why?

ive written about this before but damn, why must we be so hell bent on tearing things down in this city post-katrina? can you imagine if we had this attitude all along? we would look like atlanta or houston and i would be in amsterdam or paris where they value the beauty of old architecture. when they tore st. thomas housing projects down, i was sad. those buildings were beautiful. in addition, they also up rooted many of the elegant oak trees on the site and this kind of reckless abandon is what pisses me off. why is it so impossible to rehabilitate these buildings? look at lafitte, they are beautiful and surrounded by stately oaks. if we let them have their way, there won't be anything left on the damn site. no trees, nothing and for what? so they can erect ticky tacky houses that all look the same and by same i mean cheap. there have been independent architects that have said the damage to these buildings is greatly exaggerated. look, i'm no proponent of housing projects. i think it is a failed attempt to care for the poor and failed because it segregates them from the rest of society. it stigmatizes them but the middle of a post-disaster housing crisis is not the time to try and fix all of our societal ills. people need housing now! and i do not believe that the answer is demolition over rehabilitation. you can make them into nice apartments and turn the area into mixed income housing. you want more police presence? bring back the beat cop. theres an idea. kids in these inner city slums have no role models but the drug dealers. the only time the cops show up is to clean up. oh, they might drive by in the isolation of their patrol cars but there is no significant connection being made. so let's bring the beat cops back and not just into the projects but everywhere. new isn't always good. i challenge everyone to ride by these areas scheduled to be demolished and see the potential of the existing structures. and remember that many people call them home and that many of them wait, homeless. keep in mind that hano says the new buildings will not be ready until 2010. if you live in a tent at city hall, that is a mighty long time to wait. if anybody reads this, go out and make some noise. call into the city council. march. protests. this is our city. take it back. we have allowed things to happen to us for far too long. enough!