NEW ORLEANS — They say no news is good news and that's the case for the residents of Gordon Plaza.
Those left behind in homes on the land the Environmental Protection Agency deemed a Superfund site have spent nearly 30 years fighting for a fully funded relocation. For many of them, that day has finally come.
The residents had become a fixture on the steps of City Hall, pushing the city government for relocation from the site that was once the Agriculture Street Landfill. The landfill opened in 1909 and operated for about 50 years with its initial “residents” being medical, residential and industrial waste.
The homes were built on top of land that Chemist Wilma Subra told the Louisiana Weekly was contaminated with “arsenic, lead, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) among more than 140 toxic materials, at least 49 of which are associated with cancer.”
Residents began to develop illnesses years later. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found for the 10-year period, 1988-97, there was a breast cancer cluster for Black women living on the site. They didn’t link the cases to the toxic substances found in the soil.
With that history, Jesse Perkins is glad this chapter of his life has come to an end. “This is what we fought for, so we are here,” says Perkins.
WWL-TV joined Perkins at his home as movers packed his belongings to take him to his new home. It’s bittersweet for Perkins as he is parting with the home he once purchased for his mother. “This is the first and only house I could probably call my own, and I’m attached,” says Perkins. “But you know what this is what we wanted, and we must embrace it and I'm excited. All these years that we had to fight. All the heartache, all the pain. I mean that people had to go through to get the city to do the right thing.”
The day didn’t come without its challenges. The New Orleans City Council agreed to allocate $35 million to relocate the remaining homeowners in Gordon Plaza. They agreed to make offers on approximately 62 homes and five vacant lots. According to our partners at NOLA.com, the median price was $335,000 . This is after residents criticized the appraisal process and fought to select an appraiser of their choice.
“The appraisal that they were trying to apply to us wasn’t going to work,” says Perkins. They wanted to apply this fair market value and we said fair market value may be fair to someone else, but it may not be fair to us.”
Jesse didn't share how much he was offered on his home but says he's satisfied.
“It will allow me to move forward and do the necessary things and those things I desire to be able to do,” says Perkins. “That I'm going to be able to be in a healthy home of my choice.”
The community promised to usher in a new wave of homeownership in the Black community, but it's now mostly a ghost town. Haunted by the homes that were supposed to represent the American dream.
The subdivision was initially proposed by then Mayor Victor Schiro in 1967. By the time the homes were built, it was being marketed by the city’s first Black mayor. Ernest “Dutch” Morial began to push residents toward the community.
“I don't know if this will ever be a victory in the sense of the word victory because it’s not going to bring anyone’s loved ones back,” says Perkins.
The long battle for relocation off the toxic dump was sometimes one Jesse didn't know could be won. He looks at this move as proof that sheer willpower and a willingness to do the right thing can yield life-changing results.
“What happened here shows the possibilities that if it happened here with us, it can happen anywhere,” says Perkins. “When we fight, we win.”
Perkins says he will remain in New Orleans, though many of the residents have chosen to leave Orleans Parish. The city of New Orleans is now moving forward with plans to convert the site into a solar farm. The RFI went out last spring which is the first step in redevelopment.
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