By Sarah Elise Lewis
In the spirit of revisiting the closed tomb, I went back to Moton Elementary this morning to videotape the large holes that have developed around the perimeter of the school building itself. I think they’re the result of scouring from rainwater.
I also got some shots of the surrounding neighborhood around it.
The breaches of the levess could have provided a rare opportunity to try to make right the mistakes of the past in this neighborhood, built on a toxic landfill. Placing a moratorium on building permits, offering homeowners’ equitable buyout programs and assistance in moving to safer areas. Returning the area to its natural state. All could have been done with some foresight. Instead homeowners are moving back into environmentally compromised homes and the school sits unsecured and full of furnishings.
With the City’s new code enforcement policies, our elected officials have spent a lot of time recently talking about the lack of “proper due diligence” in enforcing health and building codes since Katrina - the City’s failure to perform its duties to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Where was the due diligence here?
2 responses so far ↓
oh what a tangled web « Citizens’ City Hall // April 21, 2008 at 2:04 am
[...] for some time. That’s the school that has sat open and abandoned for nearly three years, with giant sink holes forming around its perimeter. It also just happens to be located on the contaminated soil of a [...]
Day 967: Sinkholes At “Former” Ninth Ward Superfund Site : Maitri’s VatulBlog // April 21, 2008 at 5:18 pm
[...] Elise Lewis is quoted in the above article and on the case. She has video-documented the sinkholes, which I urge you to watch in its entirety for more details on the top soil and the subsidence. [...]
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