served as a huge loophole, and its exploitation and misapplication has led to hundreds of possibly illegal, city-sanctioned demolitions.

3. HCDRC, made up of mid-level city bureaucrats with little to no interest in historic preservation, needs to be shut down. Its' functions should be moved under the jurisdiction of the HDLC, which has far more experience in these matters.

4. In light of the fact that city government bodies appear to be flouting local ordinances, the new DRC contract should be suspended until the whole process can be sorted out. FEMA will not be happy, but so be it.

5. The new City of New Orleans Inspector General needs to open a top-to-bottom investigation of the entire Safety & Permits department.

6. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General would be well served to open an inquiry into the disposition of federal taxpayer funds to a municipality apparently willing to break its own laws to spend that money.

The citizens of New Orleans have been through far too much to deserve and demand anything less than full transparency and competence from their government. Hopefully this message will move the city toward that goal.

•  Outstanding diary.

  This is outrageous:

  So what do we have here? We have a city under a tight deadline to tear down nearly 2000 structures, with its credibility in Washington's eyes on the line. We have a city department and a city committee that is very willing to flout city ordinances and cut citizens out of the process of determining the look and feel of the very fabric of their city. We have other bureacracies taking advantage of these facts to speed their own demolition plans without public notice. And we have federal dollars powering the whole process, meaning the city has no incentive to act as an honest broker.

  Is the Times-Picayune on this story?  What can we do to help, those of us who do not live in New Orleans?

  Your facts and figures paint a devastating picture.  Bad enough that they are demolishing all four public housing projects with no input from the community.

  The federal government is supposed to help -- in this instance, all it has done is harmed New Orleans.

  (P.S.: I added "Louisiana" to your tags so this diary would appear on Leftyblogs)

  by Nightprowlkitty on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 09:39:30 AM PDT

  •  Exactly. Who would be able to take this on?

    by blueintheface on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 09:42:11 AM PDT

    •  Well ..

      ... we certainly could give this some publicity.

      This goes beyond NOLA -- it is a perfect example of how our dysfunctional federal agencies are making things worse instead of better.

      I'm sure this isn't the only city in America where this is happening, in one form or another.

      by Nightprowlkitty on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 09:51:48 AM PDT

  •  The federal government's operations against

    New Orleans continue to be a national disgrace.  And those of us not in New Orleans want to do something, anything to help. Let us know -- I'll be there for you!

    by edgery on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 10:28:43 AM PDT

  •  Another thing that needs....

    to be done is contacting the national media because the Times-Picayune isn't enough and demanding that they pay attention to this issue. Tomorrow I hope to publish another Open Letter to Brian Williams that will be bringing up this issue and New Orleans' lack of affordable housing in general.

    by Louisiana 1976 on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:14:17 AM PDT

    •  NBC

      I heard something on WWL about NBC covering the NOLA fire department, which is an ongoing story that they have followed for several months.   If true, they may have just stumbled on a hornet's nest about to erupt.

      by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:25:41 AM PDT

      •  Interesting--exactly what did you hear?

        Especially about the .

        hornet's nest about to erupt.

        Earlier this year, NBC did do some reporting on the NOLA fire department--and it was one thing Brian Williams and "Nightly" did right because the coverage called attention to the lack of money and other problems at one of the fire houses. This attracted a good response from viewers including donations to the fire house. I'd be happy if Williams and "Nightly" did more things like that for New Orleans instead of ignoring her the way they've been since 8/29 of this year.

        by Louisiana 1976 on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:43:57 AM PDT

        •  Xmas Feel Good Story

          Probably a seasonal story on the fire department.  The local TV stations and the TP really tried hard not to report on what was going on, but the housing advocates have managed to get their message out.   We also have the homeless in tents across from city hall and in sleeping bags under the overpass directly across from the buildings to be demolished.  It just "feels" like it is coming to a head and the football playoffs could offer a serious contrast with the high rollers partying while people live outdoors, particularly after the graphic Katrina images.  NBC may get a scoop.  

          by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 12:12:13 PM PDT

          •  What Brian Williams aired....

            last night was just a newsbrief. That was good news, and I'd have been happy if he'd made it a full report, but since he didn't, last night's was the 69th newscast Williams has aired without full coverage out of New Orleans. So I just posted "Surprises..."

            by Louisiana 1976 on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 08:05:23 AM PDT

        •  Xmas Feel Good Story

          Probably a seasonal story on the fire department.  The local TV stations and the TP really tried hard not to report on what was going on, but the housing advocates have managed to get their message out.   We also have the homeless in tents across from city hall and in sleeping bags under the overpass directly across from the buildings to be demolished.  It just "feels" like it is coming to a head and the football playoffs could offer a serious contrast with the high rollers partying while people live outdoors, particularly after the graphic Katrina images.  NBC may get a scoop.  

          by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 12:14:27 PM PDT

  •  Times Picayune

    They are leading the way to demolition.  Barely covering the protests.  No pictures of Quigley getting flung into the wall at the city council meeting or the coal that was brought to Nagin's house yesterday.

    WWL is beating the drum about the threats to burn down a condo for every building demolished.  Then someone calls in to point out that the burn threat flyers were a professional print job probably by the developers to taint the housing people.  The housing crisis can and should be addressed by the faith based community.  Where is the Catholic Archiocese of NOLA on this housing crisis?

    by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:23:51 AM PDT

    •  Yeesh.

      What a sad state of affairs, the T-P doing this, working against its own city.

      Agree this should get national coverage.

      by Nightprowlkitty on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:31:32 AM PDT

    •  archdiocese

      I'll have a lot more on that in the next day or two.  Email me.

      by alpelican on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 09:15:19 PM PDT

  •  The projects

    I heard that HCDRC voted against taking down Lafitte (because of its historic value) and voted to approve the demos of B.W. Cooper and C.J. Peete. The fourth project (St. Bernard) lies outside HCDRC's geographic bounds.

    I guess it goes to the City Council now (HCDRC decisions can be appealed there), except that I thought the demos were slated to start December 15th, and the next regular council meeting isn't until December 20th. I wonder what will happen now? It sure looks like someone is setting the Council up to state on the record their positions on the projects.

    Also, from what I heard the HCDRC meeting was a mess.

    by mcbrid35 on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:26:31 AM PDT

    •  I just have so little faith ...

      ... that the "mixed" housing planned for development will have anywhere near the number of houses available for those folks who have been exiled from New Orleans and wish to return.

      Seems to me (I watched a video of the HCDRC meeting -at least I think that was the meeting, lots of angry folks) that the community has been allowed next to no input on how this area should be redeveloped.

      It's just a crime.  And it deserves national attention.

      I know today there are supposed be a lot of demonstrations against these bad decisions.  Today is Human Rights Day.

      Ach.

      by Nightprowlkitty on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:39:54 AM PDT

      •  WWL Rable Rising

        Talking points about militants and violence.  Cut off the guy who was defending Quigley.  Complaining about the flyers being permanent and getting the police to investigate.  Well, they need to go right ahead because most NOPD grew up in public housing and they are still living in poisoned FEMA trailers.  These buildings can be refurbished just like is doen to create condos in the older "protected" buildings and let the city civil servants live in them.  Cops living in these buildings will keep crime down.  It is not about crime since the crime is worse and the housing is boarded up.  

        by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:55:57 AM PDT

•  where's the city council on this???

  This audit should be sent to Fielkow and Midura in particular.  Great stuff, even though it pisses me off!

  by YatPundit on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 10:23:48 AM PDT

  •  "Concern"

    Aren't you especially "concerned"?

    by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:39:39 AM PDT

•  Inspector General

  They are rushing before the new IG can get his office off and running.

  by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:19:17 AM PDT

•  Football Playoffs

  NOLA has several upcoming games and I really wonder if the demolitions are just going to add to the people housing themselves under the overpasses.  It will be a publicity nightmare, but if they would just do something to fix the problem then you can tout the recovery.

  by chigh on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 11:29:42 AM PDT

•  Check out ...

  ... Squandered Heritage for more on this, with pictures. (h/t to Gentilly Girl)

  by Nightprowlkitty on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 01:44:11 PM PDT

•  Again

  At the risk of sounding repititious, I have to keep saying this.

  People in NOLA and across the country HAVE GOT TO PAY ATTENTION to one person here.

  Joseph Canizaro.

  Read. Think. Fill in the blanks.

  The initial neglect of NOLA before the storm was not oversight. The continued destruction of NOLA is not bad management. The whole thing was a fevered wet dream that actually came true.

  by Pariah Dog on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 04:14:56 AM PDT

  •  I wish ...

    ... you would write a diary on this.

    by Nightprowlkitty on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 06:39:30 AM PDT

    •  Funny you should mention

      That very thought just popped into my head - "Maybe you ought to write a diary about him."

      I guess if ever there was a subject worthy of one, this would be it. The more I delve unto this guy, the more I can see what really happened in  NOLA. Problem is, I'm kinda new here and have never written one before.

      Let me try and screw up my courage and see what happens.

      by Pariah Dog on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 07:09:28 AM PDT

      •  Lol ...

        ... sadly, NOLA diaries do not get near the attention they deserve, so jump right in.

        I'll be reading it, you can count on that.

        Also, remember to put New Orleans AND Louisiana in your tags -- that way your diary will also show up on Leftyblogs -- which will give it a wider audience.

        by Nightprowlkitty on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 07:31:12 AM PDT

•  Late, but wanted to tell you...

  In addition to the locally regulated review process, there's a federal review triggered by the use of federal funds, permits or approvals by any and all federal agencies involved. Those reviews are coordinated through the LA State Historic Preservation Office, with federal oversight over this review process held by the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

  With a quick google search, I found this link as evidence of the ongoing federal reviews, some of which show public notices that still have open comment periods. Read this agreement that talks about how demos are supposed to be handled- it's online here. This might show how the federal alternative process they have set up may have superceded the local process.  Good luck.

  by histopresto on Tue Dec 11, 2007 at 01:06:09 PM PDT

•  Wanna map it?

  Let me know, schroeder915 at yahoo dot com

  by schroeder915 on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 10:44:04 PM PDT