Google has the Jaeger Foundation address as P.O. Box 6917 Metairie 70010 and a search result of the Jeager Foundation pulls up a company called MCC Group LLC. Mechanical Construction Group LLC is listed in google as having an address as 3001 17th Street, Metairie 70002. Consolidated Resource Management LLC also operates out of this location per google. Joseph A. Jaeger Jr
He is a co-owner in Mardi Gras World LLC with Blaine Kern.
Thanks for that. It was making me crazy. Ray, I AM going to go take photos of those houses. The addresses made me suspicious right off the bat. Gratefully someone made the map, I was getting ready to get out my pencil and mark them off.
Again, dammit, this is bugging the hell out of me. A land grab, pure and simple.
I want to know what they're going to do with them. Section 8? No, won't accept the vouchers. Knock 'em down? Probably not, a lot of the homes in that area are historic and some are in need of repair, but not all. Wait for the market to change? That would be my guess.
This whole thing is making my stomach turn. The people I met in those areas after the storm were people no one knew were even still there. Many were sick, virtually all were poor, oh yeah, and black, or very elderly. None of them would be in a position to fight any of this.
I keep seeing the woman on LeBoeuf who sobbed when we gave her a can of pears for chrissake.
::::::Just when I think I have it together:::::::::
Just clarify the Jaeger Foundation has several other properties that have been donated to them by NOLA. Only the Naef involved donations were listed. Naef is no longer signing as they have repaced her with another city attorney to do these donations once the AZ outed her a few months back.
I meant Opelousas to WBank Expressway, river to Whitney. I knew that would be the case.
I looked up Jaeger Foundation and found very little. Only this so far. I'm wondering is that "total giving" from the listed foundations or total giving to them? http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/pdf/10_top50_tg/2005/la_05.pdf
They're cheap properties now, being on the Gretna side of Opelousas, but if Kern's vision becomes a reality, whoever owns the adjacent neighborhood is going to make a killing.
Per a Blaine Kern Studios press release: "Son Barry Kern has joined New Orleans entrepreneur Joe Jaeger in the formation of Mardi Gras World, LLC. The partnership, doing business as Blaine Kern Studios, is the parent entity of the new riverfront complex."
I know an older Black woman who owns a family home in this immediate area and says people she doesn't know are harassing her to sell her house, to walk away from it.
001232 Barkerding - Jane Kelleher Riess Barkerding On Friday, February 28, 2003 Age 85 Years. A Life Long Resident Of New Orleans. A Graduate Of Sophie Newcomb College Where She Was A Member Of Chi Omega Sorority. Served Two Terms As President Of The Newcomb Alumae Association, Was President Of The Tulane Emeritus Club Board Of Directors, Member Of The Committee That Established And Constructed The Rogers Memorial Chapel. She Received The Newcomb Service And Loyalty Award In 1988 And The Tulane Volunteer Of The Year Award In 1994. Past President Of The Orleans Club, Past President Of Le Petit Salon, Member Of The New Orleans Country Club, The Ruth Mcenery Stuart Clan, A Parishioner Of Holy Name Of Jesus And St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Churches. Wife Of Robert R. Barkerding, Sr., Mother Of F. Kelleher Riess, George F. Riess, Michael R. C. Riess, Jane Riess Pope And Margaret Riess Meyerson. Grandmother Of 15. Relatives And Friends Are Invited To Attend Funeral Services On Monday, March 3, 23 At St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Church, 631 State St. Visitation Will Be From 9:3 Am Until Service Time. Contributions To Sophie College, 112 Newcomb Hall, Nola 7118 Preferred. Sign And View The Family Guestbook, Go To Www.Lakelawnmetairie.Com. Times Picayune 3-1-2003
In fairness, do you drive to the Point much via the bridge? That neighborhood is chock-o-block with blighted properties that the Fabulous Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World has not lifted out of that state. Given the history of non-profits under the Jeffersons that doesn't give less credence to the idea that someone is out to make a buck. Are there any sort of restrictions on the donation that would prevent someone selling them to anyone other than bonafide low-income rent-to-own types?
i was told a few years ago that HSOA would be getting contracts for Algiers Crossing. obviously nothing has happened as of yet but it would not suprise me if HSOA included an A.C contract in one of their bogus press releases.
Mardi Gras World is expanding (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2008/01/mardi_gras_world_plans_expansi.html) but those plans are for the east bank, according to the above article. But maybe there are as-yet-unannounced plans for the Algiers side, as well.
Yes there are/were? plans for West Bank expansion:
"The new facility will also free up space for a separate, and perhaps more ambitious, development the Kerns have planned for their West Bank property. The company expects to break ground in the months ahead on a sprawling mixed-use project on the land surrounding Mardi Gras World called Algiers Crossing. The first phase would include more than 300 rental and for-purchase condominiums, Kern said.
The New Orleans City Council in late 2006 approved rezoning land along Brooklyn Avenue to make way for the development, which at the time called for as many as 1,500 housing units, shops, a hotel and a potential cruise ship terminal."
The friendly owners over at South Coast Solar may be able to shed some light on what the JF intends to do with these properties. Also, be aware that this is by far not the only group to have gotten a large number of properties from NORA, and this isn't the largest number either.
- Also, be aware that this is by far not the only group to have gotten a large number of properties from NORA, and this isn't the largest number either.
right...i just heard that as well. So its not just Jaeger. I don't know who the other entities are that received properties though. I think there was some grand plan conceived by the city for this area but it floundered, like most grand plans conceived by the city.
You are correct its not just the Jeager Foundation but the only one where Daya Naef was the registered agent for the Jaeger Foundation and their attorney. All donations to the Jeager Foundation in 2009 by the way surround the Muses location.
Well, most recent Anon, I've met them and I don't personally like Ellis or Naef. I still have lots of questions about what they have been doing, and I thought the libel suit was dumb.
But I think it is GREAT that Ellis sat down with Dambala.
I'll give MAJOR points to him for that. Kudos, dude.
This is NOT about personal vendettas, even if it is easy to get mad at people who have hurt people you love.
It IS about figuring out what's going on, and looking at how to make wrong things right.
I am impressed that Ellis is opening up to questions as opposed to shutting things down. That's what everyone who had questions wanted all along.
The questions or funny feelings were legitimate. Telling everyone they were crazy or mean when they were in fact onto something was not cool.
But if he's turning into a guy who will respond to those questions, that's FANTASTIC.
He'll win friends even if it turns out he or his wife or friends did do messed up things, legal or illegal messed up things.
I'm of the opinion that it's pretty messed up to have worked for Benetech, HSOA, or Fradella (never mind Nagin) AT ALL, and it does seem like there ARE conflicts of interests.
He did say that he'd never worked with his wife, only to have that disproved a day later. I've never bothered to mention it before, but he used those take home cars in ways I thought fucked up.
He's no saint.
But somehow, I don't mind ANY of that as much now that he's sitting down to answer questions.
When someone at least TRIES to face up to things, it makes a HUGE difference in people's feelings about them.
You seemed to discount looking into these donations unless the BE Posse was involved, but if there are other areas where whole blocks of people's homes are being bought up or 'donated' under shady circumstances, it would be good to know this, even if Naef ISN'T involved.
It's not ABOUT Naef, or Meffert, or even Nagin.
It's about New Orleans.
Everyone who comes to this blog has some profound connection to the place. We care about the city and her people.
It is also about love, kindness, and right relations as opposed to greed, denial, secrecy, and general shittiness.
No one wants the city to become a strip mall version if itself. No one wants to see another generation of poor black people lose their homes because richer, whiter people wanted their land. No one wants to see stolen elections, or sketchy contracts given out.
If Ellis sheds light on the patterns of property acquisition that have cost people their homes, or if he can answer ANY of the questions about the goings on at City Hall that have bugged people here, more power to him.
I'd be VERY impressed.
It would be even more impressive, because it is not easy to face people who are mad at you or suspicious of you. If they have some legit reasons to be pissed, or if they are hurting, that makes it harder.
Sitting down with Damabala after months of denials and snarking was freakin' BRAVE.
I STILL don't like the guy, or his wife, but that sit-down was a classy move.
To above anon: maybe it's classy and maybe it's just another example of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Not that Dambala's an enemy. But all the enmity from the BE posse sure made it seem like they saw it that way.
This is old but is a comprehensive list of the entities awarded properties by NORA.
www.nola.com/news/pdf/080206_developers.pdf
The catch is, NORA awarded properties without clear titles in many cases, so the program hasn't worked out very well, but for a group with the money and patience to land bank, this deal would be sweet.
As for Algiers attraction for developers, don't forget about the Federal City.
So, let's get this straight. We want businesses to come here. We want crime reduced. We want education improved.
In an effort improve the tax base and get properties back on the tax rolls the City offers tax delinquent blighted housing to local non-profits. An existing business develops a non-profit to acquire properties in the area where it is located, clear the title, and redevelop them. Then that business is accused of corruption. This is somehow supposed to make New Orleans more attractive to outside business interests.
Bold plan, Cotton; Let's see if it works.
And, to the gentleman who was so kind to create the map, just so you know outside this forum (what some of us refer to as reality) bloggers aren't much terribly higher on the social stratasphere than lawyers.
Well, last anon, I like the notion of clearing up blight and increasing the tax base... and its not illegal to start a non-profit. Start ten. Go wild.
But if the WAY that that non-profit operates involves influence pedaling, insider self dealing involving City Hall employees, trying to convince little old ladies to move out of their homes by intimidating them...
...or even demolishing homes that were loved and desired by the people who were still trying to navigate through the various insurance and Recovery and Road Home bureaucracies...
... and all of these things have been raised as concerns by posters here, (some who seemed better informed than others, but hey)...
...yeah, you got that straight.
If the way they are doing it is corrupt, then let's call it corruption and root it the F*ck out.
Tar and feather the corrupt. Run them out of town. (Or at least glare at them when you pass them on the street.)
If businesses that want to run honest shops think that they could never get anything done in New Orleans without greasing palms, etc. ... that would suck for business, too.
So yeah, you got that straight.
White collar crime IS crime, doc.
(I'd still like to know where the copper and other stuff from demolished houses goes.)
Sophmom, this kind of 'donating' or buying up of houses that will be left to rot until the land prices rise (or a development can be funded) does happen in other places.
It is an aspect of why Detroit looks like Detroit, and it has happened in parts of Philly and Chigago. There have been allegations of this in Baltimore and in Ohio.
I thought of it as a port city phenomenon for the most part(Rail for Philly or Ohio? Who knows?), something that happens in places with lots of poor, old, or black people (or people who are old, black, & poor).
In some cities, the spike in street crimes and street drugs is part of the process. Street gangs are enlisted by white collar criminals (mafia types) in interesting ways, akin to some of the stories that came out of San Diego in the 1980's.
I used to be hard on all the "white flight"/ black middle class flight Detroiters I met (I used to live there), until I learned more about the sheer extent of the violence involved in the organized attempts at "block busting" to get people out of their homes.
Teachers in inner city schools, some white and some black, having their cars blown up in their driveways, and getting shot in the neck right in front of their kids. Fun stuff like that. Oh, and the fires. There was an unbelievable amount of arson.
I stopped being judgemental. Not all the middle class people who left did so because the were just racist jerks.
Poorer people left, too. Lots of old people who had come up North as part of one of the waves of the Great Migration went back to Mississippi and Alabama.
I'm not paranoid enough to think that anyone involved in City government could be as evil as what I've just written implies.
Although I've read books and articles about such things happening in other places, I can't think that ill of anyone.
I'd rather think that if there is some kind of land grab going on-- and all I know is what I read here, so we don't know what's up yet-- it is a little more genteel, and not connected to mafia or street gangs.
Note to those who like to sue: I'm only telling Sophmom about stuff that has happened other places, I am not suggesting anything that vile is happening in New Orleans.
Sophmom, let me know if you'd like me to track down info. about the books and articles I used to teach myself about this.
The pretty Blaine Kern project closed up its sales office in my building months ago. I don't think I ever saw anyone in there looking at condo plans. I thought perhaps it was dying.
There is a big cultural shift taking place as homes that used to be owned outright by someone and maybe rented give way to condos developments of one kind or another.
Condos often have covenants about what you can and can't do with them written right into the purchase agreements, so even if you (think you) own your home, you can be stopped from putting in a funky garden with lots of bath tubs and garish plants and beads and bottles, stopped from putting out a clothes line, or having little solar panels on your balcony, stopped from painting your house lavender with electric pink trim, etc.
Condos often involve condo boards and meetings of condo owners and a kind of in-built, in-your-business irritating neighbourhood power politics.
My friend describes the covenants and the meetings and boards involved in her relative's suburban gated community as as "voluntary Communism for rich people".
During the 2008 Presidential nomination battles, the amazing Medea Benjamin and other ladies from Code Pink were trying to demonstrate against the war.
They often found themselves removed by people who were basically mall cops, telling them that even though the way they were protesting didn't cross any lines, the whole streetscapes outside where the events were taking place were private property, and they would have to move to someplace where thir whole demonstration would be "out of sight, out of mind" for the politicians.
Democracy Now has archived footage of this, and programs talking about other space related free speech issues. Their coverage of the Chinese Olympics issues is pertinent because of the surveilance camera issues.
A privately owned and administered mall plus condos or homes run by some group (like the one that did the Riverwalk Marketplace, and there are a host of others) DOES offer the mix of residential and commercial spaces that city people like to see, and they are often really cool.
Newer ones have some nice design features, and if I like the shops or eateries, I go to them.
But those "Streetscapes" do NOT offer the political or social freedoms of a real city street.
A whole downtown redeveloped with these kind of developments needs a think-through, to ensure that the way city space is used does not produce a hollowing out of democratic culture.
A great book called "Privatopia" discusses this, and there have been essays written about how this is playing out in cities like Vegas.
The situation Ms. Benjamin found herself in last year highlights one of the major concerns, the chilling effect this kind of "master planned" privately owned urban redevelopment can have on political freedoms.
If my landlord tells me I can't paint the interior walls of my home, that is reasonable. It's his house. I can paint some paintings, or save for a house of my own.
But If I DO own my own home, and some corporate overseer or a little yuppie-commie conformity committee STILL has the power to tell me I can't plant tomatoes, have folk art garden crap, or save power by hanging out my washing, that's another matter altogether.
And it is no good to have the right to assemble freely for political purposes if there is no real public space left for people to assemble in.
The weird thing about some of these developments is that your "private" space isn't really "private" for you to decorate or live in how you choose... and the "public" space isn't really "public", because many legal forms of public protest or social expression aren't permitted to take place there.
If land is being bought up ON THE SLY for this kind of development, I think it is excellent that people are piecing things together. Condos have their place, this kind of development is a welcome part of the mix... but real city streets, free streets, should not go the way of the dodo.
Broad public participation in how the city will be revived is a very good thing.
How can they sell homes without establishing clear title?
Has anyone been able to follow up on the two Joe Williamses, the NORA guy and the other one with the redevelopment business? They are two different, unrelated guys, right?
Why such coarse language, snake god? close to a nerve?
Being aware of your surroundings should mean well informed inteligent discussions based on facts not taking kernels of truth and twisting them to conform to the reality you want to create. In my humble opinion.
And, I also noticed that you've conveniently avoided a post on another thread about your actual whereabouts during Rising Tide. Why so? Is it b/c you claim to have been unavailable to make it that day and an independent eye witness on nola.com sited you leaving alone?
- Why so? Is it b/c you claim to have been unavailable to make it that day and an independent eye witness on nola.com sited you leaving alone?
oohhhh.....a mystery. where's that claim? You mean in the speech I wrote....which I had written 3 days before the event? The one where I said I'm sorry I couldn't be here to accept this award?
Are you the same trollkin on NOLA without any vowels in your name? The one that claimed you had mysterious video footage of the elusive American Zombie? oooooooo...... By the way...I'd love to see that. Post it any time...please...I beg you.
If your point is that I am afraid to face Mr. Ellis...well you're fucked. I have met with him face to face. So back to square one...do you have a point to being here other than to troll around and say how much you don't like blogs? That's kind of like hanging out in a bar and telling everyone you hate drinkers, is it not?
Would you like to identify yourself? Or are you going to continue a rant on anonymity?
For someone who hates blogs so much...you sure do spend a lot of time on them. I hope no is stupid enough to pay you to do that....is someone that stupid?
Small point, and not anything compared to the Deke stuff, but now that Jeager and his foundations have resurfaced, thought I'd mention it:
Rereading this tonight after you linked to it, I noticed a comment that pointed out that the Jaeger foundation properties were all around the Muses location. Naef is part of Muses.
Like I said, small point, given what's going on.
No one accientally names their thingamy "Aryan".
That's an on purpose kind of thing.
Did anyone find a way to keep working on all that land grab stuff?
36 comments:
If I was still in the city (hint, hint) I'd do a drive-by of all those properties and get photos.
Wonder there's a way to cross-index against properties torn down that were on the FEMA 106 lists?
I don't know Ray...I'm still laughing at your comments on Nola. I aint' got time to be a zombie.
Google has the Jaeger Foundation address as P.O. Box 6917 Metairie 70010 and a search result of the Jeager Foundation pulls up a company called MCC Group LLC. Mechanical Construction Group LLC is listed in google as having an address as 3001 17th Street, Metairie 70002. Consolidated Resource Management LLC also operates out of this location per google. Joseph A. Jaeger Jr
He is a co-owner in Mardi Gras World LLC with Blaine Kern.
Thanks for that. It was making me crazy. Ray, I AM going to go take photos of those houses. The addresses made me suspicious right off the bat. Gratefully someone made the map, I was getting ready to get out my pencil and mark them off.
Again, dammit, this is bugging the hell out of me. A land grab, pure and simple.
I want to know what they're going to do with them. Section 8? No, won't accept the vouchers. Knock 'em down? Probably not, a lot of the homes in that area are historic and some are in need of repair, but not all. Wait for the market to change? That would be my guess.
This whole thing is making my stomach turn. The people I met in those areas after the storm were people no one knew were even still there. Many were sick, virtually all were poor, oh yeah, and black, or very elderly. None of them would be in a position to fight any of this.
I keep seeing the woman on LeBoeuf who sobbed when we gave her a can of pears for chrissake.
::::::Just when I think I have it together:::::::::
Just clarify the Jaeger Foundation has several other properties that have been donated to them by NOLA. Only the Naef involved donations were listed. Naef is no longer signing as they have repaced her with another city attorney to do these donations once the AZ outed her a few months back.
I meant Opelousas to WBank Expressway, river to Whitney. I knew that would be the case.
I looked up Jaeger Foundation and found very little. Only this so far. I'm wondering is that "total giving" from the listed foundations or total giving to them? http://foundationcenter.org/findfunders/statistics/pdf/10_top50_tg/2005/la_05.pdf
Yes, Zombie. You've done an amazing job of producing a map showing that all the properties are in fact located in Algiers.
This is award winning blogging? New Orleans deserves better.
1 - Zombie didn't produce the map, I did. No offense but Ashe has difficulty logging in (kidding man).
2 - Identify if there are any mistakes on the map anon. It's possible because I'm fallible, not likely, why, because I'm very good at what I do.
3 - Are you so daft that you can't see any connection or pattern? Have you had an eye exam lately or an IQ test? Please provide the results.
4 - If you are an attorney, please don't bring that up - it will only reduce my opinion of you even further.
5 - Please provide an example of a blog that meets New Orleans high quality standards.
Ashe, let me know if you need anything else. Sparky
Not just Algiers, anonymouse. I don't see a whole lot of buying on Kabel Drive.
Those properties are all clustered in the one part of Algiers that is adjacent to Blaine Kern's proposed Algiers Crossing development.
http://www.americanwaymag.com/blaine-kern-isn-mardi-gras-day-new-orleans-algiers
They're cheap properties now, being on the Gretna side of Opelousas, but if Kern's vision becomes a reality, whoever owns the adjacent neighborhood is going to make a killing.
Joe Jaeger is in business with the Kerns.
Per a Blaine Kern Studios press release: "Son Barry Kern has joined New Orleans entrepreneur Joe Jaeger in the formation of Mardi Gras World, LLC. The partnership, doing business as Blaine Kern Studios, is the parent entity of the new riverfront complex."
http://www.kernstudios.com/news?id=2&page=1
dude i love you.
i mean in a bromance way , not like the gay in all.
I know an older Black woman who owns a family home in this immediate area and says people she doesn't know are harassing her to sell her house, to walk away from it.
http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov/cgibin?rqstyp=crpdtlC&rqsdta=34550030N
Louisiana Secretary of State
Detailed Record
Charter/Organization ID: 34550030N
Name: JAEGER FOUNDATION
Prior Name: JAEGER-UNRUH FOUNDATION (10/15/2004)
Type Entity: Non-Profit Corporation
Status: Active
Annual Report Status: In Good Standing Add Certificate of Good Standing to Shopping Cart
Last Report Filed on 12/31/2008
Mailing Address: P. O. BOX 6917 ., METAIRIE, LA 70010
Domicile Address: 3001 17TH ST., METAIRIE, LA 70002
File Date: 01/30/1997
Registered Agent (Appointed 5/04/2009): F. KELLEHER RIESS, 1139 ARABELLA STREET, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70115
Director: JOSEPH A. JAEGER, JR., 232 LAKE MARINA AVE., NEW ORLEANS, LA 70124
I want to know if F. KELLEHER RIESS is related to Jimmy Riess, chairman of the New Orleans Business Council.
http://files.usgwarchives.org/la/orleans/obits/1/b-05.txt
001232 Barkerding - Jane Kelleher Riess Barkerding On Friday, February 28, 2003 Age 85 Years. A Life
Long Resident Of New Orleans. A Graduate Of Sophie Newcomb College Where She Was A Member Of Chi Omega
Sorority. Served Two Terms As President Of The Newcomb Alumae Association, Was President Of The Tulane
Emeritus Club Board Of Directors, Member Of The Committee That Established And Constructed The Rogers
Memorial Chapel. She Received The Newcomb Service And Loyalty Award In 1988 And The Tulane Volunteer Of
The Year Award In 1994. Past President Of The Orleans Club, Past President Of Le Petit Salon, Member Of
The New Orleans Country Club, The Ruth Mcenery Stuart Clan, A Parishioner Of Holy Name Of Jesus And St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Churches. Wife Of Robert R. Barkerding, Sr., Mother Of F. Kelleher Riess, George F. Riess, Michael R. C. Riess, Jane Riess Pope And Margaret Riess Meyerson. Grandmother Of 15. Relatives And Friends Are Invited To Attend Funeral Services On Monday, March 3, 23 At St. Francis Of Assisi Catholic Church, 631 State St. Visitation Will Be From 9:3 Am Until Service Time. Contributions To Sophie College, 112 Newcomb Hall, Nola 7118 Preferred. Sign And View The Family Guestbook, Go To
Www.Lakelawnmetairie.Com. Times Picayune 3-1-2003
In fairness, do you drive to the Point much via the bridge? That neighborhood is chock-o-block with blighted properties that the Fabulous Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World has not lifted out of that state. Given the history of non-profits under the Jeffersons that doesn't give less credence to the idea that someone is out to make a buck. Are there any sort of restrictions on the donation that would prevent someone selling them to anyone other than bonafide low-income rent-to-own types?
i was told a few years ago that HSOA would be getting contracts for Algiers Crossing. obviously nothing has happened as of yet but it would not suprise me if HSOA included an A.C contract in one of their bogus press releases.
Mardi Gras World is expanding (http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2008/01/mardi_gras_world_plans_expansi.html) but those plans are for the east bank, according to the above article. But maybe there are as-yet-unannounced plans for the Algiers side, as well.
Yes there are/were? plans for West Bank expansion:
"The new facility will also free up space for a separate, and perhaps more ambitious, development the Kerns have planned for their West Bank property. The company expects to break ground in the months ahead on a sprawling mixed-use project on the land surrounding Mardi Gras World called Algiers Crossing. The first phase would include more than 300 rental and for-purchase condominiums, Kern said.
The New Orleans City Council in late 2006 approved rezoning land along Brooklyn Avenue to make way for the development, which at the time called for as many as 1,500 housing units, shops, a hotel and a potential cruise ship terminal."
The friendly owners over at South Coast Solar may be able to shed some light on what the JF intends to do with these properties. Also, be aware that this is by far not the only group to have gotten a large number of properties from NORA, and this isn't the largest number either.
Y'all, do other cities give away houses? I've never heard of such a thing, under any circumstances. Day-um.
- Also, be aware that this is by far not the only group to have gotten a large number of properties from NORA, and this isn't the largest number either.
right...i just heard that as well. So its not just Jaeger. I don't know who the other entities are that received properties though. I think there was some grand plan conceived by the city for this area but it floundered, like most grand plans conceived by the city.
You are correct its not just the Jeager Foundation but the only one where Daya Naef was the registered agent for the Jaeger Foundation and their attorney.
All donations to the Jeager Foundation in 2009 by the way surround the Muses location.
Well, most recent Anon, I've met them and I don't personally like Ellis or Naef. I still have lots of questions about what they have been doing, and I thought the libel suit was dumb.
But I think it is GREAT that Ellis sat down with Dambala.
I'll give MAJOR points to him for that. Kudos, dude.
This is NOT about personal vendettas, even if it is easy to get mad at people who have hurt people you love.
It IS about figuring out what's going on, and looking at how to make wrong things right.
I am impressed that Ellis is opening up to questions as opposed to shutting things down. That's what everyone who had questions wanted all along.
The questions or funny feelings were legitimate. Telling everyone they were crazy or mean when they were in fact onto something was not cool.
But if he's turning into a guy who will respond to those questions, that's FANTASTIC.
He'll win friends even if it turns out he or his wife or friends did do messed up things, legal or illegal messed up things.
I'm of the opinion that it's pretty messed up to have worked for Benetech, HSOA, or Fradella (never mind Nagin) AT ALL, and it does seem like there ARE conflicts of interests.
He did say that he'd never worked with his wife, only to have that disproved a day later. I've never bothered to mention it before, but he used those take home cars in ways I thought fucked up.
He's no saint.
But somehow, I don't mind ANY of that as much now that he's sitting down to answer questions.
When someone at least TRIES to face up to things, it makes a HUGE difference in people's feelings about them.
You seemed to discount looking into these donations unless the BE Posse was involved, but if there are other areas where whole blocks of people's homes are being bought up or 'donated' under shady circumstances, it would be good to know this, even if Naef ISN'T involved.
It's not ABOUT Naef, or Meffert, or even Nagin.
It's about New Orleans.
Everyone who comes to this blog has some profound connection to the place. We care about the city and her people.
It is also about love, kindness, and right relations as opposed to greed, denial, secrecy, and general shittiness.
No one wants the city to become a strip mall version if itself. No one wants to see another generation of poor black people lose their homes because richer, whiter people wanted their land. No one wants to see stolen elections, or sketchy contracts given out.
If Ellis sheds light on the patterns of property acquisition that have cost people their homes, or if he can answer ANY of the questions about the goings on at City Hall that have bugged people here, more power to him.
I'd be VERY impressed.
It would be even more impressive, because it is not easy to face people who are mad at you or suspicious of you. If they have some legit reasons to be pissed, or if they are hurting, that makes it harder.
Sitting down with Damabala after months of denials and snarking was freakin' BRAVE.
I STILL don't like the guy, or his wife, but that sit-down was a classy move.
Big points from a non-fan, Mr. Ellis.
To above anon: maybe it's classy and maybe it's just another example of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Not that Dambala's an enemy. But all the enmity from the BE posse sure made it seem like they saw it that way.
This is old but is a comprehensive list of the entities awarded properties by NORA.
www.nola.com/news/pdf/080206_developers.pdf
The catch is, NORA awarded properties without clear titles in many cases, so the program hasn't worked out very well, but for a group with the money and patience to land bank, this deal would be sweet.
As for Algiers attraction for developers, don't forget about the Federal City.
So, let's get this straight. We want businesses to come here. We want crime reduced. We want education improved.
In an effort improve the tax base and get properties back on the tax rolls the City offers tax delinquent blighted housing to local non-profits. An existing business develops a non-profit to acquire properties in the area where it is located, clear the title, and redevelop them. Then that business is accused of corruption. This is somehow supposed to make New Orleans more attractive to outside business interests.
Bold plan, Cotton; Let's see if it works.
And, to the gentleman who was so kind to create the map, just so you know outside this forum (what some of us refer to as reality) bloggers aren't much terribly higher on the social stratasphere than lawyers.
Well, last anon, I like the notion of clearing up blight and increasing the tax base... and its not illegal to start a non-profit. Start ten. Go wild.
But if the WAY that that non-profit operates involves influence pedaling, insider self dealing involving City Hall employees, trying to convince little old ladies to move out of their homes by intimidating them...
...or even demolishing homes that were loved and desired by the people who were still trying to navigate through the various insurance and Recovery and Road Home bureaucracies...
... and all of these things have been raised as concerns by posters here, (some who seemed better informed than others, but hey)...
...yeah, you got that straight.
If the way they are doing it is corrupt, then let's call it corruption and root it the F*ck out.
Tar and feather the corrupt. Run them out of town. (Or at least glare at them when you pass them on the street.)
If businesses that want to run honest shops think that they could never get anything done in New Orleans without greasing palms, etc. ... that would suck for business, too.
So yeah, you got that straight.
White collar crime IS crime, doc.
(I'd still like to know where the copper and other stuff from demolished houses goes.)
The only people who deserve to be glared at are bloggers
Sophmom, this kind of 'donating' or buying up of houses that will be left to rot until the land prices rise (or a development can be funded) does happen in other places.
It is an aspect of why Detroit looks like Detroit, and it has happened in parts of Philly and Chigago. There have been allegations of this in Baltimore and in Ohio.
I thought of it as a port city phenomenon for the most part(Rail for Philly or Ohio? Who knows?), something that happens in places with lots of poor, old, or black people (or people who are old, black, & poor).
In some cities, the spike in street crimes and street drugs is part of the process. Street gangs are enlisted by white collar criminals (mafia types) in interesting ways, akin to some of the stories that came out of San Diego in the 1980's.
I used to be hard on all the "white flight"/ black middle class flight Detroiters I met (I used to live there), until I learned more about the sheer extent of the violence involved in the organized attempts at "block busting" to get people out of their homes.
Teachers in inner city schools, some white and some black, having their cars blown up in their driveways, and getting shot in the neck right in front of their kids. Fun stuff like that. Oh, and the fires. There was an unbelievable amount of arson.
I stopped being judgemental. Not all the middle class people who left did so because the were just racist jerks.
Poorer people left, too. Lots of old people who had come up North as part of one of the waves of the Great Migration went back to Mississippi and Alabama.
I'm not paranoid enough to think that anyone involved in City government could be as evil as what I've just written implies.
Although I've read books and articles about such things happening in other places, I can't think that ill of anyone.
I'd rather think that if there is some kind of land grab going on-- and all I know is what I read here, so we don't know what's up yet-- it is a little more genteel, and not connected to mafia or street gangs.
Note to those who like to sue: I'm only telling Sophmom about stuff that has happened other places, I am not suggesting anything that vile is happening in New Orleans.
Sophmom, let me know if you'd like me to track down info. about the books and articles I used to teach myself about this.
The pretty Blaine Kern project closed up its sales office in my building months ago. I don't think I ever saw anyone in there looking at condo plans. I thought perhaps it was dying.
There is a big cultural shift taking place as homes that used to be owned outright by someone and maybe rented give way to condos developments of one kind or another.
Condos often have covenants about what you can and can't do with them written right into the purchase agreements, so even if you (think you) own your home, you can be stopped from putting in a funky garden with lots of bath tubs and garish plants and beads and bottles, stopped from putting out a clothes line, or having little solar panels on your balcony, stopped from painting your house lavender with electric pink trim, etc.
Condos often involve condo boards and meetings of condo owners and a kind of in-built, in-your-business irritating neighbourhood power politics.
My friend describes the covenants and the meetings and boards involved in her relative's suburban gated community as as "voluntary Communism for rich people".
During the 2008 Presidential nomination battles, the amazing Medea Benjamin and other ladies from Code Pink were trying to demonstrate against the war.
They often found themselves removed by people who were basically mall cops, telling them that even though the way they were protesting didn't cross any lines, the whole streetscapes outside where the events were taking place were private property, and they would have to move to someplace where thir whole demonstration would be "out of sight, out of mind" for the politicians.
Democracy Now has archived footage of this, and programs talking about other space related free speech issues. Their coverage of the Chinese Olympics issues is pertinent because of the surveilance camera issues.
A privately owned and administered mall plus condos or homes run by some group (like the one that did the Riverwalk Marketplace, and there are a host of others) DOES offer the mix of residential and commercial spaces that city people like to see, and they are often really cool.
Newer ones have some nice design features, and if I like the shops or eateries, I go to them.
But those "Streetscapes" do NOT offer the political or social freedoms of a real city street.
A whole downtown redeveloped with these kind of developments needs a think-through, to ensure that the way city space is used does not produce a hollowing out of democratic culture.
A great book called "Privatopia" discusses this, and there have been essays written about how this is playing out in cities like Vegas.
The situation Ms. Benjamin found herself in last year highlights one of the major concerns, the chilling effect this kind of "master planned" privately owned urban redevelopment can have on political freedoms.
If my landlord tells me I can't paint the interior walls of my home, that is reasonable. It's his house. I can paint some paintings, or save for a house of my own.
But If I DO own my own home, and some corporate overseer or a little yuppie-commie conformity committee STILL has the power to tell me I can't plant tomatoes, have folk art garden crap, or save power by hanging out my washing, that's another matter altogether.
And it is no good to have the right to assemble freely for political purposes if there is no real public space left for people to assemble in.
The weird thing about some of these developments is that your "private" space isn't really "private" for you to decorate or live in how you choose... and the "public" space isn't really "public", because many legal forms of public protest or social expression aren't permitted to take place there.
If land is being bought up ON THE SLY for this kind of development, I think it is excellent that people are piecing things together. Condos have their place, this kind of development is a welcome part of the mix... but real city streets, free streets, should not go the way of the dodo.
Broad public participation in how the city will be revived is a very good thing.
How can they sell homes without establishing clear title?
Has anyone been able to follow up on the two Joe Williamses, the NORA guy and the other one with the redevelopment business? They are two different, unrelated guys, right?
sic Your
Why such coarse language, snake god? close to a nerve?
Being aware of your surroundings should mean well informed inteligent discussions based on facts not taking kernels of truth and twisting them to conform to the reality you want to create. In my humble opinion.
And, I also noticed that you've conveniently avoided a post on another thread about your actual whereabouts during Rising Tide. Why so? Is it b/c you claim to have been unavailable to make it that day and an independent eye witness on nola.com sited you leaving alone?
Why so serious?
- Why so? Is it b/c you claim to have been unavailable to make it that day and an independent eye witness on nola.com sited you leaving alone?
oohhhh.....a mystery. where's that claim? You mean in the speech I wrote....which I had written 3 days before the event? The one where I said I'm sorry I couldn't be here to accept this award?
Are you the same trollkin on NOLA without any vowels in your name? The one that claimed you had mysterious video footage of the elusive American Zombie? oooooooo...... By the way...I'd love to see that. Post it any time...please...I beg you.
If your point is that I am afraid to face Mr. Ellis...well you're fucked. I have met with him face to face. So back to square one...do you have a point to being here other than to troll around and say how much you don't like blogs? That's kind of like hanging out in a bar and telling everyone you hate drinkers, is it not?
Would you like to identify yourself? Or are you going to continue a rant on anonymity?
For someone who hates blogs so much...you sure do spend a lot of time on them. I hope no is stupid enough to pay you to do that....is someone that stupid?
Small point, and not anything compared to the Deke stuff, but now that Jeager and his foundations have resurfaced, thought I'd mention it:
Rereading this tonight after you linked to it, I noticed a comment that pointed out that the Jaeger foundation properties were all around the Muses location. Naef is part of Muses.
Like I said, small point, given what's going on.
No one accientally names their thingamy "Aryan".
That's an on purpose kind of thing.
Did anyone find a way to keep working on all that land grab stuff?
It seems to be edging back to center stage.
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