Tone Deaf Musicians Village

This is long. Take a breath.

Time to beat this dead horse again.

Here are my only 2 points:

1) I have a problem with Habitat calling this a musicians' village, when that's just an inaccurate name used to get contributions.  People think that they are donating so that their money will be targeted to give housing to those who create New Orleans music.  The musicians' village gives no preference to musicians, as dictated by Habitat for Humanity's guidelines.  I have no problem with Habitat's guidelines.  I have a problem with Habitat calling this a musicians' village, when that's just an inaccurate name used to get contributions.

2) We need a place, if not the musicians village, where those who perform New Orleans music can live.

To up their musician/non-musician ratio, Habitat has taken to redefining the term musician.  According to New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity spokeswoman Aleis Tusa " If I play the flute at home, but I do PR for my job, I can call myself a musician".

This bad press has put Habitat on the defensive.

And it should.  They are misleading the public.

So what should be done?  Should some big donor have to sue Habitat to ensure that their donations are being used for what they were led to believe they were being used for?

No.

I just want to get housing for New Orleans musicians, so they can stay here, come back, or not leave.

Here's a comment from Andy Lee, a Habitat board member, that was left on Adrastos blog:

I read Ashley's comment above and feel the need to respond. The article that Ashley was relying on (published in Offbeat in July 2006) was written by a reporter who subsequently ported her views over to the Times-Pic -- in an article appeared on Jan. 2. I subsequently had an Op-Ed piece printed a few days later. It is here: http://www.nola.c om/news/t-p/otheropinions/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1167979770225830.xml&coll= 1

That reporter doesn't "get" Habitat, and I've told her so. Musicians or not, Habitat is NOT a giveaway program where house keys are given away Oprah-style. No, it is a home-ownership program based on the Habitat mission, which is: "To build houses in partnership with sponsors, volunteers, communities, and homeowner families, whereby families are empowered to transform their own lives." EMPOWERED to transform THEIR OWN LIVES. It's not very empowering to give keys away, now, is it?

Note well, many accommodations have been made, for instance: 1) income verification has been very flexible (find any homestead willing to lend money on a house with proof of income consisting of "gig books" and I'll buy you a Barq's and a shrimp po-boy, but Habitat does this); 2) resources have been set up to assist applicants in finding credit relief or working thru any problems -- I have personally counselled several musicians in this, and those that want to fix their credit, do so, and are glad they did. Even after credit woes are solved, home-ownership isn't guaranteed. It's a process, that some describe as arduous, others as easy compared to living in public housing, or in a car, or in Houston.

Musicians with poor credit are being directed to resources to fix their credit before they move further along in the process because the Habitat process is meaningful. That's the "Habitat model" that no new program is going to change. Giving away $$$ to pay off bad debts does not, in my mind, "empower" a family. We partner with them, and 160 NOLA families and first-time homeowners can all give testimony that it works. (Dealing with bad credit is nothing new for Habitat; credit issuers tend to prey on the lowest wage-earners -- our constituency.)

Habitat isn't for everyone, and it isn't for every musician. Habitat hasn't claimed to, and will not, solve the entire housing problem in NOLA. Musicians are no different from many applicants -- some have serious credit problems that would plunge them into foreclosure on the house in a matter a months after the euphoria wears off, and then where would they, and we donors / volunteers, be? Would we look back and say, sure wish we'd worked on those credit problems BEFORE they bought the house???

Wikipedia has pretty accurate figures on our "musician ratio" in its M.V. entry. There are MANY musicians in the M.V. to date, and it's not yet halfway there. Give it a chance -- you'll be VERY, VERY pleasantly surprised that it fulfills its promise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musicians_Village

I realize that bloggers are known to tabloidize, but calling Habitat complicit in murder by not approving Dick Shavers fast enough is beyond the pale. In fact, Dick Shavers was one of the success stories. He was approved after taking steps to fix his credit with resources that N.O. Habitat for Humanity provided to him and his family. As for his stepson being in a different district, I thought that the Recovery School District was open access? There's so much more wrong with this logic that it's not worth a full analysis. (In any event, what an appalling accusation, makes me sick to my stomach to think that neighbors of mine think that my and other Habitat folks' hard work is a negative thing, but I guess that's New Orleans.)

Thanks for listening. As New Orleans' _largest home-builder since Katrina_, and the only one in that category that is actually building homes targeted to lower-income folks, we have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

My comments: 1) Perhaps the reporter doesn't get Habitat.  I do.  You, obviously, don't get the name "Musicians' Village".  Once again, Habitat is soliciting donations for a place that houses musicians in name only.  I donated, other people donated because we thought our money was going to be used to target musicians who needed housing.  That is not the Habitat way, and I understand that.  It is, however, disingenuous and false advertising. 

2) Please don't cite wikipedia as a valid source.  If you do, I'll have the Colbert Nation go in there and change it.  Your own spokespeople are skewing the numbers by redefining what you call a musician.  My 1 year old now beats on pots and pans -- in the Habitat NOLA book, I guess that makes him a musician. 

3) "Dick Shavers was one of the success stories".  I can't believe you said that.  Let me print it again: "Dick Shavers was one of the success stories". 

4) I was wrong about the RSD, and I retracted and apologized for those comments.

5) You should certainly be ashamed of taking donations for a "Musicians Village" when you know that the money will not be targeting musicians.

Also, let's note that Habitat, in order to avoid further bad press, changed their website/flyers, so that their former poster boy (Glen Andrews) is no longer the poster boy.  Why?  Because he was denied admission to the Musicians Village.

Harry Connick, Jr and Branford Marsalis (of Connecticut and, I think, NYC) have had to counter some of this bad press.  Here's one attempt, but Harry still doesn't get it.

Guess what?  Nobody wants a giveaway program for musicians.  That's not the point, guys.

The point is we need to have a program to help New Orleans musicians, and the musicians village ain't it.

Here's another attempt, where both Harry and Branford defend their baby.  Spectacular article in Offbeat.  My comments in purple.

Jan Ramsey: It seems like you had a fantastic idea for this Musicians’ Village and it didn’t fit within the parameters of what Habitat for Humanity does, and the way they sell houses

Harry: We don’t find their rules to be unacceptable or inappropriate at all.  Of course, I grew up rich and stayed that way.

Branford: With respect to that, one of the things that I’m very happy about with the way Habitat is setting this up is that they’re helping us move away from that insulated environment that the musicians used to live in, and having them think in a way that’s more in line with the market realities of this country.

Alex Rawls: Do you think that the people who have contributed to the Musicians Village understood the whole program?

Their answer was a spin move worthy of Alan Iverson or Dick Cheney.

Rawls: Does it strike you as odd having a Musicians’ Village where musicians are, at least at this stage, the minority?

Branford dipped and dodged like Patches O'Houlihan, and offbeat found this gem:

It’s not obvious how the Fair Housing Act would prohibit an all-musician village. While that would certainly go against general notions of fairness, Section 804 (a) declares it unlawful to “refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer, or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.” Throughout the act, those are the conditions under which discrimination is illegal; occupation is not mentioned.

Now watch for the next line, where Branford and Harry catapult themselves into the land of the mook.

Rawls: I understand what you’re saying about the housing rules, but this has been pitched as “the Musicians’ Village.”

Marsalis: It’s a musicians’ village in a peripheral sense. You can’t find me a single piece of documentation that says, “We’re building homes only for musicians.”

Connick: The girl who starred with me in The Pajama Game, Kelli O’Hara, comes from Elk City, Oklahoma, but I don’t see any elk there, you know what I’m saying?  It’s a name; let’s be real.

What mooks.  You little rich kids.  You don't even live here.  What the hell do you care about preserving New Orleans music. You just don't get it.

Offbeat comment: True, but New Orleans musicians have a reason to think otherwise. That was certainly the tone of the initial message, so much so that none of the stories written about the Musicians’ Village printed in New Orleans mentioned that the village would not be reserved strictly for musicians. Only one Associated Press wire service story raised that issue; it quoted Jim Pate, executive director of New Orleans’ Habitat for Humanity, as saying, “Habitat cannot reserve houses for a specific group, and non-musicians would also live in the village.”

Offbeat gets it.  Harry and Branford don't.

Marsalis: If you look around the village and the musicians that are here now, none of them play the music that we play, not one of them. The ones that are qualified for homes, we couldn’t hire them to play in our bands. We’re not catering to any particular group, so the idea that any particular group feels they particularly deserve any more consideration then others is unfair.

Offbeat: That notion didn’t come from an undue sense of entitlement. Jim Pate told reporters that the Musicians’ Village “will provide the mentors and teachers for the next generation of New Orleans jazz and blues musicians. . . . The next generation will be living side by side by the old legends and the older masters who will teach them at the Ellis Marsalis Performance Center.”

Lies lies lies lies lies lies lies yeah.

Next, we have a comment to my complicity post from Ann Marie Wilkins of Wilkins Management, the manager of both Branford and Harry.

I have managed Branford and Harry for over twenty years and someone who read this blog asked me to help explain what is going on at the Village. For the past 10 or so years, we have been the largest supporters of Habitat in new Orleans. (The houses we built with Habitat pre-Katrina are still standing because they are elevated and built to withstand winds of 140MPH.) We believe in Habitat's model - empowering low-income families by giving them a hand-up, not a hand-out and the use of homeownership as a way of transforming lives. For middle-clas America, homeownership is the single largest source of wealth-creation and it works to improve the lives of generations to come.

When Habitat asked Branford and Harry to join in their efforts to rebuild New Orleans after the storm, they agreed to help but insisted that some of the houses be specifically reserved for Musicians - not something that Habitat had contemplated at all. At the time, Habitat was in the process of acquiring the 8 acre site that is now the Musicians' Village. Several families were already qualified for that site and the money for those homes was already being provided by the Baptist Church. Branford and Harry asked Habitat to designate that site as the Village since it is a contiguous five block site and would work well to house the center and surrounding houses for musicians. (Habitat is the largest homebuilder for low-income residents in New Orleans right now and is involved in building at several other sites across the city in areas that have no connection to this Village. They hope to build 1500 homes for low-income families.)

When it is completed, the Village will have 70 single family homes, and ten rental apartments for elderly musicians, plus the Ellis Marsalis Center (a performance/recording and teaching facility) and a little park for toddlers. (The money that we have raised for the Village is segregated in a separate account and Harry and Branford are commited to keep working until they raise enough to finish the project and endow the center - not there yet but they are working non-stop.) In the area immediately surrounding the Village in the Upper 9th, Habitat is in the process of acquiring more lots and will build many other homes, although these will be scattered single family homes, and Branford and Harry will continue to push to get as many musicians into those as well. By law, Habitat cannot discriminate in terms of the profession of it's homeowners, but we have a particular interest in making sure that musicians get into these homes.

As of this writing, 50 families have been approved for the Village and 30 of them are musicians. (This number includes the well deserving non-musician families who had qualified for this site way before the storm.) There are presently about 120 musicians going through the home-ownership application process, including several brass band musicians (since this is a category that this blog cares about). By law, Habitat cannot divulge the names of it's applicants or their status.

The application process is long and tedious, especially for a first- time homeowner applicant, as most Habitat applicants are. I am told that after the intial meeting, applicants are called by phone and are sent letters telling them how to qualify, how to work through the process, including how to get credit counseling. They are required to go to budgeting classes, credit classes, meet with lawyers etc. I have been advised that none of the people identified by name here so far were denied; they were simply re-drected to other resources that are available to help them get through this very first stage of the application process. Since many of these musicians have never done anything like this, I think they mistakenly believed that once they went to the Habitat office, they were going to be given a key to a new home (and some people in the New Orleans community think that's what should be happening and are very vocal about it, but that is simply not what Habitat does, and Branford and Harry do not support that model and have so stated publicly). Branford, Harry and Habitat have assembled lots of people to help, but each musician has to take some initiative and follow-up. (I work with musicians and I know that this is a particularly daunting part of the process and I have been told that many applicants have missed four, five, six appointments in a row.) I know that some readers of this blog have bought homes and you know that buying a home is not like renting an apartment; there is a LOT of paper-work. Habitat has built 200,000 homes around the world for low-income families and this is the process that every applicant goes through. Musicians cannot be excepted from this process and will not be; the process is designed to ensure that once an applicant completes the process, he/she can keep the home and not lose it to creditors. (The houses are sold for $75,000 and are valued at a significantly higher figure so there is equity and a wealth transfer immediately upon closing - something creditors love.)It simply makes no sense to give a house to someone who cannot (or will not) pay the $500 per month note (by comparison, I am told that a one-bedroom apartment in New Orleans now goes for close to $1,000 per month rent)and let it end up in the hands of a creditor in a few months. Habitat owes a duty to the donors and the tons of volunteers who rely on them to make sure that these homes go to deserving low-income home-owners and not to some creditor looking to flip the house and make a quick buck. The process is designed to teach the homeowner this simple fact - and that's why all homeowners are requred to go through this very difficult process and help build the home.

We are aware that many musicians do not want to be bothered with this process, and so this Village is not for everyone. Besides, the housing need in New Orleans is just overwhelming and this one project will not fix this great big problem. Habitat's experience in this arena shows that once a home owner qualifies, and he and his family actually hammer the nails and paint the rooms etc, he takes such pride in the home that he will not let it go to a creditor. (One ironic thing that Habitat has learned is that musicians have better credit profiles than most applicants since they generally can't get credit in the first place because of their cash existence!)

Habitat has made many accomodations to qualify musicians within the context of it's federal charter; for example, in lieu of tax returns or W-2's they are looking at gig calendars. They do not look at credit scores. Under the federal rules, at a minimum, they have to ensure that the homeowner has the inclination/ability to pay(as these are not free homes) and removes any debt that will attach to the home and may cause the musician to lose the house. In addition, last year Branford and Harry hired a New Orleanian with deep roots in the music community to help the musician applicants through the application process and to direct them to the many resources available to help them with credit issues. But none of this works unless the musician gets up and goes to the meetings, or puts in the time to help build the house. I have personally been told that since we are raising money for musicians, it is their money and we need to be handing out checks. This is just not going to happen. Habitat is chartered to build houses, qualify homeowners and that's all they can do under the law.

I hope this helps to explain what's going on in New Orleans at the Village. If you are able to, I urge you to visit New Orleans and go to the site. If you really want to know which musicians have qualified for homes, I encourage you to go down and volunteer and meet them because Habitat can't by law provide you with a list. That would be a violation of the homeowner's privacy.

We are extremely proud of what has been accomplished thus far. This is a capital and labor intensive program that takes time. But I am proud that Branford and Harry are actually doing something concrete to help a city they dearly love and some very happy families are living in these houses right now. These guys never envisioned that eighteen months after the storm much of New Orleans would still be in ruins or that a volunteer-driven, non-profit like Habitat would still be the largest homebuilder in the city! This Village is just a small start. Branford and Harry welcome and encourage others join in and help to right this enormous tragedy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Thank you for writing, Ann.  However, the problems I noted before are still problems now.  The whole raison d'etre for many donations was that it was the Musicians Village.  That is a misnomer, and misleading.  Above, you state that there will be apartments for elderly musicians.  How?  How can you discriminate based on profession for the apartments, when you don't for the houses?

People that are helping musicians are the Tipitina's musicians coop.  They have had several sessions on how to jump through the labyrinthian hoops of Habitat.  The New Orleans Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund is helping.

Right now, though, the best bet for New Orleans musicians is Sweet Home New Orleans. "Sweet Home New Orleans (SHNO) is a program designed to facilitate the return of displaced New Orleans musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and Social Aid & Pleasure Club members."

Well now, that's what we're talking about, isn't it.

I spoke with the members of the Hot8 brass band, and most of them applied and all who applied were rejected.  At last contact, one member thought he might be able to get in.

Another member now lives in Metairie, and expressed that he didn't want to live around musicians, knockin' on his door at 4:00 in the morning, back from a gig, ready to party.  ;^)

Supposedly, Habitat does have a place in the MV for Al Carnival Time Johnson.  Good.  I believe this is in one of the apartments, but I'm not positive.

They don't have room for a musician I am choosing not to name. Not a brass band player, but a unique New Orleans voice, who has appeared on many New Orleans recordings as a backup singer. He's been a sideman for 30+ years. I got acquainted with him through Antoinette K-Doe. Ms K-Doe stated that she has no need to apply for the MV, as she has a home and has her finances in order. This singer, who released an album the week of August 28, 2005, does not have the financial wherewithal to pass Habitat's rigorous standards, and has given up on them.

Guys like him are why I donated.

Once again, the neighborhoods where the musicians lived, the neighborhoods ruined by the federal flood, were very unique demographically. A majority of the people owned their own homes, yet over a third were under the poverty line, and 14% were unemployed. This numbers seem to contradict themselves, but can be explained by the fact that many extended families lived under the same roof.

Often the title for the house was in the name of a long-deceased relative. When several generations lived in the same house, this was not a big deal, really. As the families were scattered, it does become a big deal. I don't think Habitat has a plan for housing a family of 8, from age 82 to 8 months; but this was almost common in the 9th ward. For more on this, read this post. To go really in depth, read John Logan's report.

JoeJoeJoe thinks he may have found a solution. I think so, too.

I was reading your blog posts on Habitat housing and wanted to share something I saw online. There is a South African company that makes reusable plastic forms that can be cast as a simple home in one day. Finish work would obviously take longer but they are pretty nice homes to my eye. Here is an example from Aceh Province, Indonesia with costs and plans down to a fine level of detail.

I'm certain these homes could be built in the form of a modern shotgun home for very little money. If land values in New Orleans are prohibitive then Plaquemines Parish would be a good spot to build them
on less expensive land. The home cost $3,000 each in the Aceh project.

If you allow for 500% increase in cost for a better quality roof, finish, and a basic Japanese style instant on gas heater that is still only $15,000 or one-quarter the cost of a FEMA trailer. Because these homes are built (poured) with unskilled labor the costs should translate from the third world to the first world.

Here are a few pictures of other Moladi projects from their website.

I don't have any ties to this company - just a general interest in housing. They built thousands of Earthquake homes post-1906 San Francisco earthquake that were of such high quality that people use them today.

All of this foot dragging is unexectable and far less competent than modern Indonesia or San Francisco a century ago. I'd love to live in a concrete Shotgun Shack in New Orleans with a Japanese heater/water heater (no tank, instant on) and free dial up wireless. Paint the little homes a colorful pastel, throw a porch on the front when you can afford it and you can live well for a century. Concrete ain't goin' anywhere and you don't need flood insurance on a home that only cost you $15,000 grand tops.

It's just a thought. I hate the fact that so many people accept all these excuses for inaction. Like a cute Irish girl I know says "Bring it, don't sing it".

So, I'm thinking that something like this, with somebody like Sweet Home coordinating it, could be a true solution for the people that created and sustain the culture of New Orleans, and need a place to live in their home. I believe that a "rent-to-own" type scenario, where the musicians can rent a place now, and live there while their credit improves, and then convert to homeownership, is ideal.

A true Musicians' Village.

---

Update: Please read through all of the comments.

All I care about is getting housing for musicians.

Rather than believe the accusations of Mr Andy Lee, I asked Ms Reckdahl, the author of the Times-Picyune and Offbeat articles posted above, myself. I asked her to read through this post and the comments, and here is her reply:

After the Times-Picayune published my piece about the Musicians' Village in January, Andy Lee and the Habitat spin team sent a 20-page document to the editor of the Times-Picayune, filled with "factual errors" about the story. For instance, Habitat claimed that, contrary to Alfred Growe's and Dinerral Shavers' claim, there actually were more brass-band musicians in the Village. When asked for names to actually document that, they came up with one -- Troy Sawyer -- who plays straight-ahead jazz, not brass-band music. Most of their other claims were similarly ridiculous.

I've been a journalist for a long time. And I'll be honest, if someone really picks apart a lengthy story of mine, they can usually find some factual error. But Habitat didn't find ONE, not one, incorrect fact. And it wasn't for lack of attention -- my editors and I spent hours scrutinizing my piece and then going through the facts step by step, until I proved everything to their satisfaction.

Habitat disputes the numbers we published, which is crazy to me. I spent 45 minutes on the telephone with their spokeswoman trying to get "apples to apples" numbers, comparing musicians and nonmusicians in the Habitat process. Then Habitat decries the numbers THEY GAVE ME -- that out of 116 total families in the final stages of Habitat's process, 28 families -- about one in four -- were musicians. Now Habitat is saying that there are 120 "musicians in the pipeline." How is that possible, when the spokeswoman told me that, in 2006, New Orleans Area Habitat had 2000 applicants in 2006 and that 200 of them were from musicians, 28 of whom had become “partner-families”?

Where does the 120 come from? There needs to be some transparency here, some consistency in the numbers they're promoting. Plus Habitat's "numbers" are so difficult to get. I dare anyone to actually get clear numbers about how many musicians and non-musicians are in each stage of Habitat's process. Because that's the point -- musicians may apply and they may be "in the pipeline." But how many are making it to the final stages of homeownership?

Also, to my understanding, musicians have been signing a publicity waver when they get to those final stages, so I don't know why Habitat can't release all the names.

As far as my conflict of interest goes, I did date Kid Merv, a local jazz musician and when he applied to the Musicians' Village, he put me down as a co-applicant. We broke up in April 2006 and -- as I understood it -- he phoned them in subsequent months, telling them that he was applying on his own. (If that wasn't clear then, Andy Lee and another Habitat staffperson I had a discussion in September in which I made it clear that I was no longer an applicant.)

I did disclose that I had been an applicant to my Offbeat editor and to the Times-Picayune editors. They agreed separately that, since my then-boyfriend's application had made it past the initial credit stage that I was writing about, I had no ax to grind and thus there was no need to disclose my application. Think about it -- if I had passed the initial credit check, what would be my motivation to anger Habitat for Humanity?

In the end, in the interest of full disclosure, the Times-Picayune published a clarification (not a correction) that I had indeed disclosed my status as an applicant within my Musicians' Village story and that they had decided not to disclose it. I believe that Offbeat is about to publish a similar clarification. I support both of those clarifications.

So, to get a better handle on what's going on with the "Musicians' Village", read through all the comments, and make your own informed opinion.

Comments

[senior]

This is a fucking fantastic post.

The irony is just killing me, though, because I went to read your blog right after I finished writing the section of my thesis on how to retain "cultural workers" in the city. And now I'm going to have to go back and revise!

[newsreader]

So here we have a group of people, who wanted to bring musicians back to where they came from. They wanted to call it a "Musicians Village" because the whole idea was to bring musicians back. Look at this: You choose an American award winning organization with over a million houses built worldwide, to help you bring the musicians back. You promote it the best you can. Then it turns out that a number of musicians get turned down. So you bend the Habitat rules, to accept more musicians. Still there are musicians who are let down. So you hire someone to help out with the person's credit issues. (Musicians who are interested in getting information about help with credit or other issues can contact Harris at 670-9018. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2007-01-16/news_feat.php). From before you have the habitat hotline (504) 861-2059). And you suggest musicians with credit issues, call the numbers to get help with their credit report issues and apply again.

It is not as if people give money to the Musician's Village, it takes away money from other organizations, or is this your fear? There are other great organizations out there, as you mention. And also at the same time, it is not as if you give money to those organizations, it takes money away from the Musicians Village. Get the organizations to work side by side together, instead of trying your best to push one in to the gutter.

[Vicky]

Thanks, Ashley, for keeping this issue in front of people. It is SO important that we keep the culture of NOLA alive.

[Marcia]

Senior is right; this is a fantastic post. As always, Ashley, thanks for keeping us informed of the real story.

[newsreader]

Sorry, the link is http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2007-01-16/news_feat.php Now as I said Ashley Morris, it's not as if people give money to the Musician's Village, it takes away money from other organizations, or is it this your fear? There are other great organizations out there, as you mention. And also at the same time, it is not as if you give money to those organizations, it takes money away from the Musicians Village. Get the organizations to work side by side together, instead of trying your best to push one in to the gutter.

[Aaron]

There is no FEAR newsreader, there is a sense of BEING LIED TO. The promoters of the MV LIED TO EVERYONE by saying the musician's village was for MUSICIANS. We want to help out the MUSICIANS. Everyone else is being helped out, and we don't begrudge them the help, but musicians in particular NEED help in this of all cities.

We're not trying or even facilitating in pushing any organization in the gutter, we're just trying to help the musicians.

BY-THE-WAY, you CAN discriminate against non-musicians. You can have it big and bold on the application forms that the village is for musicians only as well as what the qualifying criteria are for being a musician. It is 100% legal. Non-musicians are not a protected group of people by any law passed by congress or the legislature of any state.

You are obviously reading but not comprehending what Ashley has written.

[jeffrey]

It would have been a far far better idea to rebuild the actual communities that spawned the unique New Orleans musical culture in the first place. Even if it was exactly what it advertised itself to be, a "musicians' village" is ultimately an intolerable alien artifice.

As it is, it's still an abhorrent exercise in dishonesty.

[Aaron]

To rebuild the actual communities would take another 300 years to get them genuine. Think of an HONEST musician's village as a starter kit to the real thing.

[ashley]

To echo Aaron's remarks, all of us in New Orleans are thankful for the work Habitat has done in building low-income housing. It's needed.

We also need to get housing specifically for musicians and those that keep New Orleans culture alive. Habitat is not doing that, so somebody needs to be doing it.

[Carmen]

I'm with Jeffrey for a change. Why not bring back Storyville? That was part of our unique culture. Might benefit those under stress and duress too. Hookers need a place to live, yo.

I know a bunch of musicians were helping gut and build one another's homes early on. But here's a list of resources for donations:

http://www.nomhrf.org/3/resources.php

And I do appreciate Habitat, yo. Though not the Disneyfied concept put forth by two "musicians" (which is why I figured the name couldn't be a quibble).

[KamaAina]

I played trumpet in fourth grade band for a few weeks. Since that makes me a musician, can I come back, too?

Here is another prefab housing system, developed by a professor here at UH.

http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/CD3WD/CONSTRUC/SK01AE/B42_11.HTM#B42_11_5

"Resistance to hurricane: Very good." And with concrete, you can mix the pastel colors right in, and use forms to impress detail into the wet slabs before assembly, so it doesn't look like, you know, Houston or something.

Perhaps a more inclusive "Cultural Village", with chefs and others joining musicians, would run into fewer of these problems. All kinds of models are out there: rent-to-own, that I plugged weeks ago, mutual housing, that seems to exist everywhere but N.O., and so on.

"I urge you to visit New Orleans and go to the site"?! What a mook. Myabe once you resume teaching, you could go from the airport directly to the site and "visit" it.

[newsreader]

I'm sure if they had refused non-musicians to live there, it would be even bigger complaints about it. I understand what you're trying to say, that it's fake because there live both musicians and non musicians there and the name should be Village New Orleans or whatever, but I don't agree with it. Both habitat and the musicstars are trying to get musicians to apply, and you have the center for music there, and they bend the habitat rules and hire help especially to help musicians with credit trouble, and the whole idea and concept of the village is music. The Musicians Village, is the core site, so any musician who gets through the credit report issues, would probably get a house in one of the 1500 habitat houses planned in the surrounding area. The reason for the credit check, is to make sure people don't come to collect the house to pay for the debt. And it is different from renting a house, it would be cool if other organizations made offers of renting with low rent, as the rent in New Orleans now is super high. However, with habitat, the person gets to own the home. The way it works is almost the same as renting the house before they get to own it, but if that was how it worked, they would still have to work out their credit issues, so nobody came to take the house to pay for debt. I'm sure habitat has done this for many years and know which solution usually works out.

[ashley]

Newsreader, follow my links. The forest seems to be blocking your view of the trees.

And next time, leave a real email address or risk being banned.

Oh, and Carmen, you follow the links as well. There's no need for you to post a link that I put in the post.

[Carmen]

Ashley, I didn't get the resources page from your links in this post, only the index one. Maybe you had that in the earlier post?

You know how people get overwhelmed and just want the quick list.

Anyhow, the major issue here is that Habitat is trying to get *renters* into housing as *owners*, and that takes time and processing, learning the credit rituals, and Habitat is coordinating help somewhat more efficiently than, say, the Road Home people.

Shavers' death is an atrocity regarding crime factions. No one can guarantee there won't be crime in the Village.

[Aaron]

Both "newsreader" and carmen need to go back and READ the post. You are both arguing against points Ashley didn't make. We like habitat, it's a good thing. It is not musician's village. Reserve the houses in musicians village for MUSICIANS only. ONLY. Until the musicians apply, the houses remain empty - i.e., NO ONE ELSE CAN LIVE THERE EXCEPT FOR MUSICIANS. And as for the definition of what a musician "is" is part of the criticism we have with the musicians village idea - we want ACTUAL musicians who practice music as a vocation to be living there.

Please, just go back and READ the post, the WHOLE POST. You both are obviously missing pertinent parts and supplying your own facts which Ashley does not mention.

[Sophmom]

Yeah. You right, Ashley. It was long, and chock full o' interesting. Thanks. Many points made.

[Andy Lee]

Ashley, I've read your post, all of it (and all of the comments), and since you quote me and criticize my comments, I'll respond. I have intimate knowledge about the Village as I was there from the start, helped Habitat acquire the land, and have volunteered many hours to see it come to fruition. And since you have a problem with outsiders being involved, I'll tell you that I live here -- in New Orleans -- and I flooded, roof damage, etc. etc. Among other things, I volunteer for selfish reasons -- it makes me feel good to help people less fortunate than me. More importantly, it is my personal belief that every family in this city is just as deserving as me of having a simple and decent home, so I help out because every family -- musician or not -- served by Habitat genuinely NEEDS this. And when it happens for them, it's a deeply spiritual experience. (At the same time, Habitat isn't the only answer, and cannot solve the whole problem, and the work of other housing-oriented organizations is absolutely essential.)

1) You say that you "have a problem with Habitat calling this a musicians' village, when that's just an inaccurate name used to get contributions...." This is a recurring theme, but let's start with a fact: The core 8-acre site of the Musicians Village will, in fact, include over 70% musician-headed families. It's not finished yet, and I guess my request that people give it a chance because it's not finished was lost on you. You say: "The musicians' village gives no preference to musicians, as dictated by Habitat for Humanity's guidelines." This isn't true; although the message about Fair Housing has been inconsistent, the reason for integrating 26% deserving, qualifying families that aren't "musician-headed" is not based on a misapprehension of fair housing laws. For one thing, you should be aware that the 30 of the first 35 houses built were not built with restricted funds, i.e., funds earmarked for musicians, but were built with a large grant from Baptist Crossroads Foundation, whose only preference was that deserving families own the homes.

Is "Jazz Fest" all jazz? Do you buy tickets to Jazz Fest because you expect to hear only jazz? If so, have you gotten your refund from Jazz Fest yet? If not, at least you'll admit that, by your logic, Jazz Fest is guilty of false advertising and disingenuity? (Before you tell me that it started out as pure jazz, perhaps you should think about that famous picture of Mahalia Jackson singing gospel in Congo Square.)

2) You take from the Times-Pic article a Habitat spokeswoman's comment about "playing the flute" to mean that she thereby qualified out of context. That's not even how she was quoted, and she WAS misquoted. There are NO musicians in the 70% number, above, that are not "actual" musicians. None. (Perhaps your readers don't know this, but the Times-Pic article that you rely on has been officially corrected to disclose that the reporter had a conflict of interest that was not disclosed, i.e., that she was a Habitat home applicant herself, with her one-time musician boyfriend. The correction disclosed that her "domestic arrangements" subsequently changed. There were many, many quotes taken out of context, many negative themes that were transparent, in that article. Oh yeah, they also tried to correct the inaccurate numbers they reported. Surprisingly, unlike the NY Times and other reputable papers, the T-P doesn't attach the correction to the online article.)

3) You say you have no problem with Habitat's guidelines, yet you say that certain musicians MUST get in. I don't know what musician you're referring to -- I respect the fact that you didn't mention him by name -- but you say this about him -- he "does not have the financial werewithal to pass Habitat's rigorous standards, and has given up on them." Then you say: "Guys like him are why I donated." In the same post you say "I have no problem with Habitat's guidelines." Which is it? And, did this gentleman apply? What "rigorous standards" are deterring him? Habitat hits the lowest income group of ANY nonprofit home-ownership group that I am aware of. Income and good (or no) credit, though, are essential to anyone who plans to be a homeowner, because home-ownership means paying a mortgage.

With an understanding of the guidelines, you will be able to "get" that some musicians simply will not qualify. Habitat is not a traditional program -- it builds solid, wood, permanent houses, with 30-foot pilings and 140-mph roof trusses, all with volunteer labor. The houses are called "simple and decent," but many of our homeowners call them 1100-sq-foot "mansions." Habitat sells these houses at no profit charging no interest, as a manifestation of Christian belief in action. It is time-tested, and it works. But not all applicants get through the process -- traditionally only 1 in 10 make it through, for various reasons. Because of the extra efforts that Habitat has gone to in the past two years, that ratio has gone up, especially among musicians (where the ratio is much higher). As I said in my "post" on Adrastos' blog, Habitat is not a giveaway program. The Chinese proverb applies here: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Tangible evidence of this: I went to a Habitat "home dedication" yesterday in Hollygrove -- a celebration of the "passing of the keys" to a new Habitat home. (This was not in the Musicians Village and not for a musician, but several musician applicants were there.) The homeowner lost everything in the Lower 9th Ward. She hugged every one of the 50+ people there. She is a proud woman, and she stood side-by-side with the people -- both from here and elsewhere -- who helped her build her house. This is what I was talking about when I referred to the Habitat mission of "empowering families to transform their own lives." The despair and destruction of the flood has been transformed into a new life and renewed hope.

This experience will be repeated many times over in the coming months. Everyone is welcome to join us in helping to build, and in celebrating, these new homeowners who are helping New Orleans recover.

4) You say "I donated, other people donated because we thought our money was going to be used to target musicians who needed housing." Well, it is. Although I am not on the Habitat staff (I'm a board member), I understand that the latest count is this: 120 musicians are in the program (not all will complete it), over 50 are assigned addresses in the "village," and the Musicians Village 8-acre "core site" will include over 74% musicians, at least. And these are people who make a living as musicians (or attempt to) -- not casual floutists. There is no trickery here. As I said elsewhere, I have worked with several applicants to clear credit, and many other volunteers are involved in this process. (The folks I've assisted are people whose names you would know: tuba player, trumpet player, drummer, bassist, etc.)

*(As I point out above, only a few of the first 30 homes on the "core site" were built with musician-dedicated funds, although almost half of them are musician-owned.)

Since you feel so strongly (and, let's not forget, you accused Habitat for complicity in Dinnereal Shavers' murder, although you've now backed away from the logic that led to this claim) that these statements are all "lies, lies, lies," etc., I'll make sure that Habitat returns your contribution. Help me make this happen by sending me an e-mail that specifies the amount you donated and the approximate date of the donation, and I'll see to it that your money is returned.

While you withdraw your support, you roundly criticize people like Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis for not living here any more, but nonetheless supporting the cause with time and great effort. This is something that I really DON'T get. Harry and Branford have quietly supported Habitat and this city for years. After the storm, they came up with this idea, and have raised money to build the M.V. and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. Based on your misunderstandings and rejection of their explanations, you flippantly refer to them as liars, "little rich kids," "mooks," and, compare them to Dick Cheney. Try to step back from your attacks on their success and see if you can at least agree that we need favorite sons like Branford and Harry to stand with us as we try and recover. Don't we?

5) You are right, the Tips musicians coop is helping musicians -- and in fact has helped the ones that have the desire to apply for Habitat homes, as is the NOMHRF and Sweet Home New Orleans (a coalition that Habitat is a part of). Thanks for mentioning these fine organizations -- everybody needs to pitch in, as the challenge is vast.

Ashley and others, thanks for reading this and please read my op-ed if you want another perspective. It is here: http://legallee.typepad.com/noahhohd/2007/01/habitat_shows_m.html

And anyone is welcome to e-mail me if you want more info or have questions about the Musicians Village. I'll even take you there or meet you there to let you judge whether it's "true to its name" first-hand. Above all things, I ask that you keep an open mind and a positive outlook -- we have far too little of those these days.

[ashley]

Thank you for writing, Andy.

As I said at the top of the post, I have only 2 issues here: 1) the name “Musicians’ Village’ is inaccurate, and being used to disingenuously solicit contributions; 2) we need some program to help musicians come here and stay here.

Habitat is doing a wonderful job at building homes for those that need them here in New Orleans. When people in Chicago asked me what they could do, I told them all to donate to Habitat. There were no administrative abnormalities like with Red Cross, and the money truly reaches New Orleanians that need it.

Your quote that you think I “have a problem with outsiders being involved” is inaccurate. I have no problem with anyone being involved when it comes to building houses. The reason I mentioned that Mr Marsalis and Mr Connick do not live here is because I do not really think they understand the current state of affairs in regards to being a musician in New Orleans at the present.

I understand that it feels good to help those less fortunate. A psychology professor of mine once said that there is no such thing as altruism. We only do things that help ourselves. I asked him what about Mother Teresa, and he replied that he believes she does what she does (she was alive at the time) solely because it made her feel better. We argued for quite a while, but I let it go because I knew that it would affect my grade if I argued more. In any case, thank you for your work.

1) I do have a problem with the name “Musicians’ Village”. I do believe that when people donate to something called “Musicians’ Village”, they think their money will be used to house musicians who play not just music, but New Orleans music. Personally, I’m happy with Fredy Omar living there, even though he doesn’t play traditional New Orleans music. Perhaps some contributors are not; I don’t know.

I also keep hearing that “it isn’t finished yet, wait and see”. I hear this from you, I hear it from Ann Marie Wilkins, I hear it from Harry and Branford. I’m not waiting. I feel this is an important issue, and should be addressed right now. If we wait, more musicians may leave New Orleans, or may never come back.

In your point #1, you mention that my statement “The musicians' village gives no preference to musicians, as dictated by Habitat for Humanity's guidelines” is not true. If it is not, then my original thesis is still valid: why aren’t there more musicians in the MV?

“Is Jazz Fest all jazz?” Well, it should be – all Jazz and heritage. (Yes, I consider gospel to be heritage.) I don’t know why in hell Quint brings in people like Rod Stewart, New Edition, and Phish. Oh yeah, wait, I do: money. That’s why I used to only go on Thursday: so I could see good music without dealing with these headliners that shouldn’t even be playing. But your defense and bringing up Jazz Fest is identical to Harry’s strawman argument of Elk City, Oklahoma, and both of you are just stone cold wrong. This logic is why people like me feel cheated.

2) Can you please find the correction for me? I don’t doubt that the TP may have misquoted someone, but one must admit that the quote " If I play the flute at home, but I do PR for my job, I can call myself a musician" is a bit damning, no?

3) “You say you have no problem with Habitat's guidelines, yet you say that certain musicians MUST get in.” This is because, from all I have read, Habitat can not and will not reserve homes for musicians. The musician in question should be in any place called a Musicians' Village, otherwise, you should be more honest with the public and just call it Connickville or Marsalisland. Hell, just call it “The Village”, but don’t mislead people by calling it a Musicians’ Village.

You seem to really be missing my point, which is this: I have no problem with Habitat’s guidelines for housing in general. However, by calling this a Musicians’ Village, musicians should get housed. You are NOT doing that. Get it? Habitat’s guidelines are great for typical Habitat developments. I have no problem with Habitat’s guidelines for typical Habitat developments.

But this isn’t typical. With the misnomer "Musicians' Village", Habitat is capitalizing off the musicians of New Orleans, and the sympathy of the contributors in order to build housing for non-musicians. That’s disingenuous and wrong. Just wrong.

As I mentioned in my post: I don’t think anyone is asking for a handout for musicians. I just want a place for them to live, and if Habitat isn’t it, which it does not seem to be, then let’s not whine about it, but let’s find a place for them. I will whine about Habitat trumpeting a Musicians’ Village, where flute-playing PR people live.

4) I don’t argue with your numbers here, but since your spokesperson has redefined the term musician, I have to look at them with skepticism.

My first-hand interviews with New Orleans musicians who have been in the application process leads me to believe that the musicians there do not play New Orleans music. If I’m wrong, and I hope I am, then God be praised.

Once again, you need to really read what I was saying. The statement I claimed to be a lie was this one from the Offbeat interview: “That notion didn’t come from an undue sense of entitlement. Jim Pate told reporters that the Musicians’ Village “will provide the mentors and teachers for the next generation of New Orleans jazz and blues musicians. . . . The next generation will be living side by side by the old legends and the older masters who will teach them at the Ellis Marsalis Performance Center.”” From the numbers I’ve seen, from what I’ve read, from the musicians I’ve talked to, I do not see this happening. Like I said, I hope I’m wrong.

No, don’t send my contribution back. Don’t send back the contributions I solicited in Chicago. Don't send back the contributions I helped raise at my place of employment. Once again, read what I said: the MV needs to be for New Orleans musicians, or you need to rename it.

I do believe that Mr Connick and Mr Marsalis do not get a grasp of the challenges facing current New Orleans musicians. Many of those musicians who lived in the Treme or the 9th either lived in rentals that were extremely affordable, or in housing that their families had lived in for years. Now their homes, the only ones they have ever known, have been washed away. There’s no way any road home money or any other program is going to replace the home they’ve lost.

Now, suddenly, Mr Connick and Mr Marsalis are expecting these people to “follow rules”, to “move away from that insulated environment that the musicians used to live in, and having them think in a way that’s more in line with the market realities of this country”.

Why is this important? Why do these people need to be “taught a lesson” in market-based economics?

My point was that Harry, certainly, never had to worry about where he was going to sleep at night, his NYC YMCA story notwithstanding.

My comparison to Dick Cheney, my classification of them as mooks, directly comes from the statements made by Connick and Marsalis in the Offbeat interview.

You have to admit, when asked about contributors being misled by being sold a bill of goods labeled “Musicians’ Village”, the response “It’s a musicians’ village in a peripheral sense. You can’t find me a single piece of documentation that says, “We’re building homes only for musicians.”” is an amazing way to spin it.

Or maybe you don’t. And therein lies the problem.

Change the name to “Musicians’ Village in a Peripheral Sense”. Change it to Elk City for all I care. Don’t call it Musicians’ Village.

5) I’ve been working with the Tip’s musicians’ co-op, and I’m meeting with people from Sweet Home New Orleans. FYI, Habitat does not appear as a partner on the Sweet Home website. I hope you can see that I’m not just writing this, I am truly trying to find a solution to help New Orleans musicians.

Sadly, it doesn’t look like it’s Habitat.

[Ray M]

A quick Google search would tell you that bassist Chuck Badie, an classic Crescent City Soul session player, was one of the first residents granted keys to an MV home.

[Ray M]

And it was *always* best to spread your money around, to not give to any one organization--I've given to the NOMHRF (heavily involved in Sweet Home) for a while now, on par with Habitat. Had you not known about them? If not, why?

The rush to give everything to Habitat for Humanity recalled the rush to give everything to the Red Cross after 9-11. That can't be a good thing.

Meanwhile, I don't see what's wrong with an organization helping to improve the credit and money management skills of musicians or anyone else. If Katrina proved anything, it's that no one, including musicians (a significant number of whom did not evacuate), can depend on the federal govt. in a pinch--might as well be prepared for anything.

Musicians could, at the same time, use that to become more independent in a recording market increasingly geared toward it (about 15 percent of Apple's iTunes sales come from companies and individuals not associated with major labels), would not sign worthless contracts or at least think twice about it, etc. It would appear that Sweet Home has some of that in mind as well, as a look at the website of the partners listed, Neighborhood Housing Services, demonstrates.

http://www.nhsnola.org/

[Andy Lee]

Ray, you're right about Chuck "Nine" Badie, who lost everything when his home in the lower 9th was washed away, and now owns one of the first 35 houses constructed (30 of which were with non-MV money, a point I made earlier, that was lost on the last comment from Ashley). Mr. Badie’s is an incredible story. He's pushing 83 years old, I think, and he rejected Habitat’s offer to satisfy his sweat-equity requirement by putting together gigs at the site, saying that he wanted to build. He helped lay the foundation of his own house.

And, Ray, you’re also right that Habitat can't do it all, and never claimed to have that ability. Far from it. Habitat’s push is limited to home-ownership solutions (and of course it can’t get ALL of the qualifying musicians into homes, either – that’s why there are great organizations like nhsnola.org and others). Not all musicians are ready for home-ownership. It's that simple, and that's the message Harry and Branford were trying to convey. Ashley’s response that they are "little rich kids" who don't know what it's like to be musicians in this environment is wrongheaded and just plain misses the mark. (And how he thinks the Connicks and Marsalises grew up “rich” – one had parents who were lifelong public servants and the other was a jazz musician – is beyond me.) I’m pretty confident that the 120+ musicians in the advanced stages of the Habitat application process would also take issue with any suggestion that they’re incapable of keeping a budget or holding a mortgage. And Habitat ALWAYS said that to own a home, you have to QUALIFY – Ashley suggests that requiring musician applicants to QUALIFY was a bait-switch move. Interesting.

Forget spin -- I don't much care about what has been written or how one or another reporter wishes to "spin" things. The reality is in the numbers that I gave here (including that 30 of the first 35 houses were built with non-restricted funds from the Baptists, and that half of those 35 are owned by the musicians who completed the application process and their sweat-equity obligation the fastest). Of 71 homes to be built at the “core site,” 70%-plus will be musician-headed; another 10 duplexes = all musicians. We know this and it will be done. The remaining 26% are deserving families, by the way (who DON’T deserve Ashley’s suggestions that they aren’t), to be there. Their kids will benefit from growing up next to Nine Badie. You and Offbeat claim that the MV was supposed to be 100% musicians, and that’s why you donated. As someone who was there from the start, I can tell you that’s just not true. See this article, for instance, by Branford, in Billboard, published April 2006, around the time that Habitat broke ground: http://www.habitat-nola.org/aboutus/news.php?ID=37
Excerpt:

“The Musicians' Village is not intended to be exclusively for musicians, however, and an important aspect of its design is that musicians will be in a true community, enjoying the kind of person-to-person, neighbor-to-neighbor relationships that have sustained such New Orleans traditions as the marching band.”

Of course you can choose to disbelieve my facts based on the rumors that you have heard. But don’t call us liars based on your rumors – the musician homeowners are real people (and real musicians). And I really don’t see what good it does to impugn Harry and Branford, who are showcasing New Orleans around the world and accomplishing more by inviting their audiences to visit New Orleans to volunteer and to spend money here, than we less-talented, less-famous people could ever hope to do. Lucky for us, your unfairly calling them liars isn’t going to stop their support.

For anyone else who would like to see first-hand the reality of what is going on, feel free to contact me. I get nothing out of this other than the satisfaction that needy families are being served by the efforts of over 25,000 volunteers (and counting) and an extremely hard-working staff that is bringing Habitat's mission to this needy city (and has been for 25 years), including many of its musicians.

[ashley]

Andy, Ray, thanks for writing.

Let me respond to some of Andy’s statements.

“I’m pretty confident that the 120+ musicians in the advanced stages of the Habitat application process would also take issue with any suggestion that they’re incapable of keeping a budget or holding a mortgage. And Habitat ALWAYS said that to own a home, you have to QUALIFY – Ashley suggests that requiring musician applicants to QUALIFY was a bait-switch move. Interesting.”

Can you point to any statement that suggests that they’re incapable of keeping a budget or holding a mortgage? I don’t see anything I’ve said that suggests that. The reporter in the T-P story may have alluded to that, but I most certainly did not.

I also did not suggest that requiring musician applicants to qualify was a bait and switch move. I really do not see how you’re getting this from what I’ve written.

“The remaining 26% are deserving families, by the way (who DON’T deserve Ashley’s suggestions that they aren’t), to be there.”

Where did you get this? Now you’re just trying to make me look bad. Where did I say this? I didn’t. I said what a great job Habitat is doing creating homes for deserving New Orleanians. Why don’t you put your anger on hold for a while, and re-read what I actually wrote, as opposed to what you imagined.

“You and Offbeat claim that the MV was supposed to be 100% musicians, and that’s why you donated. As someone who was there from the start, I can tell you that’s just not true.”

The article you cited does indeed make your point that this project is not intended to be exclusively for musicians. I wonder how many donors have read that before they donated.

Here’s what Offbeat had to say: “That was certainly the tone of the initial message, so much so that none of the stories written about the Musicians’ Village printed in New Orleans mentioned that the village would not be reserved strictly for musicians.”

And you can’t tell me that this is not a patronizing comment from Mr. Connick: “The girl who starred with me in The Pajama Game, Kelli O’Hara, comes from Elk City, Oklahoma, but I don’t see any elk there, you know what I’m saying?”

My point the whole time is that something named the Musicians’ Village should be for musicians.

As far as your comment about me calling people liars, that comes from this quote from Mr. Marsalis, followed by this quote from Jim Pate:

Marsalis: “if you look around the village and the musicians that are here now, none of them play the music that we play, not one of them. The ones that are qualified for homes, we couldn’t hire them to play in our bands.”

Pate: the Musicians’ Village “will provide the mentors and teachers for the next generation of New Orleans jazz and blues musicians.”

From these statements, it appears that these statements are in conflict, and one of those two people is not telling the truth. You decide.

Like I said in my prior response to your comment: if my sources, which I have fully documented, are incorrect in any way (such as the T-P article I referenced), then please, show me documented evidence where I’m wrong, and I will be happy to correct it. As an attorney, I know that your job is to make your opponent look bad, but please document something I have stated that is factually incorrect.

Please don’t point to a wikipedia article as documentation.

In summation, this is not an attack on you, Mr. Lee. It appears that you are treating it as such.

Again, I have 2 points: 1) from the documentation I have seen, very few people who play New Orleans music have been accepted into the Musicians Village. Therefore, soliciting contributions to something named the Musicians Village, when musicians are not the core group to be living there, is disingenuous. 2) Something must be done to preserve the culture and music of New Orleans. Finding homes for these musicians is important, and we need to find ways to do it, as the current documentation suggests that the Musicians Village is not it.

[Aaron]

They're not reading what you're writing, Ashley. An information campaign has been launched with talking points which will be adhered to and anything outside those talking points will be ignored. The straw-man argumentative method is very effective on the majority of the populace and I see it in use today.

In case one of the HFH mouthpieces wants to ACTUALLY respond, answer these two questions and ONLY these two questions:

(1) Is there any reason that the MV can not be ONLY for musicians?

(2) Is HFH reserving specific homes for musicians only?

Answer YES or NO, followed by an explanation. Karl Rove spin is not welcome here.

[Andy Lee]

Aaron, Ashley, ok, this is taking a lot of time -- I hope it's worth it. I have no interest in making either of you "look bad," and yes, I'm capable of reading (and have read) everything that you've written. I'm only interested in responding to blatantly false and unwarranted statements that do violence to the efforts of many, many people working and volunteering for a fine organization whose interests are pure, whose record is clean, and whose delivery has been stellar. I've read everything you've written. I can point you to where you used choice words to describe Habitat and its supporters, but what's the point? You can read, too. (One quick reminder -- your first post on this subject fingered Habitat for "complicity" in the murder of Dinerral Shavers.)

Aaron's questions are fair ones: 1) Is there any reason that the MV cannot be ONLY for musicians?

Yes, several.
1- That's not how it was envisioned OR advertised. 2- Deserving families qualified for homes well ahead of musicians, and they were needy. I know them -- one family was living in a car, and they worked so hard to make this happen for themselves, that (a) they bought in, and (b) we didn't make a rule that excluded them because we didn't anticipate that people would try to revise history about Habitat's announced plans.
3- Putting non-musicians in the same neighborhood has great benefits -- see below.

To wit, your false advertising / spin / lying accusations are based on this Offbeat claim: “[Including ONLY musicians] was certainly the tone of the initial message, so much so that none of the stories written about the Musicians’ Village printed in New Orleans mentioned that the village would not be reserved strictly for musicians.”

You'd think that a statement like this would be supportable. I've already cited the Billboard piece, from April 2006. Ashley may be right that many contributors might not have read that. Okay.

But what about these sources (neither are from Wikipedia, which I wouldn't reject outright if it's sourced correctly)?

Times-Picayune, front page of Metro, Jan. 6, 2006 (before Habitat even owned the land, much less had began raising money in earnest):
“Some of the musicians who live in the village will donate their time to young students who are interested in learning New Orleans music in the New Orleans way, Branford Marsalis has said. _The musicians village will be inhabited by nonmusicians as well, Pate said. The mix has not been determined._”

Seems pretty clear to me, and no, Habitat didn't write that. (The T-P got something right.)

And this, in Gambit on April 25, 2006:
“_Although non-musicians are eligible to live in Musicians Village_, Habitat New Orleans is targeting most of its outreach at that community via the Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, the Tipitina's Foundation and Habitat affiliates in areas that took in large numbers of evacuees.”

Also pretty clear. So there are two articles "printed in New Orleans" that sat the record straight from the start. You guys and Offbeat have the record all twisted, not sure why.

74% musician families (in the core site) is the result of these efforts. That's well more than "most" in my book. And my "other 26% deserve it too" comment, above, responds to Aaron's demand that "only musicians" should live there. The rationale for mixing the community so that kids of non-musician-headed, qualifying families can get the musical fire makes sense to me, and that was part of the original vision. Even Ashley pointed out that one of his Hot-8 contacts declined to apply because there were, in essence, too many musicians, and they'd wake him up in the middle of the night!

"Very few people who play New Orleans music" are there -- Ashley said it -- is a premature indictment, and it's also wrong. I can assure you that there are people that fit this description -- see A FEW OF the actual homeowners who do in the pictures on my link -- and there are many, many more in the works. (The application / sweat equity process does take time, and I'm not at liberty to identify to you what applicants are close to qualifying for home-ownership through Habitat. That's not a cop-out, just a fact.) As for your view that Branford's comment conflicts with Jim Pate's, (a) I can't be sure that Offbeat didn't get this quote wrong, too, and (b) if it didn't, I can only guess at what Branford meant or whom he had met by the time he did this interview, and I'm not going to do that, Offbeat's editorializing notwithstanding.

As for Aaron's second question -- Is HFH reserving specific homes for musicians only? -- the answer is a resounding YES. The final number will be nearly 3/4 musician-headed families in the core site, with as many of the other musician applicants in the surrounding neighborhood as possible. This depends on musicians, like all of our other applicants, meeting the criteria. With folks bending over backwards to help them, many -- but probably not all -- will succeed.

Finally, I will tell you, Ashley, that Habitat, and I, want to make sure that you receive your donation back. You should only support organizations that you believe in, and you've stated that you feel wronged, lied to, etc. There are other excellent organizations out there where you should direct your resources. While we will endeavor to show you and others that we're not at all about deception, in the meantime, we need to get your money back to you -- when did you make your donation, and how? Check? Online? (The reason I ask this is that N.O. Habitat, despite best efforts made at my request today, does not have a record of a donation coming from you, and I want to make sure that we get it back to you asap.) Thanks, guys.

[Schroeder]

Where's the "printer-friendly" format button?

Great, great post. I think I'll have that port and cigar now to ponder the ramifications.