"It just doesn't make much sense to me to tear up this entire neighborhood, " said House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers. Tucker said the state already owns land along Tulane Avenue, west of Interstate 10, that could be put to a medical use without affecting private property owners.
Bobbi Rogers said she and her husband are among several neighborhood residents who received taxpayer-financed Road Home grants to rebuild properties that were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, only to face the prospect of having them taken by the state.
"These are the people that make New Orleans work, " Rogers said.
But Pam Perkins, the general counsel for the state Division of Administration, said the vast majority of property owners in the area have indicated a willingness to sell their property. "They are very eager to get on with their lives, " Perkins said.
Tucker joined several legislators in questioning the financial underpinnings of the project.
State officials have $450 million committed, and are counting on FEMA recovery dollars and a future bond issue to cover the rest. But there is no guarantee that the federal dollars will be forthcoming, and the shaky credit markets have made it difficult for many large-scale projects to obtain financing.
"I am very leery about getting halfway pregnant in this process and not being able to complete it, " Tucker said.
Speaker Tucker is the first public official with any kind of pull to indicate that he has some grasp of what's at stake for both the neighborhood and the questionably financed LSU hospital.
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