Two of best-known development corporations in the tri-state expect to be among the competitors to redevelop a 13.9-acre tract on the Newport riverfront where demolition of a public housing project began this week.
The site, just west of Newport on the Levee, is being cleared to make way for what the city anticipates will be a signature urban village, where people will live, shop and work.
The city's broad vision for the site includes such amenities as plazas, public art and fountains mixed among condos, office building and hotels.
...Both Fennell and Knepshield rejected the notion that the redevelopment plan is part of an effort to muscle poor and low-income residents out of a city where an upscale revitalization has been under way for at least a decade.
"I can say with a clear conscience that that's not what is happening," Fennell said. "This old concept of warehousing people in one location has gone by the wayside all over the country."
She pointed out that a variety of programs are being employed to blend low-income people into neighborhoods all over the city.
...Knepshield also stressed that the theory behind the relocation effort is to "eliminate the large concentration of (public housing) units that has not worked anywhere in the country."
He said he couldn't comment about whether low-income people might have an opportunity to live in the new development because no one knows what will be built there.
Knepshield should be run out of office for that comment.
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There were some great b-ball games played at those projects in the early 70's. At times it got a bit rough when the boys from Covington use to drop by.
Jerry Palmer stopped by the other day. He is a retired Air Force helicopter pilot who lives in Dallas. Remember the fro.
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