------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/RN.GAA/tOsolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: CPPH_Info-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There is 1 message in this issue. Topics in this digest: 1. Important Lessons from New Orleans From: Grant ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 1 Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 07:45:31 -0700 (PDT) From: Grant Subject: Important Lessons from New Orleans This article has interesting lesson from tenants using Housing Authority Prommises in the legal struggle to defend their development. GRANT --- Wayne Sherwood wrote: > CLINGING TO DESIRE Most residents of the Desire public housing complex were forced to move out last year, but a few dug in, and even had their apartments refurbished . . . at least until they're torn down next year 08/14/02 By Leslie Williams Staff writer/The New Orleans Times-Picayune In the spring of last year, the Housing Authority of New Orleans began moving 590 families from the Desire public housing complex so it could demolish acres of dilapidated apartment buildings to make way for a smaller, mixed-income community of homeowners and renters. In the exodus, hundreds of Desire residents moved to other public housing complexes in the city, while 153 families opted for vouchers to rent private apartments. Fourteen families, however, simply refused to leave. What are the consequences? HANO is renovating their apartments. The agency, now under the control of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has spent $140,000 to renovate three apartment buildings for the holdouts. It plans to spend $60,000 more on the buildings, which probably will be torn down next year. Workers have painted all of the apartments, patched walls, replaced sections of wood floors, repaired plumbing, rerouted gas lines and installed new cabinets and vinyl floors. The relationship between HANO and the 14 families is not the typical landlord-tenant arrangement, a point made clear March 6 by 1st City Court Judge Charles A. Imbornone. He ruled HANO could not evict the 14 families, even though their relocation would be temporary. Imbornone said he sided with the families because "a written agreement says they can stay there," referring to a 1996 "memorandum of understanding" between the housing authority and the Desire Resident Council. The agreement covers a broad range of issues: the selection of an architectural firm, demolition, replacement housing and a relocation plan for Desire. "Once it was decided they'd stay there, the repairs had to be made, because we're required to provide decent, safe and sanitary housing," said HANO spokeswoman Kim Brown. It's not clear who crafted the memorandum of understanding, but the agency will try to find out, Brown said. Initially, the authority appeared to be preparing to challenge the judge's decision. Days after the ruling in favor of the tenants, HANO filed for an appeal. The agency also filed a request with the court asking Imbornone for "written reasons for judgment" -- information presumably needed for an appeal. But it never followed up on the appeal motion. And Imbornone did not comply with the request for his reasons because he was told the housing agency and the 14 residents had reached a settlement. Housing authority board Chairman Carmen Valenti; HUD administrative receiver George C. Miller Jr., who has been overseeing HANO since February; and deputy receiver Lori H. Moon decided to settle instead of pursuing the appeal, Brown said. Now, "real progress toward completion of this HOPE VI project is finally taking place," Brown said. "And forming a true partnership with the residents is a necessary component to ensure the community's much anticipated revitalization." Better public housing The HOPE VI program is designed to eradicate severely distressed public housing by improving the buildings, their management, and social services. HOPE VI projects often involve the razing of dense collections of apartments and replacing them with smaller mixed-income communities of single-family homes and apartments. At Desire, a mixed-income community with 425 multifamily units for rent and 150 for home ownership will replace the acres of demolished apartment buildings. HANO has a tentative agreement with the 14 families left in the Desire development, but it has not been signed by both parties, Brown said. The agreement includes a promise by HANO not to appeal Imbornone's decision to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal. The failed eviction was the latest effort by the housing authority to oust tenants. Last year, as demolition continued, Benjamin Bell, the former executive director of the agency, declared "an emergency" and urged Desire residents to leave immediately. In a letter last summer, he warned tenants that continued occupancy "constitutes substantial danger to your health and safety." "As you are aware, construction activities have been ongoing at Desire for some time," he said in the letter. "However, these activities have now escalated, and we can no longer assure continued utility service to your home during construction." In an interoffice memorandum also written last summer, three HANO officials -- operations manager Clifton Jones, modernization director Marvin Alexander and Desire program manager Yolanda A. Dupaty -- recommended "residents on-site be relocated immediately." "When considering the huge volume of demolition and construction activity, there is no guarantee for continued electric, sewer and water and gas services," the memo said. "To date, there have been several electrical outages which have greatly inconvenienced the residents and only promise to continue throughout the project. Based on the age and design of the current system, any disruption in gas service has the potential to be irreversible within a reasonable period of time. Considering the nature of these services, the health and safety of the residents are at great risk." 'Unsafe and dangerous' Of the 14 families who will live in the refurbished apartments until the new Desire units are built, eight include members of the Desire Resident Council. Unlike their peers, two council members -- Tomorrow Fondal and Kathleen Matthews -- followed the path of the hundreds of other residents who moved. Despite her departure, Matthews, the council's vice president, said she wholeheartedly supports the council members who stayed. She said she relocated to accommodate her husband, Warren. Warren Matthews, who had lived in the Desire public housing complex since 1984, said it doesn't make sense to stay while the new housing is being built. "It's really unsafe and dangerous," he said of the housing complex, which seems more like a construction yard. Only six apartment buildings stand on the site, which is abuzz with workers and heavy equipment being used to install pipes and other below-surface infrastructure for the new apartments and homes. The 14 families live in three of the apartment buildings. The three vacant apartment buildings are scheduled to be torn down in weeks. Matthews said he had a lot of motivation to leave his former residence at 3632 Higgins St. The floors were rotten. Months, perhaps years, of trash had collected under the apartment building, he said. Bricks had fallen off the exterior. "When it was cold or hot outside, it was cold or hot inside, because the air would seep through the floors," he said. "And when it gets hot you can smell the filthy trash under the building." "It doesn't make any sense to spend money to renovate a place like that," he said. "It's got to come down anyway." Matthews said the wisdom of relocating to the Lafitte public housing complex became even more obvious after many of Desire's apartment buildings were demolished. In the night, people would steal pipes, window frames and other things from his building, he said. "There were times I'd have to chase them away," he said, noting that if he continued to battle with the thieves someone might get hurt. The comfort of home Margaret McMillan, the resident council's recording secretary, disagrees. McMillan has lived all 43 years of her life in the Desire public housing complex. She even remembers when Desire was among the larger public housing complexes in the nation with more than 1,800 apartments. Over the years, the number of apartments has dwindled for a variety of reasons. As a result, only 590 families lived there when relocation officially began in the spring of last year. Moving to another public housing complex in the city would be like moving to a city in which you don't know anyone, she said. "It's safer where you know everyone," said McMillan, who has a 23-year-old son whom she said she wants to protect from the potential dangers in other complexes. Other resident council members who remain at Desire are President Deborah Davis, Treasurer Bonnie Peters, Corresponding Secretary Delores Bourgeois, Chaplain Ora Price and members Rita Raymond, Julie Parlow and Joyce Quinn. Archie Lambert -- a holdout who is not a member of the resident council -- said "expectations" prompted him to stay put. Years ago, housing authority officials repeatedly told residents they would not have to leave, even when construction started, said Lambert, 76. Residents were told they could stay on one portion of the site while work was done on another portion. This week, to the delight of Lambert, workers began repairing his apartment at 3729 Pleasure St. "They're going to replace floor tiles, install new cabinets in the kitchen and make repairs in a bedroom," he said. And it's going to get even better. By October of next year, workers should be finished with building a portion of the new smaller, mixed-income Desire. Once 73 of the apartments and 17 of the single-family homes are completed in the fall, Brown said, the 14 families will move into the new housing. Leslie Williams can be reached at lwilliams@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3358. 08/14/02 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/