Earlier than Taylor Swift present in New Orleans, a homeless encampment is pressured to maneuver
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In anticipation of three Taylor Swift live shows, which may draw round 150,000 guests to New Orleans’ Superdome this weekend, state authorities on Wednesday started clearing a close-by homeless encampment.
Roughly 75 individuals who had been residing in tents beneath an overpass can be relocated roughly two blocks away, Louisiana State Police stated. Advocates stated the sweep would disrupt progress to find long-term, everlasting housing for these affected. Different individuals with out shelter residing within the historic, tourist-dependent French Quarter neighborhood would even be moved to the identical location, officers stated.
Gov. Jeff Landry’s spokesperson stated the transfer was taken to deal with homelessness and questions of safety, linking the trouble to the upcoming live shows and February’s Super Bowl.
“As we put together for town to host Taylor Swift and Tremendous Bowl LIX, we’re dedicated to making sure New Orleans places its greatest foot ahead when on the world stage,” Landry’s communications director, Kate Kelly, stated in a press release issued to native media.
Later, in a press release to The Related Press, Kelly careworn that the transfer solely concerned a brief distance and that security was a priority. “Solely probably the most harmful blocks — the place homeless frequently stroll throughout busy streets — are being shut down,” she stated.
Preliminary plans to interrupt up the encampment close to the dome got here to mild Monday. It’s unclear when plans had been made to maneuver to the situation roughly two blocks away.
Metropolis Council member Lesli Harris, whose district contains the world, stated she and housing advocates had been instructed the transfer can be made Thursday. “They’re immediately right here, on Wednesday morning, springing this on us,” stated Harris.
Martha Kegel, govt director of Unity of Higher New Orleans, a nonprofit that seeks everlasting housing for unsheltered individuals, stated shifting the encampment was higher than disbanding it as advocates had initially feared. However she stated it was nonetheless a pointless and dangerous endeavor, in addition to a waste of state and federal tax cash earmarked for sheltering these with out houses.
A lot of these within the camp have psychological diseases and are distrustful of authorities and people attempting to assist them, Kegel stated.
“Some individuals had been frightened and left, and that is not good,” she stated. “As a result of then all of the work that we did to evaluate them and doc their disabilities and, you understand, work with them on their housing plan has now been wasted.”
Amongst these making the transfer Wednesday was Terrence Cobbins. Taking a break from gathering his belongings, he stated he was instructed to maneuver due to the upcoming live shows. “They ain’t by no means did it earlier than for different individuals,” he stated. “Why Taylor Swift?” He stated he wasn’t glad in regards to the disruption, “I can not do nothing about it.
Metropolis Council President Helena Moreno issued a press release calling for higher state and metropolis coordination to deal with homelessness.
Kegel stated her company ought to have been contacted, noting that the live performance dates had been introduced months in the past. “We may have completed what the governor wished in a humane and rational method and never simply push individuals a few blocks away or scatter them,” she stated.
There was no indication that Swift or the NFL — which, 4 years in the past, set the 2025 Tremendous Bowl for New Orleans — had any enter within the choice to maneuver the camp. Emailed requests for remark had been despatched to Swift representatives and the league Wednesday afternoon.
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Related Press journalists Gerald Herbert in New Orleans and Sara Cline in Baton Rouge contributed to this report.
