NOLA residents want recycling, survey says

Over the past few months, the city of New Orleans conducted an opinion poll on attitudes toward a city-wide recycling program. The results are in and they're awesome:

• 10,000 households responded of 120,000 households
• 9,000 (of 10,000) households indicated they would "voluntarily subscribe" to a recycling program.
• When asked how much residents would be willing to pay
• 2,570 would pay nothing
• 2,858 from $1 to $3.50 a month
• 2,127 from $3.50 to $6 a month
• 1,671 from $6 to $10 a month
• 772 would pay more than $10 a month

One would think that Sanitation Director Veronica White would take this information and start a kick-ass recycling program. But no - the City has allocated $500,000 toward recycling, which is roughly enough to fund 6 months of pickup. And don't expect glass or cardboard to be picked up. Link.

Stupid people.

As Chad blogged about earlier there was an incident if you will between housing protesters and police earlier today when a decision was made not to allow the protesters inside the council meeting [to decide the fate of the big four projects]. You can watch a video of the scuffle below.



After city council approved unanimously in a 7-0 vote to approve the demolition of the big four projects, B.W. Cooper, St. Bernard, Lafitte and C.J. Peete, Mayor Ray Nagin, who notably was not at the council meeting released a statement supporting the councils decision. According to nola.com he said "The decisions made today were ones of compassion, courage, and commitment to this city,"... "This is an incredible day. You heard lots of pain today. The City Council in its wisdom has come up with a solution that will allow us to move forward, to hold HUD accountable".

Shame on Ray Nagin and the New Orleans city council for the lack of attempt at making any attempt at compromise.

Call the City Council TODAY!

As a New Orleans resident, you have a powerful way to help. Tomorrow, the New Orleans City Council is scheduled to vote on whether or not to permit HUD to carry out its demolitions. Several council members are on the fence, and your voice can influence their vote. Please join us in calling on them to vote against these reckless, premature demolitions and insist on a rebuilding plan that is fair and good for all New Orleanians.

Calling is simple and takes only a few minutes. Here are the key New Orleans City Council members and their offices:

Arnie Fielkow: (504) 658-1060
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell: (504) 658-1040
Shelley Midura: (504) 658-1010

When you call, you can use the script below or write your own.
Once you've called, please let us know by emailing hudhousing@colorofchange.org.

Script: Hello. My name is [Your Name], and I'm calling to urge [Councilperson's Name] to vote against permitting HUD to demolish public housing units in New Orleans. HUD's plans are flawed and unfair and would greatly reduce affordable housing in the city, making the housing crisis worse.

Until HUD creates a plan that provides 1-to-1 replacement of public housing and deals with the current criminal investigation of HUD and the HANO redevelopment plan, there should be no demolitions.

via Bob Payne (via colorofchange.org)

Congressional Democrats Get Involved in Public Housing

This public housing issue isn't going away as quietly as HANO and HUD would like it to. On Thursday night, it seemed as if there was no way to avoid imminent demolition. But there has been a flurry of activity over the last day:

1. As Rob blogged about yesterday, HANO and the plaintiffs (representing public housing residents) agreed on a deal by which the City Council would decide the fate of three of the housing projects. While this represents an advance for the residents, it probably won't change the end result significantly. At least 3 Council members have decided to vote for redevelopment, with strong support for the 1-for-1 return plan to Lafitte. It would be a significant victory if Lafitte features a 1-for-1 (every family who lived there is accounted for with a new unit) return rate. But the other projects do not have the same sort of redevelopment plans, and the City Council still seems unlikely to force their hands to 1-for-1.


2. The Democratic Leaders in the House and Senate have written to President Bush, urging him to stop the demolition of housing while more of the issues are worked out. This catapults the issue to the national level, which will hopefully put some more coverage on the issue. But it's important to note that even these Dems didn't ask for the residents to be allowed to return immediately; their letter asks for a 60-day moratorium in order to work out a plan for replacing affordable housing. The letter also connects the homeless--in Duncan Plaza, under I-10, and everywhere else--to the lack of affordable housing.
   Congress this year has done a lot of frustrating things, and hasn't accomplished as much as Democrats hoped it would. But reading this letter actually gives me a twinkle of pride that there are actually some politicians left in Congress (not named Barack Obama) who care about the poor and displaced down here. I hope Congress can make some change on this.

Keep reading the blog over break for updates.