New Orleans City Council members asking state to spare McDonogh No. 11 school in hospital footprint

[The Mongoose]

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/03/post_383.html

Would be a shame to see this one go.

New Orleans City Council members have drafted a letter to state officials asking the planned Charity Hospital successor be constructed without razing the McDonogh No. 11 school building in Mid-City.

The letter, which was still circulating for signatures as of this morning, cites both the architectural and historical value of the late 19th century structure and the fact that $3 million in public money already have been spent on its refurbishing since Hurricane Katrina.

"The City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana and the federal government would all appear to be walking in circles if we use tax payer dollars to restore a building that, less than five years later, will be torn down for another tax payer-funded project," the letter states. "It will make no sense to tax payers, and, frankly, it doesn't make any sense to us."

 

[Brennan77]

I can agree with this at first look. But it's not like we're not already wasting tax dollars left and right. We're rebuilding streets all over the city but aren't replacing the underlying problem, which is largely the drainage and water systems. I cringe to see them tear up Magazine street and earlier this year, Louisiana Ave. It wasn't a month that they finished before the first leaking water main appeared on Louisiana.

And we're about to shut down the ST Charles streetcar line for a year? Wasn't it just shut down for an extended period right after Katrina? Why didn't we have the foresight to make the track repairs then?

 

[The Mongoose]

I'm typically in the camp of doing whatever it takes to get development going around here.

All I'm saying in this case is that it's a really cool building. I hate to see something like that get torn down, whatever the reason.

I haven't really analyzed the ins and outs of this whole thing. But they don't build things like that anymore.