The housing project Press Park was destroyed by Katrina floods and never fixed becuase it was built on top of a superfund site that is still toxic. Part of it is only now being torn down, nine years later. But like all things in New Orleans, that isn't a clean story. Only part of it will be torn down and it will take four months.
A closet in Press Park.
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When the EPA declared the area a super fund site in 1994, people hoped to be bought out by the government. But the EPA chose to remove the top soil and replace it for $42.8 million instead.
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Press Park was built in the late 1960s by Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) over part the Agriculture Street landfill that the EPA declared a superfund site (93 acres).
All 66 townhouses were flooded by Katrina and have remained standing since then.
Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) will take down the 70 percent they own and leave the rest.
Construction workers put a surface finish on a foundation that remains in press park after they tore down some of the townhouse. The townhouses left standing will remain until outstanding litigation is cleared up.
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Gordon Plaza, next to Press Park, was built on top of the same superfund site. The homeowners could have been bought out a few times over with the money wasted.
Housing project in Algiers.
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The homes that remain are owned by tenants who bought their townhouse in a program set up by HANO without being told that the site had once been a part of the city's landfill.
Press Park is situated within a portion of the USEPA Agriculture Street Landfill, which is designated as a Superfund site by the USEPA. This site has been partially remediated, but the soils under the parking areas, driveways, and building foundations still contain lead, arsenic and cPAHs.
The structures are dilapidated and serve as a haven for crime, vagrancy, and vermin that could potentially spread diseases.
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One of the units in Press Park. HANO has started to demolish the portions of Press Park the government owns.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
Club Desitre in the 9th Ward.
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