Editorials

Editorial: Starting Now: The Battle for New Orleans By BECKY O'MALLEY

Friday September 16, 2005

Looks like the jackals are already gathering in New Orleans, before the flood waters have been pumped away. The areas which took the worst of the flooding were the homes owned and rented by poor people, who have traditionally lived in the bottom lands of southern American cities, where the residents were subject to malaria, cholera and other hazards of life in swampland. Despite all the evidence that the Katrina disaster was made worse by disregarding environmental axioms about building in marshes, the speculators are clearly looking at the ravaged zones as one big building site, this time controlled by the right people. On the radio Thursday, a New Orleans economic development honcho was interviewed saying that from now on it was going to be a city for middle-class people, and another city employee rhapsodized about how new programs were going to turn all those poor folks middle class. (Tell me again about the rabbits, George….) 

New Orleans, the Big Easy, is not famous for its shopping malls, like Milpitas. It’s not famous for its electronics industry, like San Jose. It’s not even famous for moving money, as San Francisco once was.  

Another optimistic New Orleans economic development official opined that the city could be rebuilt as “Hollywood South,” with movie production and video editing and all that great stuff. But when they do make movies in New Orleans, it’s not because of its studio space. It’s the history, as reflected in its gorgeous people and buildings, that makes New Orleans a prime location for film shoots. And the musicians are part of the scene too. 

One tool which has just been sharpened up by the Supreme Court will be a big help for the speculators. Eminent domain will make it possible for politicians, famous as a class in New Orleans for their adeptness at wheeling and dealing, to decide that little guys, both small-time landlords and homeowners, aren’t rebuilding fast enough, aren’t making the highest and best use of their property. They’ll be able to seize damaged buildings and empty lots and turn them over to anyone who floats a big-time building scheme.  

You think that can’t happen? There’s a guy in Santa Cruz right now whose lot on Pacific Avenue, the main shopping street, is being taken by the city because he didn’t rebuild right out to the street after the Loma Prieta earthquake, despite the fact that his family runs the best restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz on the back part of the property. Never mind, the city of Santa Cruz in all its wisdom thinks that yet another t-shirt boutique would be nice there instead. And in Oakland, we have the family-owned tire business which has been taken for Jerry Brown’s redevelopment dreams.  

Under the headline “Redevelopment as Ethnic Cleansing” the blog “World War Four” reprints a Wall Street Journal article which quotes New Orleans industrialist James Reiss: “The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. ‘Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically,’ he says. ‘I’m not just speaking for myself here. The way we’ve been living is not going to happen again, or we’re out.’”  

Exactly where does Mr. Reiss think the poor people are going to go? Eminent domain will establish the fair market value of their now-empty lots as approximately bupkas, not enough even to rent an apartment in the distant suburbs. And what kind of city will remain if all those colorful po’folk leave? Some sort of Dallas East perhaps, relying on the legendary charm of shopping malls, parking garages, and high-rise condos to attract tourists?  

The next Battle of New Orleans might be starting now. There does seem to be a movement developing to put the re-building of New Orleans in the hands of the people who were living there until Katrina came. A key organizer is Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the progressive organizations throughout New Orleans, which has set up a People’s Hurricane Fund that will be directed and administered by New Orleanian evacuees. Donations can be made out to:  

 

The People’s Hurricane Fund 

c/o Vanguard Public Foundation 

383 Rhode Island St., #301 

San Francisco, CA 94103 

 

There are also a variety of websites where donations to this organizing effort can be made, including one administered by Ben Cohen’s True Majority fund: https://secure.truemajority.org/03/clu. 

The most cynical view is that the redevelopment machine is already grinding away, devouring everything in its path, and nothing can be done to stop it. Many commentators have noted the presence of the Halliburton Corporation on the scene, salivating. And of course, even on the left it will be tempting to see this as an opportunity to enact all of the schemes for “improving” cities that are always percolating in Washington think tanks. NYU Professor Paul Light, who used to be at the Brookings Institution, said in a radio interview that he thought interest groups and lawmakers, left and right, see hurricane relief as an opportunity to get money to do what they’d been wanting to do anyway, whether the locals want it or not. Chances are that contributing to CLU is the best way to avoid that outcome, but even the progressive organizations need to be watched for a couple of years. 

 

 

B