Walking around town today I saw some black and white posters by
DefendNewOrleansPublicHousing.org that looked similar in style and size to the
infamous "condo" posters that Vitty-cent urged the FBI to investigate. I hope that's just a coincidence.
At the
DNOPH web site, there is a fact sheet entitled
"Busting Vitter's Myths". One of the facts they bust is Vitter's claim from October that there were 400 HUD/HANO units currently available. DNOPH says that while HUD actually claimed only
250 units were available, an internal HANO memo confirmed that these units never existed.
The
Times Picayune seized on the available units angle of the public housing story, yet "the activists" didn't seem to vigorously contest the numbers. The
Times Picayune uncritically repeated HUD's claims and exaggerated the number of available units in the subheadline to one of their stories. They reported as "fact" that "hundreds of units were available right now". According to
their own reporting, which seems entirely based on HUD's claims, that "fact" wasn't true. Consider this timeline of the diminishing available unit numbers:
10/06
"Housing Recovery Act Endangers Reform" T-P op-ed by Sen David Vitter:
"HUD/HANO has another 400 available public housing units right now."12/16
"Far From Full: Lost in the debate about the demolition of N.O. housing developments is one fact: There are hundreds of units available right now": "Even as some protesters spoke of low-income people being "kicked to the curb" by demolition plans,
federal officials said nearly 300 units in public housing complexes across the city are either ready for occupancy or nearing final inspection."
12/17
YRHT: "Either
call HANO/HUD on its claim about the 300+ available units, and/or divert some protest energy towards immediately filling them up! Either you
catch HANO/HUD in a(nother) lie, or you help 300 families who are suffering from this crisis, and demonstrate the urgency of the situation. You just got thumped by a front page Sunday morning feature titled: 'FAR FROM FULL: Lost in the debate about the demolition of N.O. housing developments is one fact:
There are hundreds of units available right now'".
12/19 "
Housing officials describe surplus BUT ACTIVISTS AGAINST DEMOLITIONS DISPUTE CONDITIONS": "
Federal Department of Housing and Development officials said the local public housing supply outstrips demand. Currently, 1,762 public housing units are occupied and
nearly 300 are available or within weeks of being ready at eight Housing Authority of New Orleans complexes and at scattered housing authority sites."
12/20
T-P Editorial: "the city doesn't
seem to have the severe shortage of public housing that demolition opponents say exists.
There are 154 units available today, 132 awaiting inspection and 802 that are being repaired or renovated,
according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development."
HUD says 154 units are available, and the T-P editorial board says "the city doesn't
seem to have the severe shortage of public housing that demolition opponents say exists." Well, if a reporter is
willing to follow an elderly public housing activist back to her home for an inspection, why can't T-P reporters do similar legwork to verify HUD's claims about available units?
In October, Senator Vitter said
400 units were available "right now". Then the T-P reported as "fact" that
"hundreds" of units were available "right now". Days later, the number of available units "right now" was down to
154.
Does even that number hold water, especially in light of DNOPH's claim that last year HUD acknowledged that the "250 prepared units...never existed"? Neither the T-P nor the activists were willing to find out for sure.
Why didn't activists press hard on this dubious, evolving HUD number upon which the T-P based so much of its reporting and editorial opinion? Wasn't this a politically exploitable "soft spot"? If the T-P was forced to retract its false subheading about the "fact" that "hundreds" of units were available "right now", and if HUD was shown to be lying about the 154 unit number-- a distinct possibility in my view-- wouldn't the activists be in a very strong position to demand a second opinion on, say, HUD's rehab vs. redevelop cost numbers? Couldn't any HUD number be credibly disputed at that point? What if the activists presented 154 displaced families who were willing to fill up the available units, and what if HUD was unable to come up with the 154 units that they claimed? How would that look? How would the T-P look? Wouldn't that be a political winner?
Labels: Cons, Housing, Vitty-cent
12 Comments:
The reason that the activists didn't exploit the evolving number is that many of them are in it for the theatre a la Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Perhaps we should start to call those folks neo-Yippies. They've completely undermined the more serious folks such a s Bill Quigley.
I know Quigley. He has a big hand in bringing these people in, I assure you.
Excellent post, oyster.
So the trouble may well be with the advocates, but the cause is worth pursuing, and I think that distinction should be made.
I don't think it's all that complicated, that folks who were evacuated from public housing and not allowed to return, be allowed to return and have housing be available for them.
I'm not surprised that HUD has been lying, as they have been lying all along. Same with FEMA. Same with Bush.
Whether you realize it or not, you are indeed advocating for the folks from public housing when you write posts like this.
As far as the advocates, I have to say -- there would not be top news stories about the decision of the City Council if there hadn't been the kind of agitation going on that resulted in the police using tasers on folks. There just wouldn't. It would have been a back-page story and no one would have thought twice about it.
But because of that agitation, it was the top news story at AOL for 2days instead of the usual Brittney Spears nonsense.
Go figure.
I don't trust HUD and having witnessed Jay Arena's antics at RT I think Adrastos is right. Having watched yesterday's hearing it seemed there were perhaps a few serious and thoughtful activists. If more is to come I'd much rather see national news coverage of someone like Bishop Jenkins leading 154 families to the HUD office than see Jay Arena lay in front of a bulldozer. Kinda think would be more effective as well
The Trotskites are indeed a distraction and a hindrance.
They prefer to play at making a revolution instead of the much harder work of making a difference.
In addition to the HANO units there is also the voucher program, which may or may not be working. No one seems to be trying to find out.
What is clear is the there are significant HUD resources in a number of programs which are committed to helping the displaced residents return.
HUD and HANO have a horrible record of doing anything and it wouldn't surprise me to find that this is botched up beyond all recognition.
That might be able to get fixed. If it could be credibly shown them pressure can be put on people to make it right.
No amount of theatrics is going to reverse the housing policy of the last 25 years, which calls for the de-projectification of public housing.
Thanks, nightprowlkitty.
Freaking hipsters. Are the condos still okay?
Great post. And I'm totally with Adrastos on this one.
The "activists" (who seem more like "passivists" as in "passive-aggressivists") aren't interested in actual effective solutions. They want the theater.
Looking for a good guy in this one is like looking for a good guy in the Contra/Sandinista thing in the Reagan years.
There are no good guys.
Stacy (Head) versus Tracie (Washington)?
Ugh.
None of the above.
The idiots (Vitter and the passive-aggressivists) have accomplished the impossible. They have made the City Council look brilliant.
Great post, I wish we'd noticed this trend sooner. The tactics of Arena's troops has been extremely counterproductive in fostering productive discussion on this issue, Yet, I'm afraid that the T-P's stance has been even less helpful.
Just one little distinction here.
"Theater" and "agitation" can be very effective tools. The difference between the local reaction at this level of obnoxiousness and the national reaction (Oh, those mean police hurting those poor folks!) should be noted. It's different on the teevee, you know.
I would, of course, have liked to see seventeen brass bands march right into that room and blow everyone away.
I just don't know if it would get the news coverage. :)
They did succeed in getting news coverage. There is something to be learned by that, I think.
Quote of the decade goes to Mr. Clio:
"The idiots (Vitter and the passive-aggressivists) have accomplished the impossible. They have made the City Council look brilliant."
lol lol lol
The Times Picayune is not a very good paper. Period. Unfortunately not news.
Great running of the numbers, Oyster. That kind of careful work is the kind of thing that could really make a difference long term. (Someone has to run with the ball though.)
And nightprowlkitty is very VERY right that whatever the anarchists' intentions, that kind of theater is effective. HUD wanted to do this in the dark, and they shined a bright nationwide spotlight on it. Those kind of kooks serve a useful purpose, but it's up to others (like Oyster here) to keep the pedal down.
