St. Bernard Projects was a housing project in the city of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. A subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the New Orleans City Planning Commission were: Harrison Avenue to the north, Paris Avenue to the east, Lafreniere Street and Florida Avenue to the south and

Bayou St. John Bayou St. John () is a bayou within the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. The Bayou as a natural feature drained the swampy land of a good portion of what was to become New Orleans, into Lake Pontchartrain. In its natural state, it extended much ...

to the west.

Geography

Fairgrounds is located at and has an elevation of . According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the district has a total area of . of which is land and (0.0%) of which is water.

Adjacent Neighborhoods

* Filmore (north) * Dillard (east) * St. Roch (south) *

Fairgrounds Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs. Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to: Places Canada * Fairground, Ontario, a community United States * Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...

(south) *

City Park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

(west)

Boundaries

The City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of St. Bernard Projects as these streets: Harrison Avenue, Paris Avenue, Lafreniere Street, Florida Avenue and

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2000, there were 6,427 people, 2,020 households, and 1,576 families living in the neighborhood. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 17,853 /mi² (7,141 /km²). As of the

of 2010, there were 974 people, 403 households, and 231 families living in the neighborhood.

History

Located in the city's 7th Ward, the complex was built over a few decades, beginning in the 1940s and has the distinction of being the 2nd largest housing project in the city. Like most public housing developments, it was not a very safe complex as it became a battle ground for drug dealers during the height of the

Crack epidemic The crack epidemic was a surge of crack cocaine use in major cities across the United States throughout the entirety of the 1980s and the early 1990s. This resulted in a number of social consequences, such as increasing crime and violence in Amer ...

in the late 1980s. It was once nicknamed "Dodge City" due to wild shootouts that occurred between rival gangs. Between 2002 and 2003 St. Bernard had total of 25 homicides, 13 slayings in 2002 and 12 in 2003. Many of the residents blamed

HANO Hano or HANO may refer to: * Hano, Arizona * Hanö, an island off Listerlandet peninsula, western Blekinge, Sweden *Arizona Tewa, a Tewa Pueblo group * "Hano" (song), a song in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest by Nino Pršeš * Housing Authority o ...

for displacing other residents from other housing projects for the rise in murders. After Hurricane Katrina the project closed and demolition began two years later. In 2008 The project was completely torn down and rebuilt as Columbia Parc, a mixed-income neighborhood.

References

External links

GNOCDC Neighborhood Snapshot

Have I Got a Witness - a documentary about the St. Bernard Projects
Neighborhoods in New Orleans Public housing in New Orleans {{NewOrleans-stub