HUD bulldozes homes (of poor Mississippians) in the Bay

[Maddy McCall]

BAY ST. LOUIS - In a frantic race against bulldozers, residents scrambled to save what little they could last week, before several city blocks of government housing was demolished.

In all, 36 families occupied the homes that were destroyed, just days after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development deemed the buildings unsafe.

"HUD recommended that the buildings be torn down, because of the water damage and mold inside," said Demetria Crumbly, director of the Bay Housing Authority.

snip/

"We desperately tried to get the residents to work with us, and get their belongings out of the units, but not everyone is happy with what's going on," she said. "We have put things in storage containers to save for them, and we took photos and inventory of each of the units."

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/12921325.htm

Much more in this article, including resident advocates' claims that the homes were NOT badly damaged. Also, displaced residents are being "relocated" to North Mississippi.

[rodeodance]

1. well, the evidence is destroyed now.

[rodeodance]

2. seems that some (higher up the social scale)--have a new vision for

BAY ST. LOUIS --that is similar to New Orleans--!!

[Doremus]

3. And so it begins...

The permanent displacement of the poor to reclaim the real estate and sweep away the trash. With the budget cuts looming from a paniced Congress and a safety net that already has holes the size of dump trucks, what will become of the less fortunate?

I get so angry I could spit.

[AndyTiedye]

13. And Disperse the Black People Into the Hinterlands

where their votes will no longer matter.

[cap]

4. the key is transition them from public to affordable housing...

if people could afford housing on the private sector, they would be living there already.

HUD isn't building anything. Just tearing stuff down.

[gulfcoastliberal]

5. Downtown Bay St Louis was already being gentrified before Katrina

They demolished a historic old movie house next to Trapanis eatery to build a condo. Of course, I think Trapanis is gone since it was right by the water, even though Bay St Louis is ona bluff and thus hugher ground than Waveland, which got devastated much worse than Bay St Louis. I'm not surprised about this, though. They'll be doing the same thing in Waveland.

[Maddy McCall]

14. It's all about development, I fear. Kinda off topic....

The best thing about visiting the Coast, to me, was being able to drive along 90 beside the beautiful beach and actually SEE the water.

Did you see Marshall Ramsey's cartoon yesterday? Take a look....he's so right.

http://cmsimg.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Avis=D0&Dato=20051016&Kategori=OPINION04&Lopenr=51016004&Ref=AR&MaxW=450

[sasquatch]

6. Relocate to Ohio

Are government is just as crooked right now as yours always have been. Not only that you get four, count'em four, seasons. Right now you only get two seasons in the gulf coast: Hell and summer lite.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Some people would rather live on the Gulf Coast.

Than hang out with the corn fed folks.

[pitohui]

10. how's that any better than north mississippi?

the issue is the ppl did not want to be relocated at all, they want to live in bay st. louis which is very fine area when it is not being torn up by storms

[Maddy McCall]

15. Your Ohio eltitism is difficult to justify.

Forgive me for saying this, but I can think of no reason why anyone would want to leave the Mississippi gulf coast to live in OHIO.

[sasquatch]

22. Two words: NO HURRICANES

*Does his best used car salesman impression*
If you miss the old fascism of Mississippi you can live in Cincinnati. We also have four AAR stations, 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, 1 NHL team, 1 NBA team w/Lebron James, Ohio State football and countless other things. You also get to see Republican politicians go to prison evetally, VAT A STATE.
:patriot:

[Maddy McCall]

24. Nah, I'll stay here.

Honestly, I can think of nothing about Ohio that would make me want to live there.

[pitohui]

25. two words: NO OCEAN

how are you going to keep them down on the farm after they've lived in bay st. louis

not to impugn ohio, i'm sure it is v. nice but i'm not seeing how it is any better to force migrate the ppl to ohio than to force migrate them to north mississippi

neither culture would be an acceptable replacement for living on the bay

[sasquatch]

26. Lake Erie is better

Why, there isn't shit in Lake Erie that can eat you and your close to Canada.

[pitohui]

27. yeah better at catching on fire

the community we are talking abt doesn't give a rats ass abt close to canada & they're not afraid of a gator or two, or the occasional shark or jellyfish, it's their home

you know there is a reason why it is considered a tragedy that, say, the cherokee were forcibly removed to oklahoma, not to say that oklahoma is not "okay" but it is not the people's home

decent housing, not more slum housing, should be rebuilt for these ppl on the coast

period end of sentence

we would do no less for any white stockbroker in new york

sheesh

if their homes are bulldozed, they should be replaced by equivalent or better in the same community, how hard is that

we need democratic voters in mississippi and louisiana, not just in ohio!

[sasquatch]

28. Oh yeah, the waters around there ARE REALLY CLEAN NOW!

:sarcasm:
Mississippi and Louisiana don't have a snowballs chance in hell of turning blue, but Ohio just needs a little push to turn completly blue.

[pitohui]

30. how do you figure?

Mississippi and Louisiana don't have a snowballs chance in hell of turning blue, but Ohio just needs a little push to turn completly blue.

that's an odd quote, we know for a fact that louisiana has a democratic senator & governor & many other public officials

even mississippi has a democrat or two

don't be so eager to take ppl away from their homes, the poorest of the poor who are usually found in public housing often have their entire extended family living in one city or county, you are not just taking their homes but their communities when you forcibly relocate them

[uppityperson]

8. Any water damage, combined with 1+month heat=bad. I'm a skeptic too

People are still missing and scattered all over, especially those from gvt housing who may not have the means to get notified and get back to get their stuff. The situation is a mess. Thanks for the article Maddy, uppity the skeptic (fema must move fast, rubbish)

[Maddy McCall]

16. They "move fast" at tearing down public housing...

The 9th Ward in NOLA is being bulldozed as we speak.

But there are people STILL living in public shelters, waiting on any kind of assistance.

Go figure.

[pitohui]

9. there are no good choices in bay st. louis

it is sad

my friend's home in waveland, not a stick was left

this area was devastated beyond belief

i can imagine it's hard for the ppl to accept but i see little option here

relocating to north mississippi, which is a completely different culture, could be questioned tho, seems rather insult to injury if you ask me

[Maddy McCall]

17. I bet they will relocate them to the Delta region.

More poor people put in an impoverished area, where no jobs are available. Makes no effin sense.

[pitohui]

19. there's nothing for them in the delta

i don't see the reasoning at all but the article seems to confirm this is what they are doing

how can they recover in the delta? the delta is hard-pressed to take care of her own, there's v. little tax base there

[Maddy McCall]

21. They can't recover in the Delta. But most of the delta isn't prime...

real estate, where coast real estate is selling like hotcakes right now.

It is absolutely evil the way this is being handled.

[Javaman]

11. What I find interesting about all this is...

Back after the Northridge earthquake, dozens of apartment buildings were red tagged for demolition. Yet, years had gone by and they were still there, yet to be leveled.

I find it fucking bizarre, that for a admin* that couldn't get water to those poor people down there, were pretty damn quick at leveling those houses. Like the saying goes, money talks, bullshit walks. But this admin* it seems as if they have mastered the talking money bullshit machine.

[Maddy McCall]

18. THANK YOU.

AMEN. I'm still waiting on a FEMA inspector to visit my house. It's been almost two months.

The way that they're prone to use the bulldozer, maybe I should count my blessings that he's stayed away.

[madrchsod]

12. after spending over ten thousand dollars

replacing two bathrooms in my house because of mold damage i can see why they would bulldoze. it`s cheaper just to start over and maybe this time they`ll use a steel frame , cement board, and metal roofing to build public housing in this area.

[Maddy McCall]

20. Read the article...I think the point is that there is NO mold.

The demolition of these homes had been long planned. Katrina just gave the feds an excuse.

[MountainLaurel]

29. Do you actually think

They're going to be rebuilding the public housing?

:rofl:

No, what they're going to do is sell the property to developers at a huge profit, where the developers can build high-end homes cheek-to-jowl.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. "We desperately tried to get the residents to work with us"

I can just imagine. :eyes: