Board Member Amy Stelly Recognized Internationally

The Urban Conservancy’s Amy Stelly has been fighting for the removal of the Claiborne Expressway since she moved back home to Tremé nearly a decade ago. Stelly has been struggling to get the support of local leaders for some time, but on Wednesday there was a promising development: the White House named the Claiborne Expressway an example of historic inequity that President Biden’s new infrastructure plan looks to address.

“It’s the same in many Black communities, not only in Louisiana,” Stelly said. “It’s great the federal government and this administration is recognizing that this is something that must be corrected if we are to be fair and just in America.”

Support in Washington for taking down highways or mitigating problems they caused has grown in recent years. Senate Democrats included $10 billion for highway removal in an economic justice bill introduced late last year.

“We can’t remove highways in neighborhoods that would otherwise have been very desirable and leave it to the real estate market to govern,” Stelly said. “The people of Tremé should have the right to return when it’s beautiful.”

In the news:

• WBUR: How A Black Neighborhood In New Orleans Fits Into Biden’s Plan To Fix Urban Design Inequities
• WWNO: Louisiana Considered: The Louisiana Center for the Blind’s Toxic Culture, The Claiborne Expressway
• Biz New Orleans: Treme Planner Says It’s Time to Remove the Claiborne Expressway
• Archinect News: What happens if we view President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan through a social lens?
• Chicago Reader: Local leaders and advocates agree: Biden’s $2T infrastructure package would be great for Chicago transportation
• [SPANISH] infobae: Biden seeks to use an infrastructure plan to address racial inequities (Biden busca usar un plan de infraestructura para abordar las inequidades raciales)
• [CHINESE] World Journal: Biden’s fight for infrastructure roads, state “racist highways” can be demolished (拜登拚基建 路州「種族主義公路」能拆了)
• [SOFT PAYWALL] The Washington Post: A woman called for a highway’s removal in a Black neighborhood. The White House singled it out in its infrastructure plan.
• [SOFT PAYWALL] The Washington Post: Power Up: Buttigieg gets another shot at focusing on communities of color in infrastructure push
• [SOFT PAYWALL] The Washington Post: The Daily 202: Polls find Biden broadly popular, but highlight deep doubts about democracy
• [SOFT PAYWALL] The Boston Globe: Addressing a ‘racist highway’ in New Orleans is part of Biden’s infrastructure plan
• [SOFT PAYWALL] The New York Times: Biden Seeks to Use Infrastructure Plan to Address Racial Inequities

Interviews/Podcasts:

• Biz New Orleans (Biz Talks): Over the Overpass – Activist Says It’s Time to Remove the Claiborne Expressway
• Kaare Johnson Show: Kaare Johnson Interviews Amy Stelly