Gordon Plaza residents continue their quest for justice
6th April 2021 · 0 Comments
By C.C. Campbell-Rock
Contributing Writer
Last month, Gordon Plaza homeowners held the latest in a string of press conferences they’ve held over the past several years. From the steps of New Orleans City Hall, homeowners again demanded that the City of New Orleans pay for a fully funded relocation from the toxic waste dump, the Agriculture Street Landfill, on which their homes have been built.
After three decades of grassroots activism and intense pressure on the City of New Orleans, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Residents chanting “No Hesitation, Fully Fund Relocation,” may soon get the restitution they need to move away from the city’s dump site.
“This is on the city,” Sharon Rainey told The Louisiana Weekly. Rainey, a Gordon Plaza homeowner and board member with the Gordon Plaza Residents, LLC., said “We were first-time homeowners, and we were excited about the opportunity to own a home. No one told us the land was contaminated.”
This past month, the group hand-delivered letters to Mayor Cantrell and Cheryn Robles, the city’s environmental affairs administrator. Robles’ letter contained a list of Gordon Plaza residents who want to be relocated.
Of the subdivision’s 54 residents (some own homes and some rent), 27 homeowners want to move off the dump. They are asking for restitution to cover the costs of moving and the purchasing of new homes.
Marilyn Amar bought her Gordon Plaza home in 1990. She is a breast cancer survivor on the resident’s non-profit Board. She is cautiously optimistic about the prospect of relocating, but Amar is concerned about not getting the amount of money needed to relocate.
Robles’ questionnaire to Gordon Plaza residents asked for feedback on future development on the site and relocation options.
“For nearly 40 years, residents in Gordon Plaza have been asking the City, the State, and the Federal government to address concerns at their current properties, located atop or near the former Agriculture Street Landfill. You’ve spoken to many Mayors and other elected officials, but the Cantrell Administration has heard your requests and is working to address this issue,” Robles affirmed.
“The City would like to have the community’s input on returning this site to a productive and beneficial use. To better understand your vision for this neighborhood, we are writing to ask that you complete the enclosed questionnaire and return it by March 31, 2021.”
In addition, a task force has been exploring options for redeveloping the former Agriculture Street Landfill site and nearby properties.
Amar is concerned about the survey’s relocation questions. On the survey, residents are asked if they want “fair market value” for their property.
“I can’t sell this (house) to anybody else,” she said, referring to the site’s Super Fund site designation. Amar is adamant about the city fully funding relocations. “I’m not going to incur the cost of a new home nor any cost to move to a healthy environment. Redevelopment is a money-making thing for the city. The city is about to get some serious money and they can afford to pay for our relocation, or they can ask the developer to pay us.”
The fact that Gordon Plaza sits on land full of dangerous and deadly toxins is undisputed. Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist, environmental scientist and the residents’ pro-bono consultant, tested Gordon Plaza’s soil in 1993 and after Katrina in 2015.
“The toxins she found in 1993 were still there after Katrina,” said Amar.
“The Agriculture Street Landfill is contaminated with arsenic, lead and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (“PAHs”). There is no safe level of lead exposure with respect to children. Lead can damage every organ system, and the nervous system is especially sensitive to lead exposure. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and can harm health through ingestion, skin contact and inhalation,” Subra reported in 1993.
“As a result of living on toxic soil and exposure to chemical air pollutants, residents are at risk for contracting various types of cancers, including lung, skin and bladder cancer, pneumonia, chest pain, dermatitis, asthma and stomach irritation including ulcers, birth defects, genetic damage, skin lesions, liver damage, immune and nervous system damage and disruptions in the reproductive system.”
Subra’s analyses, unfortunately, were prescient. Many Gordon Plaza residents contracted cancer or died from cancer or heart attacks. Multiple miscarriages have been reported, stomach ailments and respiratory problems are common. Amar’s son suffered from stomach problems for years. He had surgery to correct the problem.
“Sixteen people have died from cancer since Hurricane Katrina,” Rainey said in 2019. At the time, three and three of the homeowners seeking relocation had cancer.” They died in 2020.
When the EPA designated the area as a Super Fund site in 1994, residents met with EPA officials and city officials to discuss relocation, but the city refused to fully fund relocations. Instead, the city spent $42 million to lay down a geotextile mat and two feet of dirt on the site. “The city could have relocated the residents for less than half of that amount,” Amar said.
It would have cost $14 million to relocate residents back then. Today, the cost is north of $20 million, Subra explained, adding, “The city only remediated 10 percent of the property.”
After Hurricane Katrina flooded the site and washed away the topsoil, residents were directly exposed to toxins. Subra returned in 2015, tested the soil, and reported: “The Agriculture Street Landfill comprises a toxic stew, with synergistic and cumulative impacts on the health and welfare of its residents.”
“If the residents were white, they would have been removed long ago,” both Amar and Rainey have said. Tulane Environmental Law Clinic attorneys described Gordon Plaza as “a national symbol of environmental racism.”
“The Residents of Gordon Plaza live in the 2nd highest cancer causing area in the ENTIRE state of Louisiana,” according to a 2019 Tumor Registry Report. At least three residents passed away last year. Therefore, the Residents of Gordon Plaza are working harder than they ever have to fight to expedite this situation once and for all.
“Whatever plans the City of New Orleans has for the Agriculture Street Landfill, it can and should only be attended to AFTER every resident that is demanding a FULLY funded relocation has that demand met.,” the New Orleans People’s Assembly posted on its website.
This article originally published in the April 5, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
