Under the plan, bond dollars would be invested in five areas in New Orleans: a "sports and entertainment" district on the perimeter of the Superdome and New Orleans Arena; the government complex that is home to City Hall, Civil District Court and the shuttered State Building bordering Duncan Plaza that is slated for demolition; the medical district where a new Veterans Administration Hospital is planned; the theatre district surrounding the intersection of Canal Street and Loyola Avenue; and a six-mile stretch of downtown riverfront that city leaders hope to transform into park and new commercial space.
It's as though they resolved to just keep naming projects until
Seeking to address concerns that only a small part of the city would benefit from the infusion of state money, business leaders recently agreed to consider including funding for a major development -- possibly a distribution center -- for eastern New Orleans.
I thought Eastern New Orleans was already getting a monorail. I wonder if we keep waiting around, they'll throw in another one.
Okay now... What? Oh goddammit they're still talking.
While much of the work envisioned in the proposal would involve improvements to streets and sidewalks and amenities such as parks, fountains and public art work, advocates say some of the bond money could be used as the local match for big-tickets projects, including a new streetcar line along Loyola Avenue and an extension of the Riverfront line upriver to Jackson Avenue and downriver to the Industrial Canal.
Another component would revive a dormant proposal offered two years ago by Nagin that called for tearing down City Hall and offering the site for sale to developers.
The plan would relocate city government offices across Poydras Street to the privately owned Dominion Tower, a 36-story, 490,000-square-foot office building that sustained extensive wind damage during Hurricane Katrina.
That has got to be the most massive and improbable collection of projects that ever ran interference for what looks like a funneling of state backed bond money to the New Orleans Building Corp in return for control of the aviation board... so that Sean Cummings can build condos in the Marigny. But I never said we were lacking for grandeur around here.
But none of that is what has me stumped. The part of this article that has truly rendered me speechless is the part where Arnie Fielkow says it will be a great way to "restore confidence among displaced residents unsure about returning to New Orleans." Yeah that and a few well-placed billboards.
Seriously, though. Suppose you are a displaced resident who depends on a federal housing subsidy. You and your family have lived in New Orleans for generations. The failure of the Federal Floodwalls has forced you out of your home to Houston or Atlanta or.. god forbid someplace worse. You're desperate to come home. You've even been offered your old job back at the same hotel. But due to a catch in the HUD rules, you find yourself trapped until the rents in New Orleans fall back to a level comparable to that of the market you want to move out of. You were hoping the rents would stabilize as more affordable housing became available but then Stacy Head blew you a kiss as the city council signed off on the demolition of the "big four" public housing complexes. Meanwhile the city seems determined to demolish whatever remaining usable private housing stock remains as the Mayor shrugs his shoulders and tells you we're still waiting on our "market-driven recovery" to fix everything. And now Arnie (Fielgood) Fielkow is telling you that a proposed theater district/new City Hall/riverfront ampitheater/monorail-streetcar-extension-thingy is supposed to "restore" your "confidence"?
Again... I'm stumped. It's so stupid, it's not even funny.
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