Oakland Demo against NOLA home Demolitions

shoot - i wish i had known about this demo. beforehand. guess i need to check those little red announcements at the top of the site more often (assuming it was up there).

Police, protesters clash in New Orleans
By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall.


One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping.

Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt.

"I was just standing, trying to get into my City Council meeting," said the woman, Kim Ellis.

Arrests were made as officers tried to establish order.

Inside, a scuffle also occurred in the City Council chambers as the meeting opened. Several protesters were forced out, including a woman who was carried, and a recess was called. The room was calm once the meeting resumed.

Protesters had planned to disrupt the City Council meeting, where members were expected to approve demolishing dozens of buildings — a move that would open racial and class divisions.

The council chambers seat less than 300. Once capacity was reached, people who were not permitted into chambers marched and chanted. Eventually violence broke out.

The City Council vote is a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists.

HUD wants to demolish the buildings, most of them damaged by Hurricane Katrina, so developers can take advantage of tax credits and build new mixed-income neighborhoods.

The council's approval of the demolition is required under the city's charter.

HUD says the redevelopment, in the works before Katrina hit, will mark an end to the city's failed public housing experiment that lumped the poor into crime-ridden complexes and marooned them outside the life of the rest of the city.

But critics say the plan will shrink the stock of cheap housing at a time when housing is scarce and drive poor blacks out of the city. They also say the buildings are, contrary to popular opinion, mostly handsome brick structures that will outlast anything HUD builds in their place.

A news release from the Coalition to Stop the Demolition, one of several groups organizing protesters, characterized the pending action as a "rubber stamp" at a "sham meeting."

"It is beyond callous, and can only be seen as malicious discrimination. It is an unabashed attempt to eliminate the black population of New Orleans," said Kali Akuno, an organizer with the group.

A recent shake-up on the seven-member City Council turned it into a majority white chamber for the first time since the 1980s, a shift that will certainly make the vote even more racially charged.

Three of the council's white members were quick to say they supported the tear-down plan, while the council's three black members were hesitant about expressing their intentions.

One black member, Cynthia Hedge Morrell, issued a statement late Wednesday in favor of demolitions. The fourth white member, Council President Arnie Fielkow, has been careful to tread the middle ground, but a spokeswoman said Thursday he supports demolition.

"It's not racist and it's truly not a done deal behind the scenes," said Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, a newly elected councilmember-at-large, about the council's pending vote.

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Associated Press writer John Gonzales contributed to this story.

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On the Net:

http://www.nocitycouncil.com

http://www.defendneworleanspublichousing.org

Up-to-date news coverage at: http://www.infoshop.org/inews/

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Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:01:41 -0500
From: Mark Engel

Bork apparently was released from jail in time to attend the City
Council Meeting protest, and typical of her was in the front trying to
hold open the gates to allow the others to enter, but unfortunately was
tasered and had to be taken away in an ambulance.

Sadly, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the demolitions.

Article on NOLA IndyMedia:

http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2007/12/11682.php

Video Clips on YouTube:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jvhp4iZFd0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b6zGunXBas

Additional images from NOLA.Com:

http://www.nola.com/cgi-bin/prxy/photogalleries/nph-cache.cgi/cache=3000;/nola/images/9468/Council__3746568.jpg
http://www.nola.com/cgi-bin/prxy/photogalleries/nph-cache.cgi/cache=3000;/nola/images/9468/Council__3746576.jpg

- MARK

Please come down to New Orleans to help us figure out how to save ourselves... We need your tourist dollars.

The demolition of multistoried brick buildings that are otherwise safe places to live is foolish, wasteful and arrogant on the part of NOLA housing officials and the police goon squad that enforce their decisions..

In a flood prone region, brick housing may be one of the safest materials for housing, especially since there are additional floors above ground level that could serve as temporary shelters in the event of another hurricane flood. Brick as a material can resist mold infestation far better than wood or other modern materials that would likely replace the current buildings..

To eliminate this safe brick housing source and replace with modern getrification housing is not only ethically wrong towards the previous low income tenants, it is likely to fail miserably in future flooding events..

This current housing demolition appears to be an outcome of a series of planned events that displaced the previous tenants. If people haven't already thought this over, consider the possibility that the destruction of the levees at specific locations near the 9th ward was planned prior to Katrina making landfall. Prior knowledge existed that the loss of wetlands and shipping canals would worsen the effects of storm surge..

"The Army Corps of Engineers has finally agreed to use money that was added to its maintenance budget last year as Congress intended: to design ways to close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet.

The shipping channel has rightly been described as a cancer, one that has destroyed 27,000 acres of wetlands in St. Bernard Parish, leaving it and parts of New Orleans more vulnerable to storm surge. There's also compelling data from LSU scientists that show the MR-GO played a role in increasing the height and velocity of Katrina's storm surge."

http://www.mrgomustgo.org/

In other words, when the (Fed, state, local?) authorities knew that a massive storm surge was coming inland down MR-GO canal and other points of entry, and that the levees would be compromised at some unspecified location, the specific site for levee failure was chosen that would least effect the expensive real estate and would most effect the least expensive real estate around the 9th ward. As an outsider to NOLA, i cannot give specifics, though i feel it is worth an investigation..

So all this was planned for economic gentrification, from Katrina levee demolition to FEMA detention camps now leading up to the current demolitions of the low income housing projects. The health and well being of lower income human populations will always be secondary to increasing economic profits under the current U.S. capitalist models. Sorry, the truth hurts, but most of ya'll there in NOLA already know this..

Here's an alternative approach than continuing to appeal to the deaf ears of U.S. Empire under GW Bush regime..

"Keep in mind that for black separatists such as Marcus Garvey, "separatism" was not simply fueled by white racism but the simple fact that the American government refused to provide adequate public services to black Americans or even to recognize their rights. Garvey's vision of separatism was one in which blacks were not exploited and controlled their own social and economic destiny, and the response he received from both the integration seeking NAACP and his white critics was laughable in many cases, considering racial separatism in the form of Jim Crow segregation was already being enforced.

To reiterate, while White supremacist groups intend to restore or perpetuate legalized forms of discrimination against blacks, the primary focus of black separatists is black self-empowerment in the form of black sovereignty and economic independence."

found @;
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com/2007/06/brief-white-folks-guide-to-black.html

Depending on the current U.S. government for our health and safety will get people nowhere but six feet underground (or aboveground in New Orleans). Trusting in ourselves and regional community, not the puppets of imperialism in Washington DC, will encourage survival..

How does one get in touch with the Heads Up Collective? I'm a resident of New Orleans. I'm curious to know how you plan on effecting the public housing issue as HUD moves forward with demolitions.