Eminent Domain
Demolition lists and the seizing of properties. I understand it needs to happen. Just on Monday, I was back in New Orleans talking to someone living next to a blighted house. It's a health hazard. If an owner doesn't take action, the legal wheels must turn for the health and safety of people living next door.
But then, how do you know if you have the right house on the list? Especially on such a large scale? It's a manageable problem, but even small errors (i.e., a house inaccurately placed on a demolition list) will have a devasting effect.... And the time required to error check what's on these lists....I can imagine the bottlenecks in city departments...
But then, how do you know if you have the right house on the list? Especially on such a large scale? It's a manageable problem, but even small errors (i.e., a house inaccurately placed on a demolition list) will have a devasting effect.... And the time required to error check what's on these lists....I can imagine the bottlenecks in city departments...
posted by Quintus Jett at 10:17 AM
2 Comments:
Quintus-- Watching Bill Moyers tonight on Katrina. He's doing a great job getting the word out.
Since hearing you at Wayfarers, I've been one of your biggest boosters, telling everyone about the Gentilly Project and your dedication to it, and urging folks to get involved.
What you're talking about here, though, is one of those things that makes people who live in other parts of the country crazy-- what can we do to help ?
i think there's a need for some kind of residential verfication system that's linked to the city.
it's essentially happening now in an ad-hoc manner by individual residents. it's nothing too systematic from what I can gather.
this project is getting to a point where we might serve this function. we have the residential contacts and beginnings of a residential network in Gentilly. our system is generic and designed to disseminate easily to other areas. i have contacts with the city.
i'm having to think out of the box (and continue living outside my own natural comfort zone) to move the project in this direction with greater speed.
i think the best way to help people in new orleans is to find a way to offer your own professional/ technical expertise. it doesn't have to be building homes. all kinds of skills are needed: medical, computers, administration, legal...
if you can't do that right now, i encourage finding a way to support others working to solve problems in NOLA. i appreciate you telling lots of other people about us.
Post a Comment
<< Home