Tomorrow, demolition crews will begin toppling 200 blighted homes to make way for new construction and Gentilly revitalization.
Louis Mosteiro is trying to figure out how to landscape his Gentilly home. He moved back onto his Dreux Avenue property recently. But he says the overall progress in Gentilly is slow going. "I find it real slow. You notice the people who want to come back," he says.
But traffic may be picking up soon. Right up the block, this house is the first of 200 blighted, Road Home houses slated to be demolished in the next few months. "I'm going to ride the bulldozer they tell me. I'm pretty excited about that. Anytime you can take something down is the first step towards building things back up," says Rob Couhig. He sits on the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority board and says the Louisiana Land Trust has transferred these properties to the redevelopment authority. He expects this to be the start of redeveloping Pontchartrain Park. "The reason we chose Pontchartrain Park is it gives us the ability to really rebuild an area that's vital to the city where you can make a huge impact and hopefully regenerate all of Gentilly," says Couhig.
Couhig says neighborhood residents have designed the first class homes, and within six months to a year, he says the Pontchartrain Park area near Gentilly Woods will come to life. "You'll see some real changes
"It'll be helpfull," says Mosteiro. He welcomes the idea of a quicker recovery.
"When we moved here there was a lot of old couples and people who bought their homes. It was a nice quite section." He's ready to have that peaceful Gentilly feel back.Actor Wendell Pierce, seen in "The Wire" on HBO and now shooting "Treme" here in the city, is from Gentilly. He's been instrumental in organizing the demolition effort with the redevelopment authority to rebuild Gentilly.
