re: Former housing projects in Nola…

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except my post was true.

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There were massive protests against them being torn down.

Idiots. What replaced them was better.

some of them such as all the townhouses in the former magnolia and st. thomas projects look fine from the outside, but when i worked with EMS 5-7 years ago i went in those places numerous times. the people living there dont respect them and insides are trashed. nearly every one would have a 65+ inch tv sitting on a crappy old stand or on the ground above the tv would be a picture of obama and a picture of MLK. not exaggerating when i say that was 90% of the places

Friend,

Thank you for sharing this wonderful success story. When the Church fails, government must step in to help. And as more and more churches close their doors and Americans turn to individualism, hedonism, and securityism as their gods above the God who teaches us to love the widow, orphan, and prisoner and to take in the alien as one of our own, who tells us that we are to give the one who has not, who tells us our treasure is not in our homes but in heaven, expect that government’s arm will grow stronger is this department out of necessity.

Our youth group had a program with St Monica’s, church near the Calliope Projects, which often went by the less graceful name of BW Cooper, where we met with their youth group on Sunday afternoons. One month we would meet at our church and the next at their church. Occasionally, we would have service projects in the courtyards and buildings of the beautiful Georgian brick Calliope residence.

Perhaps I was too young to feel afraid, but I never felt danger or apprehension about the days we spent at Calliope. One time when we were helping to clean and renovate one lady’s residence, someone knocked on the door to tell us not to come out for about thirty minutes. We heard loud noises which I assumed was another family throwing a surprise birthday party.

The people we met there were most hospitable and I never saw any activities untoward or suspicious except one afternoon when a block party was being hosted. There was a lot of smoke and people holding large bottles of what appeared to be either apple juice or beer. Sadly, in retrospect, it appeared to be the latter. Not until I visited a tailgate at LSU did I witness that amount of public alcohol drinking.

Besides ourselves there were few white people in the projects we visited. I never did see SuperSaint there, but perhaps he only visited after the sun went down for slumber parties.

One day Mother and I were going to the Piccadilly across from Ochsner, which now is a tasteless large gas station. We had been at an auction downtown, so she decided to take Earhart, the most poorly designed expressway in America.

As we left downtown, her back left tire lost pressure and her Mercedes came to a stop in front of the Calliope Projects. Mother seemed scared, and I tried to assuage her fear by telling her this was where we had done some gardening two months ago.

We managed to find a parking spot beneath one of those beautiful oaks. I was maybe 11 years old at the time and did not know how to change a tire, nor did I have suitable gloves that would have kept my hands free from grease and dirt.

As a middle aged man approached the car, Mother gripped my hand and said, “Do not open your door.

He tapped on the window, so I rolled it down. “Let me help y’all out. You got a spare?”

The nice gentleman quickly changed the tire, but unfortunately the flat had no air pressure either. He then told us to stay put so he could run back to his apartment and call a cab.

Fifteen minutes later we were in a United Cab back home. We did not get to feast on roast beef and carrot soufflé that day. And sadly we never saw that car again either.

When the developers took over after a Katrina, I was quite sad to see the old Bricks torn down. They were home to handsome architecture and quality build, but I also understood that the crime that festered there was also not something that could go on either.

Yours,
TulaneLSU

I believe him, actually.

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’ve ridden through several of these areas in the last year or so and it’s amazing that they all still look really nice. What was done back then in operational structure and follow on over site that has let this happen?

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All the real lowlifes are in the section 8 apartments in Nola East.

Every NOLA project was named after its main thoroughfare. I just realized this

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St. Thomas was the worst

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Naw

Calliope or magnolia followed by the Melph

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mostly St Thomas. I saw unspeakably horrible things and conditions (poverty i saw later in Brazil and China was worse looking back).

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I worked at NOGH on Jackson St. right in front of St. Thomas back in the early to mid-90’s. Shootings were common.

One day me and a couple coworkers were standing near our cars getting ready to leave when shots rang out. Some kid comes running by, followed by another with a gun in his hand.

The project could only be described as a ghetto. It looked more like a prison than a place to live.

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Calliope or magnolia followed by the Melph

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in the 80s & 90s - St Thomas was the worst

Melph had nothing but pushers, no murders