News
145 Historic Mid-City Buildings Slated for Demolition
Dec 3 2008
On November 26, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Louisiana State University announced the selection of the lower Mid-City neighborhood for the site of their new hospitals.
Lower Mid-City Residents and Business Owners, The National Trust for Historic Preservation and their partner the Foundation for Historical Louisiana view this decision as a serious error, as alternatives exist for these medical centers that would provide the same benefits while saving the neighborhood and reusing Charity Hospital (PDF). The new hospitals would destroy 70 acres of the neighborhood, including 145 historic buildings where residents have been rebuilding and restoring their community since Hurricane Katrina. The VA hospital has agreed to fund the relocation of approximately 20 single-story homes of “historic significance.”
According to an alert released by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the VA and LSU have chosen “the most time-consuming, difficult, expensive and destructive route” to deliver health care to the region’s veterans and a medical teaching facility to the community. With this decision, the bulldozing of homes and businesses could start as soon as the day after Christmas.
Alternatives include building the VA hospital on the site currently proposed for the new LSU hospital with LSU occupying a renovated, rehabbed Charity as the new Academic Medical Center. Another alternative would co-locate the new VA and LSU hospitals on the site currently slated for a new LSU hospital.
A third alternative is the commercial site containing the vacant Lindy Boggs Medical Center. “No homes or other historic buildings occupy this site, it has fewer parcels of land to assemble and the land would be available immediately from a willing seller,” the National Trust said in its press release.
Despite the announcement of Lower Mid-City as the selected site, many pieces have yet to fall into place— most notably, $1.2 billion in funding for the LSU hospital— and many questions remain unanswered. Of grave concern is the City’s agreement to deliver construction-ready land to the VA before funding for the project is assured.
The American urbanscape of the 20th and 21st centuries is littered with good intentions and bull-dozed tracts of land where neighborhoods once stood— tracts that never materialized into the promised engines of economic development. The time to consider less disruptive options is before the wrecking balls swing.
The Urban Conservancy urges you to take action now while Lower Mid-City is still intact. Strongly encourage the VA and the State of Louisiana to reconsider other less harmful alternative sites. And encourage your elected officials to champion their constituents’ rights to fair mitigation. We’ve made it easy with the links to sample letters below.
TAKE ACTION: With Less Than 30 Days Left, Please:
Email Governor Bobby Jindal and Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine, and The Honorable James B. Peake, Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Email Councilmembers with special attention to Stacy Head, Arnie Fielkow and Jackie Clarkson.
MORE ABOUT THIS ISSUE:
Learn about Charity Hospital and why NTHP listed it as one of the 11 Most Endangered Places this year;
View NTHP’s slideshow What’s At Stake in Mid-City;
Read National Trust’s Five Unanswered Questions for Federal, State, and Local Officials regarding this issue.
Peruse a collection of related news articles dating back to December of 2007 at The Urban Conservancy’s News Roundup.
Filed under: Rebuilding New Orleans
Replies
Robin said:
Since I am no longer a resident of New Orleans, but still consider myself a naitve and always will be, will someone be good enough to tell me the condition of the Charity Hospital at this juncture. I cannot make an informed decision unless I truly know what is going on. Do the other historic buildings require destruction as well?
New Orleans has always been know for it’s architectural distinctions, far removed from the blandness of other 49 states; as my mother used to say, “We’ve got 49 States, and New Orleans!”
Continue destroying our architectural [Spanish, French & Caribbean] culture and all we’ll have left is the cold, institutional structures of places like those here in the northeast region of this country; I ought to know — I’ve been “trapped” in the blandness of the northeast’s “architectural mediocrity” for the past 30 years now, and I miss New Orleans’ oppulence EVERYday of my life! What’ll be next? Cold meat & potatos replacing Jambalaya, Gumbo & Etouffé!!!
Why do they need to be destroyed? And will the building intended to replace these historic buildings better serve the entire community, and not simply the financially affluent?
Thanx.
Robin in The Bronx
Dec 3 2008
9:49 AM
Dana Eness said:
Dear Robin,
I have linked a PDF of the executive summary commissioned by The Foundation for Historical Louisiana and conducted by RMJM Hillier to the story. Click on “Charity Hospital” in para 2 of the text above, or else cut and paste this link: http://www.fhl.org/FHL/News/PresvAlerts/CharityHospital/ExecutiveSummary_Public.pdf
It takes awhile to download (it’s 62 pages long), but is well worth it. I think the key finding that you are looking for comes on page 4, para. 3, wherein the authors state:
“In conclusion, after 12 weeks of intense assessments, using state of the art technology, in-depth study by experts, and up-to-date healthcare planning efforts, we believe that this venerable landmark can have a great future as a world class medical facility that will symbolize the rebirth of New Orleans.”
City Business reported that an architect who was one of the authors of this study, a doctor in favor of rehabilitating Charity, Sandra Stokes, executive vice chairwoman of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, and members of the media were excluded from a public legislative tour of the Charity facilities yesterday. See the footage from Channel 4 WDSU from December 2, 2008.
Sincerely,
Dana Eness, Executive Director
The Urban Conservancy
Dec 3 2008
10:37 AM
Tim said:
And while they’re tearing apart Mid City to make way for the “renewal” that will save the neighborhood, what will happen to the exising LSU and Charity Hospitals? Will they be demolished and replaced with vacant lots? If you move to a new site, destroy what’s already there and then do nothing to redevelop the old site, isn’t that a net loss to the community?
I’m stunned by the whole process. Thanks UC for taking on this issue.
Peace,
Tim
Dec 3 2008
12:41 PM