An important meeting is happening tomorrow evening at Grace Episcopal Church. 

If you have been following our blog posts, you are aware that we have major concerns with the proposed development of the area dedicated by legislative act in 2005 as Bio-district. 

Meeting details:

6:30 PM. - Monday, February 7, 2011.
Grace Episcopal Church at 3700 Canal Street. 
GNOBEDD will present their current progress on the BioDistrict Planning.  The Planning Map will be on display to the public at 6pm.

At the MCNO meeting tomorrow, you will have a chance to see the current working map that Jim McNamara, President and CEO for the Greater New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District, calls the "consolidated scheme" for the 1500 acre footprint bounded by Loyola ave, Tulane Ave., Carrollton Ave, and Iberville Street, and includes the Historical Medical District where Charity Hospital still sits - vacant. This scheme is supposedly an amalgamation of ideas suggested by residents living in the footprint after half a dozen or so meetings. 

Please consider attending tomorrow's meeting if you share our concerns, have concerns of your own or simply want to find out what all the fuss is about.

See you there!

"Will my house be a park?  Are they going to force me out?  Are they rezoning me?"

Those are the types of questions we've been hearing lately from residents of the 1,500-acre BioDistrict that includes much of Mid-City and Gert Town here in New Orleans as they learn that they live in the enormous footprint.  There's a great deal of uncertainty about the BioDistrict, which covers both the original Rev. Avery C. Alexander Charity and VA Hospitals and the two hospital sites in Lower Mid-City.

Mayor Landrieu, (and other people of influence), have made it very public that they support turning 1500 square acres of Lower Mid-City, designated as BioDistrict, inside out in order to make BioTech and BioSciences the economic driving engine for our 300 year old historic city.

While SaveCharityHospital.com is fully in favor of cultivating and developing BioSciences to create jobs, as well as developing marketing and production infrastructure to capitalize on new medical discoveries and technology to benefit our city and state, SaveCharityHospital.com, unlike the BioDistrict, proposes using the  vast amount of vacant buildings and land that already exists in order to do so.

Recently, Jim McNamara, the head of BioDistrict New Orleans, unveiled what he called the "consolidated scheme" for the district.  That was interesting because the scheme supposedly incorporates the public input from a lively session that took place at Jesuit High School less than a week earlier.  It involved four different maps. 

We have a number of reservations about this suddenly consolidated plan.  It shows Charity Hospital as a "Allied Health Sciences" facility.  We're not quite sure what that means. While using Charity Hospital for medical and BioScience purposes would be welcomed, we hope that's not just some lip service to those of us who are concerned about the hospital.  The design also shows major development in the area of Lower Mid-City sometimes referred to as Tulane-Gravier.  The neighborhood in the area bounded by S. Galvez, Tulane, S. Broad, and I-10 will likely have to be razed in large part to make way for the large buildings that are shown as planned. 

We're also concerned about the potential for even greater expansion of the already excessively large district.  The scheme showed possible future extensions of the BioDistrict to include Iberville, B.W. Cooper, and the proposed Domain development in the CBD.  It may strike some as shocking that the BioDistrict has the power to "satellite" in other areas of the City - even ones that don't adjoin the current district.  IE: YOUR home or business. Jim Kelly from Providence Community Housing also suggested at the last NEWCITY meeting that the BioDistrict should be expanded into the greater Treme area.  McNamara said that discussions about expansion were underway with the City.  That's not a good idea - the BioDistrict is already far too big and too ambitious!

Our other major concern is the lack of adequate public input about the BioDistrict.  At the January 15, 2011 meeting at Jesuit High School, a number of community members expressed significant concerns about the lack of a neighborhood or community member on the unelected board that governs the BioDistrict.  Additionally, McNamara recently claimed that over 1,000 people have provided input at BioDistrict sessions.  Well, from our experience, that's not accurate.  150 people might be closer to the truth - many of the people who attended the sessions in the fall and the winter were THE SAME PEOPLE over and over again.  And many of those in attendance were people working for the BioDistrict , Bright Moments or AECOM, the planning firm.  There were hardly any residents present to provide input considering the fact that the district has thousands of residents. 

Of those present, great interest was expressed over what drives the GNOBEDD masterplan. At the meeting at Jesuit High School, they said the land use was only projected and subject to change based on the CZO.  However, after weeks of public meetings and a public CPC meeting leading to the approval of the City Masterplan by the City Council, citizens were told that the new CZO would clarify land use but would be built with the land use as a framework. Therefore, land use drives the CZO.  Contrary to what the GNOBEDD is proposing.

We're also concerned about "Bright Moments," the group that's supposed to do the outreach for the BioDistrict and get people to attend meetings.

There are all sorts of other concerns - like how the BioDistrict will even get off the ground if LSU fails to come up with the money necessary to build the Charity replacement hospital (which is supposed to be crucial to the development of the district).  We will continue to watch the BioDistrict closely.

If you live in the BioDistrict and /or share our concerns, please consider attending the next Mid-City Neighborhood Association Meeting taking place at 6:30 PM. - Monday, February 7, 2011. at Grace Episcopal Church at 3700 Canal Street.  GNOBEDD will present their current progress on the BioDistrict Planning.  The Planning Map will be on display to the public at 6pm.

Meanwhile, Charity Hospital sits vacant..... patiently waiting...... for patients.......

We've been watching the fallout since last Wednesday when a major revelation emerged at the UMC Management Corporation Board.  The Board's own financial consultant, J.P. Morgan Chase, made it clear to those present that the $400 million financing gap that must be overome to build the Charity Hospital replacement facility...is still very much in existence.  It's not clear that the UMC will get the money it needs.

HUD, after considering the pre-application from the UMC Board, came back with about ten different areas of concern that require additional explanations and improvements by the UMC.  The Board's consultant noted that construction and site preparation (read: demolitions) have gotten far out ahead of the financial and management realities.  The "Clean Slate" is not so clean.  It's dirty.

In other words, LSU has demolished nearly 20 structures and cleared 18 lots in the UMC Footprint...but it doesn't have the money to build the hospital.  And now we're not the only ones who have noticed.  The UMC Board's spin about having the funding has been debunked.  UMC can't even go to a formal meeting with HUD about its application for mortgage insurance until it's cleared up the concerns raised at the recent board meeting.

Additionally, it became clear at the board meeting that continued site preparation activities in the UMC Footprint would jeopardize a chance at obtaining HUD backing necessary to bridge the financing gap.  So any further demolitions in the UMC Footprint going forward could potentially destroy UMC's chances at getting the funding required to make the whole project happen.

Here's another point: at UMC Board meetings in the fall, presenters made it clear that if UMC failed to get HUD financing, the project would almost surely fail to garner support in the private bond market.  At last week's meeting, all options were suddenly back on the table.  Those present were told that in the event HUD did not approve the insurance, then the project would simply proceed to enter the private bond market.  It was a very interesting - and noticeable - change of course.

UMC might want to re-consider the option of revamping the existing Charity Hospital at this point - before it blows more money on site clearance in the UMC Footprint. 

Really, given the ill-advised decision to proceed with site clearance before sufficient financing was onhand, we may see the "worst of all possible outcomes" result at this point.  UMC could have simply rebuilt in Charity.  It had enough money to do so  with the FEMA Charity arbitration settlement alone.  Now, since significant funds have been expended to demolish properties in the UMC Footprint, there may not be enough to rebuild in Charity anymore.  And if the HUD financing doesn't come through...and the private bond market isn't a realistic option...then we're looking at a scenario where the state is both unable to reopen in Charity and unable to build in Lower Mid-City.  Gee, wouldn't that be nice?

If the state has sufficient funding left from the FEMA arbitration settlement, the most feasible way to accomplish the task of bringing healthcare back online, as has always been the case, is to reopen in Charity Hospital.  It would have saved endless heartache for residents, prevented displacement of functional businesses, and avoided the destruction of a classic historic neighborhood.

On January 12, 2011, Jacobs Engineering held a meeting at the Regional Planning Commission meeting out in Metaire.  The meeting called upon developers to discuss potential adaptive reuse of the existing Charity Hospital building.

Strangely, nobody was notified - none of the consulting parties in our network, anyway, knew the meeting had happened until after the fact.

We don't know who was present at the meeting.

Under the programatic agreement that is supposed to govern how the developers deal with Charity Hospital, consulting parties must be given notice of the State of Louisiana's endeavors to reuse the building.  The failure to inform organizations about the January 12, 2011 meeting raises questions about whether the State and its contractor are complying with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Since our last post, a number of national media outlets have turned their attention to the harsh realities of the LSU/VA Hospitals site - the consequences of not re-using Charity Hospital.

Here's a compilation of links to articles that have come out in the past three days:

Various media sources and oversight bodies at the local, national and even international level have been demonstrating an increased focus on the destruction of Lower Mid-City as of late.

In the December 6, 2010 edition of Newsweek magazine, author Jeff Benedict writes about the regrettable decision to continue using eminent domain in the site of the proposed University Medical Center - despite the lack of funding.  A scanned version of the article can be found attached below.

Closer to home, the Times-Picayune provided an extensive article on the front page of today's Sunday paper that discussed, among other things, the impact of the property records computer crash at Civil District Court.  The article highlights the increased difficulty of acquiring the properties in the UMC Footprint - and the lengthening timeline for anticipated completion of the overall LSU/VA projects.  It begs the question: why didn't we simply reuse Charity Hospital at the outset and avoid the many problems that have since emerged with the alternate site?

On a more global level, the U.N. Advisory Group on Forced Evictions has released its report on human rights violations in New Orleans, using some choice words to describe the travails of residents in Lower Mid-City.  We reported on the Advisory Group when it visited the Lower Mid-City neighborhood back in 2008.

The growing focus on the neighborhood's fate is long overdue. 

The New Orleans BioDistrict is a massive, 1,500-acre site that stretches from the CBD to Carrollton Avenue, and it includes much of Mid-City and Gert Town.

The BioDistrict (also known as GNOBEDD - which we've covered at length) stands to impact the entire city, but it ties into Charity Hospital and Lower Mid-City specifically.  Both are inside the BioDistrict's mammoth, overly ambitious footprint.

We encourage you to attend a number of meetings this week on the BioDistrict - which are designed for public input.  Please bring your skepticism, and ask questions to ensure that citizen voices are heard regarding this major project:

Community Workshop
Wednesday, Nov. 3 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Warren Easton High School
3019 Canal St.
2nd Floor Auditorium

Community Workshop
Thursday, Nov. 4 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Warren Easton High School
3019 Canal St.
2nd Floor Auditorium

Community Workshop
Saturday, Nov. 6 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
International House Conference Center
221 Camp St.
4th Floor Conference Room

 Lately, some seem to be treating the proposed LSU/VA hospitals as a done deal.  But anyone involved in the ongoing process knows one thing is clear: when it comes to Charity Hospital and Lower Mid-City, things aren't clear at all.

Recently, a meeting on adaptive re-use of the now-vacant Rev. Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital building revealed a stark message: citizens of New Orleans want the building to be re-opened as a hospital.  Nevertheless, representatives of the State of Louisiana and its contractor, Jacobs Engineering, adamantly opposed any effort to discuss the hospital option.  

So what will happen to the building?  Is demolition actually off the table?  At this point, it is unclear what the state intends to do with Charity Hospital.  That doesn't seem to bother the state, however.  A representative from Jacobs noted that bidding for the adaptive reuse would begin early in 2011, and a contractor would be chosen in the spring - an extremely rapid turnaround time given the lack of certainty as to the actual reuse, as one meeting attendee noted.  It's so rapid, in fact, that it raises questions about whether the state, Jacobs, and a few of its select "consulting parties"...already know what the adaptive reuse will be, despite going through the motions of public input sessions.

In Lower Mid-City, we want to know this: how will the city protect its own residents from the abuses of the site preparation for the proposed hospitals?  Recently, two residents of the proposed VA Hospital footprint filed suit in federal court to stop the proposed cut-off of utilities to residences - where they still had a legal right to remain, despite the state's attempt to strong-arm the last residents in the area:

http://www.wdsu.com/news/25559695/detail.html 

To date, it appears the state has backed away from its plan to cut utilities while residents remain.  Indeed, Entergy has refused to cut power to residents who continue to pay.

We have to ask: is this simply a foretaste of what's to come in the footprint of the proposed University Medical Center (LSU Footprint) hospital across S. Galvez?  This entire unfortunate exercise would have been avoided if LSU had simply rebuilt in Charity, as we've said all along.  

It's also unclear what legal arrangement governs site preparation in the VA Hospital footprint.  The Cooperative Endeavor Agreement between the state and the city expired in August of 2010, from what we can tell.  It raises the question: in the absence of any formal agreement, what liabilities does the City of New Orleans remain liable for, should they arise from the site preparation?

Across S. Galvez, the demolitions have stopped in the LSU Footprint - for now.  That's fortunate because the UMC Board STILL does not have sufficient financing in place to build its hospital.  And, since the UMC and the state are still apparently unclear about the nature of their relationship, it's relevant to note that the state's funding picture is looking bleak.  The past few weeks have seen news articles outlining the massive budget cuts across departments and public institutions all over Louisiana.

Somehow, despite all the fiscal pain out there, the proposed LSU Hospital (UMC) remains a sacred cow:

http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/105148429.html?showAll=y&c=y

The Committee To Re-Open Charity will be holding a news conference and community rally at the Outer Banks Bar,
2401 Palmyra Street. New Orleans, LA, 70119
Friday, Oct 29, 4pm.

Come quench your thirst and show your support for the residents and business people  of Lower Mid City.

"The media has not given enough coverage to the raw deal meted out to Lower Mid City by LSU and the State Office of Facility Planning and Control.  The State has announced the turning off of utilities on Oct 28, regardless of the fact that residents and business people are still living and operating in the VA footprint of LMC. 

Nicole, the business person operating the Outer Banks, ask for a generator, but the State sent an eviction notice.  The Office of Facility Planning clearly has no respect for the human rights and property rights of the people of Lower Mid City."

SaveCharityHospital.com will be in attendance. 

Flyer attached for distribution.

NOTICE AND AGENDA FOR MEETING OF
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
NOTICE lS HEREBY GIVEN that a meeting of the members of the Board of Directors of the University Medical Center Management Corporation will be held on October 28, 2010 beginning at approximately 1:00 p.m. at the lnterim LSU Public Hospital, 2021 Perdido Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana in Room 101/102 Basement for purposes of:
Public Comment

Public comments may be made (1) when they relate to a matter on the agenda; and (2) when individuals desiring to make public comments have registered at least one-half hour prior to the meeting. The comment period is limited to one-half hour; 3 minutes per speaker. Written comment may also be submitted at any time.

1) Report from AMS Health Care Mortgage Corporation and Causey Demgen & Moore, Inc. on HUD Pre-Application and Debt Capacity Study;
2) Consideration of Authorization for Request for Proposals to Engage a Mortgage Banker;
3) Consideration of Authorization for Request for Proposals to Engage an Underwriter;
4) Report from Office of Facility Planning of the Division of Administration of the State of Louisiana on Construction Manager at Risk Agreement and status of construction project.

This Notice given by authority of the Chair of the Corporation the 25th day of October, 2010.