Ghosts of Katrina: Blight in NOLA (PHOTOS)
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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.
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A closet in Press Park.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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).
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
All 66 townhouses were flooded by Katrina and have remained standing since then.
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Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) will take down the 70 percent they own and leave the rest.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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.
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Housing project in Algiers.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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.
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The structures are dilapidated and serve as a haven for crime, vagrancy, and vermin that could potentially spread diseases.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
Club Desitre in the 9th Ward.
Julie Dermansky/The Daily Beast
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