Poor New Orleans Residents Struggle to Have Their Say on City's Reconstruction

Interview with Steve Bradberry, lead New Orleans organizer with ACORN, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Steve Bradberry is the lead New Orleans organizer with ACORN, a community organization that fights for the rights of low- and moderate-income families. He was recently awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for his efforts on behalf of the poorest victims of Hurricane Katrina. The award typically goes to human rights activists overseas.

Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spent two weeks in New Orleans in mid-November. While there, she saw lots of ACORN signs in flood-damaged neighborhoods that proclaimed, "No bulldozing!" ACORN is fighting for the right of poor and working class residents of New Orleans, who have yet to return to the city, to have some say in how their property is handled and the land redeveloped. ACORN opposes a bill introduced in Congress by Louisiana Republican Rep. Richard Baker to create a Louisiana Recovery Corporation that would give property owners options to sell and repurchase their land at a later date while financing infrastructure improvements so properties can be redeveloped. ACORN says the Recovery Corporation in its present form would exclude those most affected by the disaster and lead to gentrification of neighborhoods where pre-Katrina housing was mostly minority-owned and working class.

Melinda Tuhus spoke with Steve Bradberry about the politics of reconstructing New Orleans and the meaning behind the "No Bulldozing" signs that were posted by his group as floodwaters receded and debate was running high about how to rebuild the city.

Contact ACORN by calling 1- (800) 239-7379, or visit the group's website at www.acorn.org

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