Squandered Heritage

Demo Ordinance Revisions

Recommendations List

Today many Citizens concerned with this issue of the City’s Imminent Threat Demolition List appeared in Chambers to see that the old ordinance was updated to address the chaotic situation on the ground.

The Squandered Heritage team and the Preservation Resource Center and the local representatives from the National Trust worked together over the past few days to construct some recommendations, a wish list, if you will, of how we could fix this process at the City level.

The most effective way to do this in this urgent situation was to amend the original ordinance, which was broad and outdated. Ordinances are living documents. We were able to fix some issues with this ordinance and can continue to work on it as we tackle the more complicated issues.

Thanks to the entire City Council for their support of this amendment. While not completely perfect, it certainly addressed some urgent concerns.

We had the issues of public notice and written confirmation from the City after being removed from the list in the forefront of our minds as we created the recommendations as these were key areas where the process was flawed.

I have listed the changes in the ordinance with their corresponding line numbers.

Public Notice - Included in the amendment is a provision for the Imminent Threat list to be accessible online at the City’s website and updated as properties are reinspected and removed from the list. (LINE 23)

Legal Public Notice usually depends on Certified Mail. Homeowners need to be sure their mailing address in the city’s tax assesor database is current to start. Some will still slip through cracks as we have seen but we were unsure how to create anything more ‘traceable’ for this instrument. We urge homeowners to be diligent in this first step.

There are other means of posting public hearing notice for such things as zoning changes but we could not come to that sort of official public notice which was truly practical aside from the Public Notice listed in the Times Picayune.

Point of Contact / Person in Charge of the List (LINE 35) Winston Reid is the person at the wheel of Code Enforcement and will be in the person in charge of the Imminent Threat to Health and Safety Demolition List. We talked about the fact that Winston will need more staff but that language can’t actually go in the ordinance.

Complete re-vetting of the entire list. According to the amendment, this will happen on the back end in batches. The ordinance now states that the City will re-revist properties on the list within 48 hours of the demo date.
(LINE 38) Dr. Blakely was part of a panel today, he expressed his concern over this issue and support of re-inspections.

Written Confirmation for Appeals : The ordinance outlines a time-binding response date from the City of 15 days for people who have submitted their photos of their clean and secure property in which they will be issued a formal written response as to whether their house has been removed from the list.

Criteria for Imminent Threat - We wanted to have them list a criteria but what we got was actually through the criteria for removal. What we got was a guideline on the backend. Which is to clean, cut, secure.

This portion on the ordinance should help addresss inconsistencies for many homeowners regarding what you must provide to get your home off the Imminent Threat List.

(b) All notices provided under this section, except the posting
on the City of New Orleans website and the Times Picayune, alos include the information:

(1) The municipal address of the property
(2) The specific reasons for the said violations as follows:
(a) Inside of home gutted and contents removed;
(b) Grass cut in front, back and side yards;
© All doors shut and secured
(d) All windows shut and secured.

(3) Information shall be provided to property owners detailing what action he/she must take to comply with the ordinance and thus cause the removal of the subject property from demolition. Additionally the notices hall advise property owners that the City of New Orleans makes no legal representationth at relief will or will not be granted.

Due to this language, it is wise for some people to consider getting an engineer’s report if you want to give the City an authoritative document which attests that your property is structurally sound. While it is not in the ordinance, it would not hurt to have such a document. The cost of this is usually about $300-$400 dollars.

Merging all City Dabases - We wish that that City could coordinate all their property condition information databases into one, comprehensive database.

This should perhaps be addressed in some ordinance governing the City’s MIS department regarding the quality City of New Orleans website as a whole in order to improve the functionality of Code Enforcement and Public Access to Information. It was not something we could realistically add to this instrument today. These databases may not be technically merge friendly. It would have been meaningless to include it in this ordinance today.

FUTURE WORK:

Of course we couldn’t just do this in one day. There is more to do.

HCDRC REFORM: Stacy Head is aware of the procedural issues at the Historic Conservation District Review Committee. If you house is on the Imminent Threat to Health and Safety Demo List, and falls within the HCDRC review district, you should have this extra layer of review. The HCDRC is ill-prepared to deal with the great volume of demolitions coming before them Post-Katrina.

Reform of this commitee would help tighten things up regarding review/notice of properties on the Imminent Threat List. The properties on this list are to go through that process now. I have seen some of them coming through there but I think it has been hit or miss. Some come through and have already been demolished. This Committee is run out of Safey and Permits, it is a disaster of its own. Fixing it would be a great accomplishment.

FOLLOW UP ON THE NEW PROCEDURES IN PLACE. We at SH will continue to see how this really affects people on the ground by following up in our work on the site.

We can begin constructing more specific revisions to the ordinance with the help of other agencies. We will have to see if Winston is up to the task now formally in his lap.

Utlimately, the ordinance provides more clear and consistent guidelines for homeowners to get their homes off the list with the revisions passed today.

We need to be sure the City implements them.

Times Pic

Times Pic

AP

WSJ

Gambit

This week the mass media and local media have helped us illuminate this issue of unsolicited demolitions:

Dangerblond has posted the WSJ Front Page Story Here: Wall Street Journal .

It must be said that local freelance radio reporter, Eve Troeh, captured this story first, way back in Maarch of this year for a piece I know many of my friends caught on NPR.

The Times Picayune did a front-page feature, and we thank them for the thorough job they did on this complex issue.

One FUNDAMENTAL role of the press and journalism is to expose serious problems so that the general populace affected by an issue can take the proper action as well as force the checks and balances needed to keep our Government in line with the law. In this case, to police the expenditure of public money. The press has been an enormous help in doing this for our citizens in New Orleans confronted with accidental demolition. Our City employees have been left by our Mayor to fend for themselves. They are understaffed and many have gone beyond the call of duty to help the citizens who have contacted us and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Right now, concrete information is what Citizens of New Orleans really need. It’s not glamourous, but it is hard to come by from the City itself. We hope to make public information actually public! Thanks to the bloggers and geeks who have been assisting us to get files and posts up while we beat ourselves to death on the ground. We cannot rebuild successfully without teamwork and solidarity.

Editor B. at b.rox.com posted Karen’s official stipple on his site and he has been a very big help getting these documents on a server so you can access them at your leisure wherever you are in the diaspora.

Ashley Morris , a local blogger, created a very sexy and useful online map of the scope of Imminent Danger List. Thanks, Ashley.

The current Imminent Danger Demolition List from the City of New Orleans contains about 1700 properties. If you did not see the public notice in the newspaper, the list is linked here.

As we can see from these two homes, some houses may be on the list erroneously. We have included a link to instructions on how to get your house removed from the list.

IF you need urgent assistance, please leave a comment, we can email you back and get your personal information and give you a hand in working with the City Agency to get your home removed from this list.
The City of New Orleans Imminent Danger List

How to Appeal the Demolition of Your Home

On the City’s Website:
http://www.cityofno.com/portals/portal2/resources/

UPDATE: This week we attended the City Council Meeting all day as part of our/Stacy Head and Cynthia Hedge-Morrell’s effort to revise the original Imminent Threat Ordinance which was designed to allow the Army Corps to continue to work AFTER the emergency status of the City was lifted so they could demolish homes they had deemed Imminent Danger.

In March/April, the City of New Orleans created their own list of properties deemed Imminent Threat to Health/Safety/Danger which we see is being sloppily managed but exploites the original provision of the ordinance.

The City is using this ordinance to circumvent the due process of notification. Thus, it is time to update the ordinance to address this new application. The staff at Squandered Heritage is advocating for this revision. Due process of notification of homeowners is necessary because many homes on the current Imminent Threat lists created by the City do not meet the same criteria orginally understood under the creation of the ordinance.

Furthermore, no one at the City level is currently assuming ownership of the job of helping homeowners on the list, which is about 1700 people. One person needs to manage this process so that homeowners get the proper attention regarding their disposition on the list. We are pressing for reinspection of the list so that the burden of providing costly and inconsistent documentation for getting a home removed from the list does not lie on the homeowner. It is obvious that this list was mashed together from the seclusion of someone’s desk at City Hall in order to meet the FEMA deadline for City reimbursement of federal funds. Our photos show that re-inspection of these properties is needed as they are using public funds to excise demolition privileges some two-years after the event. The files/evaluations must be current/accurate to justify the use of public funds.

In an effort to meet a deadline for the Feds, the actual status of the property was not updated. We urge you to request a copy of your property’s file from the City to reveal this gap in the evaluations. Norris Butler can provide you with access to your file so that you may see how it was evaluated: 658-4300.

As of Aug. 7, 2007, Squandered Heritage Has 731 Photographs Of Properties on The Imminent Danger List: (actually we have more but we are releasing them slowly).

Karen’s Set

Laureen’s Set

Randall’s Set

City of New Orlean Imminent Danger List

To be removed from the list Call City Hall 658-4300. Please ask for Mr. Norris Butler.

If you are unable to speak with Mr. Butler, please call 504-606-6013 for advocacy assistance.

This house is on the City of New Orleans Imminent Danger List.

To be removed from the list Call City Hall 658-4300. Please ask for Mr. Norris Butler.

If you are unable to speak with Mr. Butler. Please call 504-606-6013 for advocacy assistance.

This poor little house has suffered abuse. It has a happy soul but it is currently a neglected home, it is an imminent health hazard. How did it get that way? Poor little house. Our work is rather solemn. Can we have a moment of silence for this house, please?

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City�s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.

City of NO Imminent Danger List August 5, 2007

To request your home be removed from the City’s Imminent Threat Demolition List Contact : Winston Reid, Department of Code Enforcement, whreid@cityofno.com Phone: 915-0092.