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Letter to President Bush regarding HUD & New Orleans DemolitionsDear President Bush, I'm writing to urge you to heed the calls of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards, and place a moratorium on the demolition of 4,500 public housing units in New Orleans. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is planning to bulldoze these homes without providing a clear 1-for-1 replacement plan--and at a time when the city faces a housing crisis. New Orleans needs the federal government to undertake responsible redevelopment, not pursue plans that eliminate the majority of affordable public housing and that demolish buildings with some of the soundest construction in the city. Public housing residents in New Orleans have been fighting for over two years to return to apartments that were only minimally damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Instead of helping them, HUD's plan would make displacement permanent for many, making a cruel joke out of your promises from Jackson Square after Katrina, where you spoke of America's "duty to confront this poverty with bold action," and went on to say that "Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons -- because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love."
In addition, several questions have arisen about the legitimacy of HUD's plan that must be answered. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson is under criminal investigation for potential corruption in HUD's process for handing out contracts related to the redevelopment plan. And HUD has yet to answer the question of where families are to live while their government promises to rebuild a "better" New Orleans.
Signed, [Your name] |
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