Issues

Thinking About Iberville

It’s clear that high concentrations of poverty like those in New Orleans’ remaining housing projects are not the best place for human potential to flower. At the same time, many of the efforts to redevelop these communities have looked a lot more like exporting poverty - to the suburbs, to other impoverished neighborhoods, or for some, to the streets. Plans to revitalize Canal Street are starting to look a lot like an excuse to knock down the Iberville Housing Development. The old excuse, namely previous plans suggested for building a new facility for the New Orleans Saints on the land, besides being offensive to almost anyone who doesn’t own a portion of the team, suddenly seem unlikely for an unsuccessful team with an eye towards leaving New Orleans anyway.

While there are no easy answers to the issue of housing the very poorest of our citizens, we will do our best to facilitate the discussions necessary to help bring this issue to the forefront of thinking when it comes to land use.