The Neighbors Testify Against The Short Street High-Rise Proposal
New Orleans City Planning Commission

January 27, 2004

MAGGIE WOLF:
My name is Maggie Wolf.  I live on Fern Street.  I've lived there for fifteen years, and I live twenty-one feet away from the proposed project.  I have only a very brief comment.  When my husband died two years ago, my ten-year-old son begged me, mom, please don't ever sell my home.  When this project was proposed and we found out about it on New Year's Day I said we cannot live in the shadow of a fourteen-story building twenty-one feet away.  I said we may have to move, and he started to cry. Thank you.

PETER OLEJNICZAK
My name is Peter Olejniczak, and I live on Pearl Street. My home is only thirty-nine feet from the project.  This is [a picture of] my house, the front of the house is thirty-nine feet from the project.  This is not a blighted house. Here is my demographic profile:  I'm a naturalized U.S. citizen, former Fulbright scholar, a physician, a professor at the medical school in New Orleans. Not only will this high-rise construction destroy my historic house, but it will also shatter my family's American dream.  This project is a nightmare that descended on us on New Year's Eve.  This is -- this looks like a piece of motel downtown transferred to the Uptown Riverbend. . . . And I would like to have a request to you, please deny the proposed map and the zoning change.  And I also have a request to the developer, if it doesn't fit, quit this project and work with us to build something else.  Thank you.

RAE HORTON:
My name is Rae Horton.  I live on Short Street and own the house that is one hundred and twenty feet, forty yards from the proposed project.  Before I start my piece, I do want to call your attention to two serious inaccuracies in your staff report, so I'd like the record to reflect these inaccuracies.  In your traffic impact analysis submitted in this proposal . . . Section 2.0, existing conditions, analyzing the adjacent corrector roads, states that South Carrollton accommodates two travel lanes in each direction separated by a raised median.  This is false.  South Carrollton has one travel lane in each direction.  Please let the record reflect that.  And Section 5.0, capacity analysis. . . . Section A, morning trip, line one, two, three, four, five, "Moreover, the presence of other adjacent streets that access these main roads such as Pearl Street and Huso Street will promote distribution of traffic and positive flow through the area."  Pearl Street does not access a main road, Pearl Street is a seven block long street stretching from Lowerline to Short Street. And Huso also, although it does access River Road and access one side of St. Charles, it's such a minor street that it doesn't cross or cut through the neutral ground.  But I'll make it brief.  I've lived in my home for twenty-five years, and it's an 1880 cypress home with balconies.  This house at the turn of the century served as a lumberyard, the office of a lumberyard, the Fisher Lumber Company.  It's an historic house.  I will suffer material damages in the form of decreased sunlight.  There won't be any sunlight coming through my stained glass window.  I will not have the benefit of the winter sun, which will be completely blocked in the shadow of a hundred and forty foot skyscraper, will keep the light from coming in.  And I'm dependent -- I have a huge old house with fourteen foot ceilings, I'm dependent on the winter sun to warm my house because I can't afford to heat the whole house.  So that's another material loss in addition to my river view, which will be totally lost.  And on the roof of one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood, if I'm standing on the roof, I'm still looking at their level of parking.  I haven't even gotten to where the humans live yet.  But, you know what, that pales because the theory of loss here is the loss of a living, breathing community.  And my neighbor here, Ms. Schramel, moved to the area, they'll tell you, as they watched my children grow up, we know each other's children.  We look out for each other.  We know grandma, you know, and this will be lost.  My daughter moved away from New Orleans, and when she started raising children, when she had her first child she moved back to New Orleans.  She moved back to this house because she wanted to raise her children in the house and neighborhood and community in which she was raised.  And now my little baby grandson will be living in the shadow of a skyscraper. Please don't do it.

DAVID WOLF:
Hi, my name is David Wolf.  I live on Fern Street, less than a block away from this project.  As a resident directly affected by the proposal I would like to voice my strongest opposition to this project.  The area is zoned RD-2.  Hundreds of homeowners have collectively invested millions of dollars in this area in the belief that their neighborhood, their quality of life and the property value would be protected by the existing zoning ordinances.  The proposal for for the condominium development is not only against the wishes of the local residents and against present zoning, but also is wholly inconsistent with the character of the neighborhood.  To permit such construction would not only devalue property values in the neighborhood, but strip people of what they worked so hard to create.  It would also radically decrease the quality of life and betray the trust that your constituents have placed in you.  Most importantly, it should also be noted that the developer has not operated in the best faith possible.  We found out about this project at the last possible moment.  It has put our neighborhood in a great amount of stress and pain.  We have been running around trying to fight this, and we hope that you will do the right thing to support our neighborhood, keep this RD-2.  This is what our neighborhood is.  It has families moving in it.  It has families living in it.  We want our streets to be a quiet residential neighborhood like they have been for the last hundred years.  Thank you.

THOMAS MILLINER:
I'm Thomas Milliner.  I reside on Plum Street and I am President of the Maple Area Residents Association.  The geography of New Orleans is defined by two bends in the river.  That's why we call it the Crescent City.  At one bend we have the Vieux Carre', at the other bend we have Carrollton.  Since 1936 the City of New Orleans has gone to great lengths to protect what we call the tout ensemble of the Vieux Carre' -- the architecture, the ambiance, the feeling, that's referred to as tout ensemble. Carrollton, at the other end of the river also has a tout ensemble that is worthy of protection. 

It has its origin as a small city until it was annexed by the City of New Orleans in 1874.  But it still preserves that small city, this town within a city of small houses, of small businesses next to the small residences. But the City of New Orleans does not seem to be as concerned about preserving the tout ensemble of Carrollton as it is of the Vieux Carre'.  But I submit to you that as you can tell by the people who have spoken to you of the special character of this neighborhood, this town within a city, this small village, this urban village is worthy of being protected as much as the Vieux Carre'.  And a proposal like this is destructive of that village atmosphere that people want to spend their lives in, that they want to pass down to their children.  And just one concluding remark, you have to understand, this proposal is one block from the corner of St. Charles and Carrollton Avenue.  Fourteen stories will tower over that corner of St. Charles and Carrollton Avenue, one of the most important intersections in the entire City of New Orleans, and the most important intersection in Carrollton.  I ask you to deny the proposal. Thank you.

RAY NICHOLS:
Ray Nichols, I live on Burthe Street. I'm still reacting to having been called a vandal earlier.  The representatives of our neighborhood association, Thomas Milliner represents us and our neighborhood association, are speaking for the neighbors.  We have began feeling like we're being barraged by all these proposals in the last two or three months, and it's really unnerving. And so let me just reassure you that Tommy does speak for our neighbors, there's a consensus in our neighborhood.  I'd like to also reinforce what Tommy said about our neighborhood being special.  There are a lot of ways to think about development.  Orange Beach and Miami and Atlanta and Houston have taken a certain approach.  New Orleans took a different approach.  We didn't get devastated.  All of our old landmarks didn't get devastated during the last century when all the other cities were chasing down the development path.  It was because we were poor that it didn't happen, but it didn't happen.  And now they're regretting that they've done that to their cities.  They don't have neighborhoods like we have.  Our neighborhood is being developed.  The comments that were being made about economic development earlier on and how we need to create jobs and so on, this developer developed a house, redeveloped a house, renovated a house half a block away from me.  He bought it for 202,000, sold it for 505[,000].  I assume there were some jobs. I assume there were some materials bought, and I assume he made a profit on it.  So there are different ways of developing, and we just don't want to create another Miami down the riverfront up in the Carrollton area.  Thanks.

HELEN SCHNEIDER:
Hi, I'm Helen Schneider and I live on Dominican Street.  Please deny this zoning change.  Please favor the neighborhoods over the development.  It sends a precedent to the rest of the people who own blocks along the river that we can get these blocks rezoned.  And by the time you get to my house, which is four houses away, they have to get up even higher because that's where the Corp. of Engineers is.  I mean it's going to be a terrible wall of buildings. There's nothing in the neighborhood that's taller than fifty feet except for Lambeth house, which is on a piece of property zoned C-2.  Even the RM-3 nonconforming uses are less than fifty feet tall. And you can understand how the neighbors feel that are directly next to this piece of property because how would you like it if somebody one day came up to you and said, oh, I bought the lot -- I mean the whole block right across the street from you and I'm going to put a fourteen-story building on it.  Nobody wants to live next to a fourteen-story building, and nobody wants their zoning changed overnight.  Thank you.

JERRY SPEIR:
Thank you.  Jerry Speir for the third time today, on Zimple Street.  I've been living in that neighborhood a few blocks from Leake Avenue for over twenty-five years.  As I understand it, and I'm a lawyer, you know, and you got a letter from me near the end of your packet here that I hope you may have had a chance to look at it.  As I understand it -- I don't claim to be a zoning lawyer, but I've been learning a lot about zoning in the last few weeks.  The only reason that this project is even before you is the residential planned community exception of the zoning ordinance.  And, as my letter indicates, the generic term for those is planned unit developments, and the one in our ordinance is fairly aboriginal with the rest of the world.  It's meant for much larger tracts. It's primarily a suburban concept that has come into zoning in the last twenty or thirty years, and a good concept in that situation.  I was wondering in our own zoning ordinance it says that in [some] districts you got to have five acres to do this kind of project.  And this is hardly even a real square, as has been pointed out, the way it's cut off by Leake Avenue.  This is spot zoning.  And, yes, the MacPhailles have done some wonderful other projects in the city preserving existing housing.  This is a totally different concept.  The idea that there are no high-rise views uptown, you know, we have great high-rise views in the city.  They happen to be downtown. We also have fabulous access to our river in our neighborhood, all you got to do is get out and walk, get on your bike, get on the levee.  You don't have to be a tourist to see it, as someone suggested earlier.  I would ask you to ask for verification of some evidence of some of the claims that have been made here by the developer, the developer spokesman and other proponents that we are losing empty nesters from New Orleans because there are no high-rises with river views uptown.  I would ask you to ask for evidence and specifications about the million dollars in taxes proposed for this project because that seems to me a nice round number but great exaggeration. It's a nice building for Miami or Biloxi, Orange Beach.  I'm astonished, you know, has anybody been to Orange Beach lately?  I mean we're talking shoulder to shoulder high-rises, you can't even see the beach there.  And this is not a unique property on Leake Avenue.  Tulane already owns a full block, the former Rhoem site at Leake and Cambronne that could easily be proposed as one of these RPC developments.  And there are any number of other blocks along there where anybody with money can buy them up and propose one of these things.  I'm especially curious that contrary to the previous process with the Tulane proposal, that we did not start with a discussion of the staff report and the developer's response to it.  This is a totally different project that the staff report proposes, but it's still out of character and scale with the neighborhood.  But this is -- you know, this project, as Mr. Villavoso said, is trying to use your planning commission staff to design a project by negotiation, which is totally inappropriate. . . . . I would ask that you deny this project as presented and not to approve the negotiated project on which there's been virtually no discussion and not allow your staff to be used in that way.  Your only guidance in that residential planning community section of the zoning ordinance is that you protect existing developments, and that you do things, judge things that are in an appropriate relationship with the neighborhood.  This is not it.  Thank you very much.

BILL HICKS:
Bill Hicks, I live on Camp Street.  I originally came here for the Tulane project, but I was a little outraged when I heard that these people just found out on New Orleans Eve about the proposal.  I recently had to come before ya'll for a variance to put a second floor on my current house, and I was required, not your staff, but I was required to notify every adjacent landowner.  And I just think that's something that needs to be looked into.  I think it also shows the developer's intent was not to work with the neighbors, and I urge you to deny it.

LAUREL REID:
My name is Laurel Reid and I have lived on Short Street for 24 years.  This proposal is directly across the street from me, which is thirty feet away.  I am disabled and have many physical disabilities.  The proposed two years heavy construction will greatly affect my health, quality of life, and I may not be able to leave my own home.  Yes, I do want to see sunlight fade my drapes.  Please do not change the RD-2, forty foot height just for greed.  Don't destroy our quaint and quiet neighborhood.  Thank you.

DOROTHIA MARTIN:
My name is Dorothia Martin.  I live on Hampson Street.  And the reason why I'm up here is because my daughter lives in the four hundred block of Fern.  Her property goes from Fern through to Huso.  I'm not sure where in the proposed plan the garbage pickup area is, but if you've been down Huso, you know it's really a one-way street for one car going down one way. It's not one going one way, one going the other. The garbage truck goes in, it will have to back in, I would assume, and then it will have to come out.  There's not that much width between.  And she lives approximately twenty feet away from this.  Somebody earlier said that we don't see our river.  Well, there was a river project that Dutch Morial instituted, and the reason why was the Rausch Corporation.  That brought the Riverwalk and it also revitalized the warehouse district.  I don't see this as a major improvement for a neighborhood when you have fourteen stories tall.  Thank you.

KEN KOLB:
Good evening.  My name is Ken Kolb, and I live on Fern Street.  I bought my house twelve years ago.  And I will make this brief. This proposal is twenty-one feet from my property, and I think that says it all.  I heard about size and density and lack of sun and view and RD-2 and people buying property because it was zoned that way and investing in their property and economic development for the rest of the city where we develop our houses.  And I just urge you to keep the zoning as it is, RD-2, let our neighborhood remain as it is, a neighborhood where property values are increasing despite Mr. MacPhaille's property, that he finds blighted and which he's done nothing about as long as he's owned it.  But we get along just fine.  That property was there when I bought the house, and I'm -- I haven't had a problem with it.  But if he developed it another way consistent with RD-2, very possibly.  And that's something that could be considered.  But as of now there should be no change from RD-2.  Thank you very much.

LOUISE SCHRAMEL:
I am Louise Schramel.  I have lived in this neighborhood for forty-six years. We bought a home that is a hundred and thirty years old.  It's a hundred and thirty years old. It's an unusual house.  It's the second empire side entrance with a Mansard roof.  We have rebuilt it.  We have magnificent thirteen-inch plaster moldings that we had all redone when we moved in that house.  And I just feel like -- and I'm only a hundred and three feet or something like that from the property that this proposed building will be.  My children live next door.  I have one who owns property across the street, and now I have grandchildren who live there.  My children have come back to the city.  I have a son and daughter-in-law, they have two children. They've just started a ballet company in New Orleans, the first real ballet company in the City of New Orleans.  And he had lived away, traveled all over the world, and wanted to come back to his home because he felt there was a need for what his services could be.  And so all I want to say is I strongly disapprove of the zoning change for my neighborhood.  As a means of revenue enhancement the city must not allow high density development in a stable, low density neighborhood.  This project will enrich a few at the expense of many.  Thank you for your time.

CAROL SPANSEL:
Good evening.  I feel lucky that I can remember my name right now.  I've been here since 1:30 . . . .  I thank you all for staying this late.  My name is Carol Spansel.  I live on Short Street, a mere 87 feet from the proposed condo development.  And I wanted to address a few statements.  I believe . . . the lady who spoke earlier characterized our neighbors as vandals, intimidating people. HEARING

COMMITTE: You don't have to go back to that.

CAROL SPANSEL: And I just can't miss the opportunity to say that is not who we are.

HEARING COMMITTE: We know that.

CAROL SPANSEL: And we are not even that well organized.  We just have put all this together.

HEARING COMMITTE: You have two minutes to tell us. And we know that you're not vandals.  We're don't even consider that.  You don't have to explain that to us.

CAROL SPANSEL: I thought it was inappropriate. I'm a native of New Orleans for all my 35 years, and there's been a lot of talk today about people living the city and who won't come back.  And here I am, I haven't left.  And I'm investing and working here and love this city.  Part of the reason why I live this city is because it has unique and charming historic neighborhoods.  And those neighborhoods remind us that New Orleans is still a good place to live and work.  There is quality of life here.  I am the only remaining member of six children in my family who remain in New Orleans.  Others have fled to the north shore and other city's to make a living and to enjoy working in the city and living in a better community, or what they consider a better community.  I'm asking you not to kill my neighborhood.  A fourteen-story, hundred forty foot development has no place next to our two-story homes.  And I'm sure there's plenty, plenty of money to be made and great views for people who can afford a four hundred, six hundred thousand dollar view of the river, but we're enjoying our views right now.  I'd like to end by saying that we want -- we welcome development, the characterization of our neighborhood as people who oppose any kind of development not in my back yard, this is all incorrect.  We welcome development, we just ask that it be reasonable and in accordance with the look of our neighborhood.  The RD-2 zoning that's current is sensible and appropriate for the Riverbend area, and we believe a fourteen-story development is completely out of character with our neighborhood and homes.  Thank you.

RICHARD EXNICIOS:
Good evening again at this late hour.  My name is Richard Exnicios and I live on Nelson Street.  I will not rehash everything that's already been said.  I would just like to, one, point out that today at 1:30 this room was packed filled with people who wanted to speak on this issue, and they have not been able to speak to the issue because of the late hour.  And, secondly that this issue and the Tulane issue are separate issues.  They have some similar threads in that they both concern a high-rise, but some of the issues from the Tulane comments could be incorporated into this, but they are not the same project.  They are separate projects.  First off, I live in Carrollton.  My father lived in Carrollton.  My grandfather lived in Carrollton. His father lived in Carrollton.  I am a ninth generation in Carrollton.  Earlier they said that people are leaving New Orleans and are leaving the city.  Why do some of us stay?  We stay because we like the way the neighborhoods are, the neighborhood feeling.  We live uptown.  We don't live downtown.  We don't live on the north shore.  It's easier to live on the Northshore or in Metairie or in Kenner.  We live Uptown because we like to live Uptown.  We like the look, we like the feel, we like the neighborhood.  Do not take that from us. . . . It's a three-hundred pound gorilla.  If we start letting high-rises in our two neighborhoods, if we start letting high-rises in traditional low residential one and two-story neighborhoods, it is not going to stop.  We already heard them say, well, Lambeth house is right there.  Well, Tulane said Lambeth house is right there.  Well, if this gets built, then it will be, well, Lambeth house is there, Tulane is there, Short Street is there, and it's going keep growing.  We live in the uptown area because we like the uptown historic houses.  We spoke of money.  I won't rehash that.  But we renovate and restore our houses that we choose to live in.  I guarantee you if you add up everybody in these neighborhoods, how much they spend renovating their houses, it's a higher economic impact than the development of one building.  With that I ask you, I beg you, to deny this.  And remember, we're here to stay, and this is not against ya'll or anything else, but there's a lot of people against this.  We're here, we're watching, and we vote.  Thank you.

HEARING COMMITTE: We're appointed and we serve voluntarily.

BERKLEY TRAUGHBER:
My name is Berkley Traughber.  I reside and own a home on Short Street. I'm one house away from the project.  I rented the house for four years until I finally realized that the wind off of the river went right through my bedroom, and I wanted to buy it.  But beyond that, I want to say this, I'm a registered professional engineer, and as such I am not against change.  In fact, I have participated in some of the major changes in New Orleans in the recent years.  They include the Aquarium, Woldenberg Riverfront Park, and the Riverfront streetcar line.  I signed off on the permit that the levee board issued that allowed them to be built.  And, believe me, that was visionary. This is planning myopia.  There were certainly real estate predators lined up to put tall buildings there instead of that open space, but I want to make your clear, Lester Kabacoff was not one of them.  He had character.  I knew him well. He knew there were appropriate places, such as the high dollar big commercial properties at the end of Poydras Street, and in the midst of really truly blighted areas like the warehouse district. What he would never do is to come into a residential area, buy up property at residential prices, and then try to use his considerable influence to get it rezoned to make an obscene profit.  Reject this outright, please.

MARILYN BARBERA:
At this late hour, ladies and gentlemen, I will be very brief.  I'm Marilyn Barbera.  I live on Maple Street. It's about four or five blocks from the site.  I'm representing Carrollton Riverbend Residents Association.  Our boundaries are right adjacent to the Uptown Triangle, and we're supporting those neighbors because we live in the same old town of Carrollton.  The house that I live in was built in the 1850s, and one of the Mayors of Carrollton lived in it.  We're trying to preserve all of these houses, including the area on Short Street, because this is the most historic area that was developed even before the university silk stocking area.  Thank you.

LYNN ADAMS:
My name is Lynn Adams, and I live on Dante Street, about half a block from Marilyn.  And I just looking back thinking on what Mr. Tucker, I think it was about seven hours ago, he was here talking about against the bed and breakfast, and I would ask you before you vote to remember that he said neighborhoods disappear one bite at a time.  And this is such a big bite.  I feel like I'm in a bad video game, that the Pac-Man developer is just out there, let's look what we can get.  And it's so blatant, and it's not even in my backyard syndrome, it's like in these people's front yard.  It's just -- it's right out there.  And I find it ironic like three days after HUD demolished one [high-rise] that didn't work. I know, we're going to be bringing in HUD to demolish this in another forty years?  Thank you.

IRENE HERSH:
My name is Irene Hersh.  I live on Short Street, thirty-six feet from the project.  I live in a beautiful hundred-year-old house that I spent years renovating.  I have gardens encircling my entire house that I spent years cultivating.  This project would block out all my sun that's directly across the street.  I will lose my gardens.  I live in a beautiful historic neighborhood that we're all friends, we all treasure, we're all neighbors together.  This vertical gated building is exactly opposite of what we've all worked years to develop and encourage.  Piece by piece, house by house, we have all bought our houses, revitalized our houses, become neighbors together.  We work together.  We have a vital neighborhood that I'm really afraid this project would endanger.  Also, I want to mention that last week we had our first meeting with Mr. MacPhaille.  He never came to the neighborhood. He never told us what he was planning.  He's owned this land for four years, and the oldest house in the neighborhood, the beautiful little Creole cottage which is on the corner directly across from me, in the four years he's owned it he's never even bothered to paint it.  If anything is blighted, it's his property that he's purposely kept that way just so he could come in and propose this outrageous thing now.  And we met him here -- when we met with him last weekend he told us about his project and showed us the pictures for the first time.  He mentioned that he was developing this in July, and he never came to the neighborhood in all these months.  We found out New Year's Eve.  So I wanted you to have that information.  Thank you.

DEEDRA WING:
Hi.  My name is Deedra Wing.  I live on Short Street.  And it was my first year anniversary of living and owning that house last week.  And I have to say that even though I'm new to the neighborhood, I feel that I do fit in with the rest of the neighbors, whereas a fourteen-story high-rise would not fit in.  I was also one of those people that left the city, lived in a big city, Houston, San Francisco, but missed New Orleans because of its charm.  And that fourteen-story high-rise does not have charm. I can walk to twenty-one restaurants from my house.  And who says you can't see the river?  My dog was in it this weekend.  So please do not allow this to go on.  Thank you.

CARL ABRAM:
Thank you very much.  I'm just exhausted.  I want to say just a few short things.  One, I want you all to remember what happened to North Claiborne Avenue when they put up the Interstate.  That was one of the most beautiful places in the city.  I barely remember it.  But its gorgeous neutral ground, gorgeous houses, and it went to hell.  I want you to remember what happened to Coliseum Square when they took down the ramp.  That neighborhood came back.  I would also like to mention to you folks that this gentleman here who is developing this area lives in -- I think he said the 5500 block of Baronne or Dryades, so essentially he's saying not in his neighborhood, not in his back yard. Let him take it into his.  I don't want it in mine.  Thank you very much.

CYNTHIA MORRIS:
I bought my home on Short Street in 1988, and I've lived in it, renovated, rent part of it. That's my retirement.  I've been teaching kindergarten for thirty-two years.  That house is my retirement, and you're going to destroy it. Don't support it, please.

MONICA DAVIDSON:
I hope you're a little bit more awake than I am.  My name is Monica Davidson.  I live on Hurst Street. . . . I was thinking about coming up here, and I know that I've stood before you all before, and I was realizing that my passion for my neighborhood overcomes my great fear of speaking. But I'm at the corner of Lowerline and Hurst, and I'm kind of in between these two projects, but Short Street is very important to me.  I'm a business owner.  I've spent a lot of money and a lot of time, over 22 years, buying a business, revitalizing it, remodeling, renovating a business from the inside.  And my belief is economic development means building a business that will benefit everyone and bettering your community and giving back in a way that will make you proud of who you are and where you live.  And my house is the most beautiful wonderful place I've ever lived in.  And my neighborhood is too. And I urge you to please, please consider also the fifteen hundred households that occupy Uptown Triangle and Upper Audubon.  I the liaison for the neighborhood group, and there's a lot of wonderful people, architects, professionals, doctors, cinematographers, a lot of wonderful people who live in this area that would really not benefit in the least from this kind of development.  Thank you.

MARK DELESTATIUS:
My name is Mark Delestatius and I live on Hurst Street.  And I include a packet of technical information with the handout that you have.  I'll briefly go over this, and then if you have questions in the future, I'll be available to assist with these questions and answers.  I've been a resident there for over twenty-five years, and a thirty year registered professional engineer in the State of Louisiana with 25 years experience in the petroleum and railroad industries.  There's some major considerations here that have not been brought up before in this meeting.  This development is located in an area which brings in public safety aspects that are not simply anywhere else in this city that I know of nor almost any other city.  This is fifty feet away from a major rail freight line which is vital link in the chemical industry and carries every day thousands of tons of highly toxic, highly explosive flammable material.  For example, one car carrying two hundred thousand pounds or more of whatever material is in that car, that could be chlorine, that could be liquefied petroleum gas, we're actually at a very critical point here at this Riverbend in the national transportation structure.  There are six major rail lines spanning America, the United States, Canada and Mexico which converge right at this point.  And I have a map here, it's in a handout which shows the routes, the carriers, and depict visibly the bottleneck right here where all these routes come through the city.  We in Orleans Parish are not at the bottleneck, we're at the middle of the bottleneck.  We have all these lines coming in from east and west.  They converge just about two miles from this proposed development site and then connect up to the lines on the east.  And through this corridor moves every day these thousands of tons of toxic and explosive material.  Our news files are replete with incidents in the past in the New Orleans region and south Louisiana of mass evacuations, thousands of people with medical problems which are involved in litigation following these, and in most cases in Orleans Parish so far these have only involved minor fires.  For example, we had one in recent years in the Press Street area involving a 3.5 billion dollar settlement.  That will bring the interest of any of these carrier chemical companies rail line and car owners into the picture in the sense that the liability here is going to have to be borne by someone.  We are creating a huge liability issue where none exists, so who is going to pick up this liability issue, much less the public safety aspect.  What is the plan in place?  All it takes is one thunderstorm, one soft track, and one of these cars falls over or derails, falls down next to that building or into that building, and how are these people going to get out.  This is not like the rest of the neighborhoods where you can run out your back door.  There's no way down.  They have a vertical evacuation problem and a horizontal evacuation problem when they get down. I have included at the rear of this a list of the various public agencies which regulate this sort of thing and which should be vital interest. There are a list of public and governmental agencies which will want to comment and review the high-rise, high density development and its proximity to a vital and transportation link like this, also a list of the private companies which also have an operational and legal interest in this.  So at some point either the commission or private citizens or other agencies will need to at least inform these parties and offer them the opportunity to study the proposal and comment on it.  Thank you.

JAN SUTTON:
My name is Jan Sutton.  I live on Broadway.  I'm a member of the Upper Audubon Association and the Association opposes this project because, like the Tulane project, it's height and density is simply out of scale with the neighborhood.  In regards to a vision for the development of Leake Avenue and the neighbors view of the levee, Dr. Sheldon Hersh has drafted such a vision and I encourage everyone to read it.  It is progressive, yet compatible and appropriate for the neighborhood.  Thank you.