Mayor Ray Nagin’s plan to proceed with the redevelopment of the Iberville Housing Development, an effort he said would “transform” public housing, marks a kind of final chapter for yet another housing project devastated by Katrina.

In his last annual State of the City address, delivered on May 20, Nagin noted that Iberville’s redevelopment would not be a “total demolition.” Plans call for larger apartments, enhanced landscaping and a regular street grid.

“I believe it’s all for the good for what the project has been through for Katrina,” said Lester Jackson, 62, a lifelong Iberville resident.

Maggie Merrill, mayoral policy director for the city of New Orleans, said much planning for the site remained, including the number of units. “There is no master plan yet, and because of the quality of life issues that are there, we want to help improve it,” she said. Merrill said it is uncertain when groundbreaking will begin on Iberville and that it will largely depend on the financing available for the project.

In December 2007, Nagin approved the demolition of three of the four housing projects in New Orleans: Saint Bernard, C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper, followed by Lafitte in early 2008.

For the Iberville project, the city will seek to have community input. A resident advisory committee will work with designers to create a master plan for the community, Nagin said in his address.

Merrill said the committee is being formed to make sure the needs and wants of the community are being met.

“A lot of times residents know better about what needs to be done than the people from the outside,” Merrill said.

Located next to the French Quarter, the Iberville neighborhood is steeped in culture that dates to the late 19^th century, when it was called Storyville. As a famous jazz district in the early 1900s, the area was known for its restaurants and clubs; in the 1940s it became a site for public housing.

Currently, there are 629 units in the Iberville housing development. Wayne Woods, chairman of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency, said that there has been no discussion on whether the community will be mixed-income.

However, in his address, Nagin said the goal is to move toward mixed-income housing, which allows people with different income levels to reside in one area.

Such arrangements can have both a positive and negative impact on a community, with an integrated economy as one of the biggest pluses, said Stephen Filmanowicz, communications director for the Congress of New Urbanism. However, he noted that it could push out some current residents.

 ”Over time it’s best to have as much public housing there as there was before to minimize displacement,” Filmanowicz  said.

 Although reaction by residents about the proposed plans has been mixed, Jackson said that having a mixed-income community is like a rainbow.

“During the storm there were people of all economic backgrounds coming together,” he said. “A new beginning will cause people to have a different attitude because of everything they have been through. I think it could be a motivational tool.”