Common Ground Collective: NOLA housing occupation defies plan to demolish lower Ninth Ward
by Common Ground Collective
Sunday, Jan. 01, 2006 at 10:36 PM
504.717.5633, 213.840.1972, 917.440.9679
The Common Ground Collective (CGC) announces that it will lease and occupy a building in New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward. The lower Ninth Ward is currently under a dusk to dawn curfew and and city plans under way would raze this community rather than help it to rebuild. Please spread far and wide!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 1, 2006
The Common Ground Collective (CGC) announces that it will lease and occupy a building in New Orleans' lower Ninth Ward. This is being done in defiance of the city's attempt to bulldoze that area in response to Hurricane Katrina's damage. In spite of a moratorium on bulldozing structures until January 6th, the City is in violation of its own stipulation, according to Brandon Darby, CGC's Ninth Ward Organizer and Coordinator.
CGC believes that if the residents' properties are confiscated through eminent domain laws, without due process allowed to its owners, it will render private property rights null and void in America. Instead, CGC demands that the city, state, and federal government extend the same courtesy to Ninth Ward residents, as was allowed St. Bernard Parish's property owners; that is FEMA trailers to home owners, while their houses are restored and property cleaned up.
CGC's goals are to:
-Gut, remove mold and debris from the structure it occupies, as well as from surrounding area buildings
-Document on a daily basis what is occurring in the Ninth Ward
-Stand its ground and not leave, despite developers' attempts to confiscate land and destroy a black community which has lived in the Ninth Ward for generations
CGC has encouraged all good willed citizens to lobby the local, state and federal government to cease and desist the forceful taking of peoples' lands. The organization believes that if this is allowed unchallenged, it will result in the erosion of social justice and private property rights.
Once the cleaning and occupation is complete, CGC plans on calling a press conference.
Contact:
Common Ground Collective
504.717.5633
213.840.1972
917.440.9679
