Content area
Full text
Ray Menard, 78, and Maynard Cecil M.C. Brown, 76, considered themselves lucky in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.While the storm displaced hundreds of thousands of people, the two military veterans remained safely sheltered in the 166-unit Tivoli Place Apartments off Lee Circle on St. Charles Avenue.Menard, a 10-year Tivoli resident, said the building escaped storm damage so it came as a surprise when a New Orleans Police Department officer forced him from his apartment Oct. 7.Management claimed water from faucets left on by evacuated residents had flooded the building so remaining tenants had to immediately vacate the premises.They gave me a few minutes to gather up some belongings and the next day the building was boarded and sealed up, Menard said. They wouldn't let us back in.Menard eventually found a room to rent on Carondelet Street but Brown was not so lucky. Without any money or family, the Korean War veteran began living in a van under the Interstate 10 overpass off St. Charles Avenue.Two weeks ago at 2 a.m., police threatened to impound the van and arrest Brown as a vagrant. Dave Lefty Parker, manager of the Circle Bar, explained the situation to the police - that Brown was was a former member of the military recently kicked out of his home of three years.They said they'd leave him alone for now but for how long I don't know, Parker said. I really don't know what's going to happen to M.C. They already towed the last two vehicles he was sleeping in. Something like this should have never happened.The Tivoli Place Apartments building, now boarded up and wrapped in scaffolding, was once home to more than 160 elderly Section 8 residents. A few still remain in its shadow, desperate to return home. They insist there is nothing wrong with the building while management claims the health hazard from toxic mold has rendered it uninhabitable for at least a year.Million-dollar damages Patricia Campbell, regional public affairs officer for HUD, said Lawler-Wood Housing, Tivoli's parent company based in Knoxville, Tenn., claims the hurricane inflicted $1 million in damages to the roof, elevators and windows.When the city turned the water to the building back on in the first week of October, management claimed faucet overflows caused an additional $1 million in flood damage to the first and second floors.Campbell said HUD investigated the claims and deemed the building uninhabitable.The elevators, fire alarm and sprinklers don't work and the first two floors are gutted, Campbell said. A toxicologist deemed it unsafe to enter the property without protection and breathing apparatus.Lawler-Wood officials declined to comment citing the pending lawsuit by residents, which claims unlawful eviction and violations of the Fair Housing Act. Lawler-Wood officials denied having plans to turn the eight-story building into condominiums.Parker, whose business abuts the Tivoli, questions Lawler-Wood's version of the truth. The water in this area was never turned off and there was no one in that building except for Ray and M.C. So I'm supposed to believe that residents mysteriously showed back up and turned all of their faucets on? Metairie-based Citadel Builders is in charge of the hurricane- related repairs as well as renovations ordered prior to the storm.Citadel President Denzel Clark said they were initially hired to for window and cabinet upgrades last March. Residents were not required to vacate the property during the renovation.In October 2004, Tivoli Place secured an $8.5-million loan through the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority to cover the costs of the project.Clark said hurricane-related repairs will not be completed until at least the end of the year.When the water came back on it flooded the first and second floors from faucets overflowing. Those floors may as well have been under water. It's a mess, Clark said. So far we've just been doing demolition and remediation on the first two floors and pre-Katrina renovations because management is still negotiating with the insurance company.Evictions challenged Attorney Jessica Hayes, with the Murray Law Firm in New Orleans representing the residents, said her inspector found mold in the Tivoli but it was limited and likely present before the hurricane.The levels weren't high enough to warrant an evacuation, Hayes said.Wilma Heaton, mother of a former Tivoli resident, was present during a December building inspection. When I arrived one of the maintenance men was wearing one of those space suits, Heaton said. I was surprised because management had been working inside the Tivoli every day for two months without any protection and suddenly it's a dangerous health hazard? It's really a coincidence that at the same exact time the mayor allowed people back in the city for a look and leave they decide to kick everyone out of the Tivoli and shut the building down.'It ruined me'Gerald Andrews, 68, lived in the Tivoli for six years. He, too, is displaced like Menard and Brown.It ruined me when they closed it and wouldn't let us back in, Andrews said. I can't even get in there to get my false teeth.Andrews said Tivoli manager Faye Mancuso told him to make an appointment to retrieve his belongings and Citadel Builders would pack his possessions and bring them down to the lobby.But Andrews doesn't have a home much less a place to store anything.They don't want us up there because we'll see there's no damage and they want us to think that it's devastated, Andrews said. But I got into my apartment weeks after the storm and in 30 minutes I could have my place looking just as good as it did before. But you can't fight City Hall. You can't fight money when you ain't got none.Andrews has peripheral artery disease. A doctor told him it's only a matter of time before his foot will need to be amputated.He spent his $2,000 FEMA check on a wheelchair and was denied rental assistance because records show he is still a resident of Tivoli.I make only $609 a month on Social Security, Andrews said. Rent at the Tivoli was $130. I can't afford to stay anywhere else. I cried when I counted out $2,000 for my wheelchair.