On day five, Megan and I met again with Linda Jackson to show her the basic structure of the Lower 9th Ward Homeowner’s Association blog and further discuss with her the goals and ideas for the association. We actually ended up talking with her for a couple of hours about her personal experiences after the storm and the general politics of rebuilding the Lower 9th ward. Linda voiced her concerns about investors buying up large portions of property in the area and attempting push residents out. We realized through this meeting that Linda has a lot of influence within the discussion about the Lower 9th Ward’s future. She will be attending a meeting on Monday concerning the distribution of vacant land within the city where she plans to found out how she can purchase land to begin construction of temporary residences within the neighborhood for displaced senior citizens whose homes were destroyed. She spoke in great length about the hardships of many displaced residents who are barely getting by in the areas where they have been re-located to. Many are no longer receiving emergency assistance and are finding it difficult or impossible to pay the rent in their new neighborhood. She also spoke about the significance of the land to many former residents, whose property has often been passed down through generations.
We also discussed with Linda the importance of incorporating a donation button on the site, which would allow people to easily donate money to her organization through paypal with their credit card. At first she was not happy about paypal’s 3% cut of the donations but we convinced her that this was the best way to reach an online audience. Since the Homeowner’s Association is a relatively new organization, she has yet to obtain a bank account. She plans to do this on Monday so Megan and I can set up the paypal account for her. After this is completed, the next step is to inform as many people as possible about the organization and their need for funding. More about that to come as the project gets under way.
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