[Imc-neworleans] Suggestion for center column

[Will Kirchheimer]

Jeff requested we consider promotion of this article:


http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2008/11/13296.php

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Help Save New Orleans' Charity Hospital and the Adjacent Mid-City 
Historic Neighborhood
by Jeffrey Brite Thursday, Nov. 06, 2008 at 8:59 AM

Time is of the essence on Charity Hospital and the surrounding 
neighborhood. Decisions may be made as early as this Friday that will 
decide the fate of the VA and the neighborhood.

I got an email from Mary Howell, a local civil rights lawyer, about the 
proposed destruction of Charity Hospital and the area around Charity. I 
went to the original blog and that is what is posted below.

Back in May, we listed Charity Hospital and its adjacent Mid-City 
neighborhood to our annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Places. 
The threat is has become even more imminent, and we we need your help. 
Voice your concerns now to change a potentially disastrous course — one 
that would leave this major New Orleans landmark to an uncertain fate, 
abandon an already-struggling downtown, and destroy at least 18 square 
blocks of a historic neighborhood.

New Orleans is poised to lose Charity Hospital and the VA Medical 
Center. The relocation plans of these two institutions call for the 
needless demolition of more than 165 historic homes — at least 18 square 
blocks — within the lower Mid-City National Register District. 
Bulldozing this historic neighborhood would not only betray the 
residents of New Orleans, who are working so hard to rebuild their 
communities, but could easily be avoided. The rehabilitation of iconic 
Charity Hospital, and a nearby alternative site for the VA, would avoid 
the demolition of even a single historic property.

Please act now to help us prevent the needless destruction of historic 
and cultural resources triggered by ill-advised and short-sighted planning.

blogs.nationaltrust.org/preservationnation/?p=1616