Funny you should say endemic because I edited that out of my previous post, but yes, that is what I think, any (or most) government run operation(s) is/are doomed to failure. These are just my opinions, I don't pretend by life spent around these projects to have more insight into what is right or wrong. And I love old buildings more than I love dogs and I love dogs more than I love most people but sadly I think the buildings must be punished, and torn down, which is not an argument anymore because the vote was a skunk, 7-0. There is literally nowhere you can go in New Orleans, within 5 blocks of a project where the soil is not stained with blood. Lot's of blood. Relentless murderous behavior. Gunshot after gunshot after gunshot to the head. It is not the project's fault, clearly. But they are witness to it. And truly, if you study the murder maps, it is not just areas in proximity to the projects that suffer this stain, but unfortunately the projects are an easy symbol for it in many peoples minds. And there are certain high profile events that doom the projects. The failed carjacking of a French woman that ended with her baby being shot dead was the last straw for the St. Thomas projects, in the Lower Garden District. The Lafitte, if left, will always have the memory of a feud that ended with one man setting another man on fire, in a courtyard in front of a 150 people. The BW Cooper has the carnival-like celebration under a live oak after the assassination of one of its most violent criminals. There is, in my mind, no renovation that will erase these images. And these are only a brief sample of the day to day horror in the big four. To consider this only a matter of historical preservation without at least taking into account the day to day history of these buildings, is insane to me. The coverage of New Orleans, thanks largely to the New York Times, has been great in these months after the hurricane, but the bad shit has been going on for too many years with nobody noticing. You have to try to see the bullet and the mess it made of the back of that baby's head and multiply it by thirty years to truly appreciate what many people feel about the projects. I'm going to miss the Lafitte, like a battered wife misses her dead husband. And thank you for the forum.
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- jimlouis 1-04-2008 5:38 am