New Orleans Field Office

Notes from the Field: New Orleans Loses a Valued Leader
Rev. Marshall Truehill, a staunch ally in our battle over the demolition of the New Orleans public housing developments, and more recently, the return of Charity Hospital, died unexpectedly on Christmas Day of heart failure. He was 60 years old. Saturday I, and hundreds of others, attended his funeral. The sudden death of Marshall Truehill is [...]

A Different Kind of Year-End List: What We Would Miss About Lower Mid-City
This week is what I refer to annually as the Week of Lists. From magazines to the Internet, the outgoing year is relived in every imaginable category. In addition to Time’s People of the Year, I’ve read about 2008’s highest-grossing movies, most outrageous Hollywood moments (a perennial favorite of mine), biggest YouTube videos, top-earning business tycoons, [...]

A Preservation Newbie’s Walk Through Mid-City New Orleans
I have a confession to make: I’m a preservation newbie. That’s right; I’m not an architect, an archeologist, an urban planner or a historian. I don’t totally understand tax credits (yet!) or Section 106 (workin’ on it!). And unless time logged vegging out in front of HGTV counts, I’ve also never restored original moulding or weatherized [...]

VIDEO: Save Mid-City “We’re sending out an SOS… We need help and we need it now.”
Kevin Krause came to New Orleans as an Americorps volunteer after Hurricane Katrina. He spent a year helping people restore their homes and eventually, he and his wife bought one for themselves. When it comes to the idea of losing his home to the new VA/LSU hospital complex he says, “It’s depressing. It’s… [...]

Save Mid-City: “How Would You Feel?” - Resident Diana Monley
Diana Monely has worked for the city of New Orleans for 30 years and lived in her Mid-City home for 35, and now — despite weathering Hurricane Katrina in the city to remain on the job — her loyalty to New Orleans is being repaid with the loss of her home. She says, “You just [...]