PreservationNation

After the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Louisiana State University and the Department of Veterans Affairs developed their controversial proposal to use the Mid-City neighborhood for the site of their new hospitals. The plan, which would needlessly destroy the historic neighborhood around Charity Hospital, has been the subject of governmental hearings and lawsuits. Now, though, Smart Growth for Louisiana, headed by Jack Davis, a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has put forward a compromise solution.

The premise is simple: Let’s build a hospital now. Let’s put our veterans first.

The compromise plan is presented both in a radio advertisement running on New Orleans stations and in the YouTube video below, which uses the same audio as the radio ad.

It seems like a win-win, for both New Orleans’ veterans and the residents of the Mid-City neighborhood. Learn more about our ongoing efforts to save Mid City and Charity Hospital

Charity Hospital

Last month I found myself in New Orleans for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields conference, wondering if I had unwittingly traveled back in time to the 1950s or 60s. The conference was great; it was the city’s land use planning that left me disoriented.

This was my first trip to New Orleans, and in addition to learning all kinds of things about brownfields, I toured the Lower Mid-City neighborhood that is slated for demolition to make way for the sprawling suburban style medical campus planned by Louisiana State University and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The current LSU and VA development plan abandons Charity Hospital, one of New Orleans’ most iconic buildings, in favor of a disjointed and sprawling medical campus located to the west of the Charity and Tulane Hospital (see the proposed development plan.)  To make way for this decidedly retrograde development, over 250 homes and commercial buildings in the Lower Mid-City neighborhood will be demolished. (Approximately 165 of these buildings are historic, and the National Trust named Charity Hospital and the adjacent Lower Mid-City neighborhood to its 2008 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.)

Residences in Mid-City New Orleans.

Stunning.  That’s the best word I can think of to describe the irresponsibility of the proposed development. In a city that has suffered so much loss, so much devastation, how can the further destruction of a viable neighborhood be justified? And for what gain?

And need I point out the irony of building a sprawling medical complex in a dense urban area  — when the human health impacts of sprawl have been so well documented?  I guess that’s one way to ensure continued demand for health services related to obesity and sedentary life styles.

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As Thanksgiving approaches, our thoughts naturally turn to family, good health, friends and the other things we treasure in life.

Fans of a historic stone barn in Chase, WI, tell the world that "This Place Matters."

This year I’m thankful for the men and women who work to make our cities and towns more livable—who save places that matter all across the country. These are the preservation heroes who’ve brought a house back to life in an inner-city neighborhood; attended a public hearing to speak for the rehabilitation of the historic neighborhood school; invested their life savings in a Main Street business to help spark downtown revitalization.

Heroes like Kristin Kolkowski, who led the effort to purchase a historic stone barn in the small rural town of Chase, Wisconsin. Not just any stone barn, mind you, but a barn listed on the National Register of Historic Places that is a source of pride for the people of Chase. Once fully rehabilitated, it will serve as the town park, museum, and event center for weddings and family gatherings. Kirsten’s constant promotion of the site even led to an appearance—with their This Place Matters sign—on Good Morning America.

I’m thankful for people like Kirsten who speak up for the places that matter, even when it is unpopular. In these difficult financial times, governments often look to cut programs without considering the economic benefits that result from preservation activity. That’s what was happening earlier this year in Florida, as the state legislature threatened the state’s Main Street program with severe budget reductions claiming other programs were higher priorities. Luckily, the Main Street leadership found a powerhouse advocacy partner in the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. Together, the local Main Street leaders and the Florida Trust were able not only to preserve funding for the Florida Main Street program and the State Historic Preservation Office, but even to increase it. That’s a great outcome in face of daunting odds, and those statewide advocates join my list of preservation heroes.

The Charity Hospital Advocacy Group includes Sandra Stokes, who was honored for her work to save New Orleans’ Charity Hospital.

Speaking of fighting against the system, I was fortunate this year to visit with Sandra Stokes—another preservation hero of mine—in her home state of Louisiana. Sandra Stokes doesn’t just talk preservation, she lives it—right out on the front lines.

This year, the National Trust awarded Sandra the very first Peter H. Brink Award for Individual Achievement in Historic Preservation. Here’s how we described her work at the awards ceremony in Nashville last month:

As a board member of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, Sandra has been a leader in the ongoing effort to save and reuse New Orleans’ historic Charity Hospital—a classic preservation struggle that also addresses issues from health care to the role of citizens in determining their city’s future.

She is a film-maker by profession, but in the course of the Charity Hospital battle she has taken on—and excelled at—a number of jobs. She’s become a highly effective fundraiser, for example, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to the cause. She’s an articulate spokesperson, always willing to talk (and talk and talk) with anyone, anywhere, about an issue that really matters to her. She’s an investigative reporter, tenaciously rooting out misinformation and digging for the truth—and a skilled lobbyist, too, talking her way into meetings with decision-makers, winning friends and getting results. She can be the cheerleader who rallies her colleagues when their spirits flag—and the general who inspires them to keep up the fight.

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