Full text of lawsuit by National Trust For Historic Preservation claims VA and FEMA failed to follow federal environmental requirements for New Orleans hospitals. Filed May 1st, 2009
Planning
The $1.2 billion LSU/VA medical complex plan will have an enormous impact on the city's urban fabric. The decision to expropriate and demolish Lower Mid-City will carry irreversible consequences that will affect the look and feel of the city for generations to come. The far-reaching consequences of even the smallest of development decisions sparked the creation of the New Orleans Master Plan so that the city had a strategic game plan to help guide these decisions in a way that makes sense for the future of the city. In 2008, the City Planning Commission signed a $2,000,000 contract with Goody Clancy to complete a Master Plan to direct the future land use development of the city. Yet these planners were explicitly barred from evaluating the hospital plans and the larger biomedical district. Though the most respected urban planners suggests that efficient, dense, walkable cities are most likely to take advantage of the environmental movement and the renewed popularity of urban life, the LSU/VA medical complex proposes to abandon its efficient space downtown for a sprawling suburban-style campus that would demolish a residential neighborhood that is already uniquely positioned geographically to capitalize on market forces for robust revitalization.
Below you will find a collection of articles pertaining to the planning issue:
