DeGaulle Manor

DeGaulle Manor, was a low-income housing project in Algiers, New Orleans. The complex had a notorious reputation for crime and was one of the oldest and most troubled housing complexes in the city before being shut down in 2012. It later became a dumping ground for trash and in 2014, became a work of art as it was transformed into a graffiti display.[1][2][3]

Charles DeGaulle Manor Apartments
photograph of buildings viewed from Murl street.
General information
Location3010 Sandra Drive, New Orleans, LA 70114
StatusVacate 2005 (partly reopened 2007) (closed 2012)
Construction
Constructed1963–1964
Demolished(partly razed in 1996)
Other information
Governing
body		HUD

History

The 450-unit apartment complex opened in 1964 with 12 5-6 story mid-rise buildings originally known as "Bridge Plaza." Members from the Black Panther Party were among the first blacks to move into the apartments along with the African American New Orleans Saints players. Towards the early 1970's most of the 200 apartments were being leased by the Federal Housing Administration and some were being administered and subsidized by the Red Cross. It later became a low income subsidized section 8 housing complex operated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).[4][5] Between 1970 and the present, no owner kept the property for more than seven years; and each time that it changed hands, the new owners made little effort to rectify the many problems that arose under the supervision of the previous owners.[6] By the mid 1980s only 364 units remained occupied as the rest were abandoned with squatters who would normally burglarize the apartments.[7] With bad management, the complex fell into terrible conditions with interior walls damaged from water leeks of rusted pipes and broken elevators. Big rats and cockroach infestations were commonplace as well as rotting garbage stacked up in clogged trash in the dumpsters. The balcony railings were rusted as well as the security gates which did not close. New Orleans Police Department enforced extra patrolling around DeGaulle Manor in an effort to reduce the rising drug activity but failed to make any arrests. Violent shootouts and gunfire became a daily occurrence through out the complex to the point local cab companies also refused to send cabs near there. [8] [9] After a rash of killings in 1993, fed up residents of the complex organized a Crime watch to decrease the violence.[10]

In 1996 HUD razed 39 abandoned townhouse units in a renovation. In December 2000 Woody Koppel, Neal Morris and Mark Schreiner bought the complex for $5 million in hopes of transforming it but many apartments still failed HUD inspections. In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina struck, 135 out of 364 units were vandalized. One hundred families still lived in the apartments until they were evicted on Thanksgiving.[11] Johnson Properties Group purchased the complex and was able to renovate 160 units.[12]

In 2007, Common Ground Collective bought the property from Johnson Properties Group, renaming it the Crescent City Gates Apartments. Only a portion of the complex was opened at the time and was in poor condition with termites and rodents infesting the apartments. Crescent City Gates is now vacant and will be demolished and replaced by a new sporting complex.[13] North of Crescent City Gates were the Christopher Homes Development, another run-down housing complex torn down in 2013.[14]

Kevin Mosley death

On October 28, 1999, 13-year old Kevin Joseph Mosley was visiting his aunt. Mosley climbed out of an open hole in the top of the cab of the elevator and got stuck and was crushed. Several hours later, a wall was removed to retrieve him from the elevator shaft. Mosley was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of October 29, 1999. Mosley's wrongful death was caused by the negligence of DeGaulle Manor under the theories of strict liability, gross negligence, total neglect and negligence. Carolyn Kitzman was the manager of the apartment complex at the time of Kevin Mosley. Carolyn Kitzman communicates with existing tenants and employs and supervises the groundskeeping crews which clean the interior of the elevator cars.[15][16]

Troy Harvey shooting

On April 6, 2000, a 12-year-old boy who was living in an abandoned apartment with his 13-year-old brother was shot in the neck by a New Orleans police officer searching the building for a murder suspect. The 12 year old identified as Troy Harvey was rushed to Charity Hospital after he was shot about 7 p.m. by officer Ricky Blanchard, who said Troy sprang at him from a closet in the apartment at Vespasian and Murl streets. Troy and his brothers Adrien and Corey Harvey where all booked in jail for criminal trespassing and attempting to disarm a police officer. The brothers were later released.[17]

Erik Daniels death

On June 3, 2001, a 4th District police officer Kevin Smith fatally shot 18-year-old Erik Daniels who was being served an arrest warrant for aggravated battery. New Orleans Police Department reported he was shot in the chest about 3 p.m. in the 2300 block of Murl Street and died shortly after the shooting at Charity Hospital, police spokesman Lt. Marlon Defillo said Smith believed the suspect was retrieving a weapon from under his shirt. Relatives of Erik Daniels disputed police accounts of the shooting, claiming authorities beat the victim and threw his body off of the balcony. No charges where filed against Officer Smith.[18]

Louis Dabdoub shooting

On December 10, 2004, NOPD Fourth District’s police commander, Capt. Louis Dabdoub, was injured in a shooting near the complex after he stopped a suspected truant. Dabdoub was shot in the leg by a teenager who opened fire on him, police said. Dabdoub fired several shots back, but then the suspect collapsed, got up and then fled into the complex. After the shooting DeGaulle Manor was placed on lockdown while police searched apartments for the suspect who was a suspected member of the D-Block Boys. The gang had been distributing heroin out of abandoned apartments for years until its closing.[19][20]

2005 double murder

On May 8, 2005 authorities discovered the decomposed bodies of two men stuffed in the trunk of a car parked in the 2900 block of Vespasian St. Officers arrived and found two men dead, both with gunshot wounds to the head. [21]

ExhibitBe

In 2014, Brandan Odums and his graffiti crew transformed DeGaulle Manor into a graffiti art exhibit painting murals of famous civil rights leaders and entertainers such as Tupac Shakur, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali.[22] The murals located on 3010 Sandra Drive attracted 3,000 people when Odums opened it as ExhibitBe on 15 November 2014.[23] It was described as "the largest single-site street art exhibit in the American South." ExhibitBe closed in January 2015 with a concert including musicians David Banner, Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Dee-1 and a performance by the Edna Karr High School Marching Band.[24]

Film
  • The 2019 film Black and Blue was filmed at the complex as "Kingston Manor."[25]
  • Featured in season 1 in the 2015 TV series Zoo.
  • NCIS: New Orleans filmed at 2400 Murl Street.
  • Featured in the 2020 film “Project Power.”

See also

References
  1. [email protected], DELLA HASSELLE. "One-day exhibit turns blight into art". theadvocate.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  2. Hanson, Blake (6 May 2014). "Several burned cars litter blighted Algiers complex". wdsu.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. Picayune, Allen Powell II, The Times. "Mother of two found shot to death in Algiers apartment complex". NOLA.com.
  4. "Woodlands residents struggle with the affordable housing quagmire in New Orleans". Archived from the original on 2014-05-04.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2013-08-01. Retrieved 2017-08-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-08-31.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Search the Times-Picayune Archive". nl.newsbank.com.
  8. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  9. Times-Picayune, Ramon Antonio Vargas, NOLA com | The. "Cabbie picked up fare in Harvey before being murdered in Algiers". NOLA.com. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  10. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  11. "Hundreds Face Eviction in New Orleans". democracynow.org. Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  12. "Woodlands Apartments". Archived from the original on 2014-05-05.
  13. "Curtain Closes on Exhibit BE - NOLA DEFENDER". www.noladefender.com. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  14. "Officials witness demolition of Algiers public housing complex". Archived from the original on 2014-05-05.
  15. "Casetext". casetext.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  16. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com.
  17. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com.
  18. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com.
  19. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com.
  20. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com.
  21. "New Orleans, LA Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NOLA.com". nl.newsbank.com. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  22. "How This Building Covered In Eye-Popping Street Art Explains New Orleans". fastcompany.com. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  23. "'ExhibitBE,' a spectacular outdoor graffiti environment, on view Saturday only". nola.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  24. "Exhibit BE closing celebration and more things to do in New Orleans Monday". nola.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  25. writer, JOHN WIRT | Contributing. "'Can't fake it': Director Deon Taylor filled each frame of 'Black and Blue' with electric New Orleans". The Advocate. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
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