A Misleading Quote on Musicians’ Project

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

The article “Voicing Support for Charity” (August 3) included information about a project in which Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, along with the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, are building a “Musicians’ Village” in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward.

An anonymous source is quoted as being critical of the project and, while the article alludes to “local residents” expressing concern, this anonymous source is the only person cited.

Obviously, the use of an “anonymous” source to pontificate in a highly critical manner is, at best, of dubious credibility.

There is no evidence given as to that person’s qualifications to address the Musicians Village project or the Upper Ninth Ward neighborhood nor is there any reference to any possible conflict of interest that the source might have.

My response to those criticisms, discussed at some length with your reporter, Ian Wilhelm, is reduced to a statement that “the village is ‘very conveniently located.’”

New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity was gathering information on the Upper Ninth Ward beginning in January of 2005 and had determined well before Katrina that it was an appropriate community for a Habitat project.

The article described this neighborhood as “a rundown area that lacks adequate transportation and access to hospitals and schools.”

The Upper Ninth Ward has one of the highest levels of black homeownership in New Orleans and, in fact, is a low- to middle- income community. Its residents would strenuously object to the description of it as a “rundown area.”

It is also one of the least-flooded and faster-recovering neighborhoods.

The entire school situation in New Orleans is problematical, with the Orleans Parish School system in disarray. This problem predates Katrina. Some of the schools are scheduled to reopen, some have reopened, and many are not scheduled to reopen anytime soon. The post-Katrina population remains at less than half of pre-Katrina levels — with even fewer children returned.

The same situation, to a large extent, applies to hospital and medical services. This is the case in almost every neighborhood in New Orleans. In fact, the Upper Ninth Ward is closer to many of the reopened medical facilities than most of the neighborhoods in New Orleans.

I live in the Upper Ninth Ward, about 10 blocks from the project area. I think I can speak with some authority to the conditions and circumstances of the community.

In what part of town do the “anonymous source” or the unidentified “local residents” live?

Jim Pate
Executive Director
New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity
New Orleans

Editor’s note: The Chronicle stands by its article. The source Mr. Pate questions is a charity leader who has worked at New Orleans cultural and social-service groups for 30 years and has lived in the city for more than four decades. The Chronicle prefers to name its sources, but the official would speak only on the condition that he or she not be named.