Common Ground Collective is one of several non-profit groups and churches that have stepped up to the plate to take care of the residents and environmental disasters that came with Hurricane Katrina. While it should be noted that the city, state, and federal governments must have made SOME attempt at doing something, it is rarely scene anywhere throughout New Orleans, aside from the occasional FEMA trailer which are supposedly going to be taken back by FEMA sometime in the next month. By and large, the non-profit groups, with Common Ground being the most productive, while being an “anarchist” organized entity, have made the biggest impact. When we had arrived they had gutted over 1000 homes with about 100 left to go on their list.

Why are we gutting these homes you may ask? While it may seem more reasonable to just bulldoze them, the homeowners in many cases are scattered around the country and unable financially or otherwise to coordinate a bulldoze operation on their home. Because of this, the city is using an eminent domain law to seize homes that are not gutted and pass an inspection.
House gutting is actually one of their smaller efforts in the region. They also have a very effective Legal wing that is working on litigation against FEMA and other government offices as well as 3 medical clinics that have had volunteers from around the world come to give aid and assistance. They also have food drop off points for residents in the 9th ward and other badly damaged neighborhoods, tool lending, support services, and a media house for kids in the neighborhood to use computers and have some extra-curricular activities. Here are some photos of our house gutting experience with Common Ground:

First things first, we get a health de-briefing by Haddie, who has been volunteering for Common Ground for the last 6 months. She explains to use the health hazards and toxicity of Black Mold which is present all over the homes we will be gutting. To prevent illness we are instructed to always have on our P-100 respirators and our Tyvek suits to prevent getting our clothes dirty with black mold. We also have heavy duty leather gloves, thick rubber boots, and goggles or full face masks.

All geared up and ready to go! We were met with a few friends from Re-Plant New Orleans, a non-profit group working to bio-remediate the devastated soils by the toxic flood waters that remained for up to a month in some parts of New Orleans. From the left, Charolette, Isaac (our CommonGround crew chief), Tori, Jesse (a Common Ground volunteer), Hillary, and Davin. (Sam is taking the picture)

Our first house we worked on had a water leak that had not been turned off by the water department, and it’s been over a year and a half since Hurricane Katrina. What was the city thinking? Just waste water? Why not send someone from the water department out to turn off the water for residents that were involuntarily evacuated to some far off place across the country, while still being liable for the water bill. Certainly a testament to a lack of concern for the more disenfranchised home-owners in New Orleans. We were unable to locate the water shut off box, so the water continued to pour through the house while we gutted it. This is unusual of most of the homes that are gutted by Common Ground and make for an especially toxic and foul brew among the chemicals and bacteria that has grown over the last year.

Isaac and Jerome did make sure we shut off the gas before entering the property so we wouldn’t have any unexpected explosions!

This was a master bedroom

A spare room

The bathroom

The kitchen, that’s a refrigerator

Everything must come out of the house and is dumped on the street. Various “recycling” groups (New Orleans doesn’t have an official recycling program to date) come around to collect the white appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, etc, and other groups collect anything that can be salvaged for its copper or other useful components. The rest is picked up by the city and goes to the dump. This pile will quadruple before the day is finished. When we say everything, we mean EVERYTHING must go; sheetrock, nails, everything but the frame of the house.

At this point, we’re only half way done

So we take lunch, thankfully provided by Common Ground’s volunteer kitchen staff. Common Ground provides housing and 3 warm meals a day to all of their volunteers. They were healthy, nutritious meals that were carefully, and thoughtfully prepared, even when they are limited by the donations they are provided.

Tori working the wheel barrel, looks like she needs someone to fill it up!

Almost all the sheet rock has been pulled down and hauled out. Now we clean up the last debris.

Davin and Jerome working together, pulling nails. What fun!

Tori at the end of the day, the house is gutted and cleared, and behind her, the pile of debris. (Note the limited edtion ECOSF shirt)

Finally, a completely gutted and cleared home, ready for inspection. This is what it’s all about. This will allow the homeowner to keep their home and decide for themselves what they would like to do, rather than having the city take the property away and do as they wish.

For more information about Common Grounds incredible work, check our their website: www.commongroundrelief.org

Below are some photos from the beginning of our trip. Leaving from San Francisco, we took I-5 to I-10 which basically cuts in almost a straight line through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and right into the heart of New Orleans.

Here is a box of toilet paper (TP) that was donated along with 25lb. bag of organic brown rice and a 25lb. bag of organic black beans from Other Avenues worker-owned natural food store for the folks at Common Ground who are coordinating the relief efforts in the 9th Ward.

We were happy to see the wind turbines as we drove through the Altamont Pass on I-580E. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a wind, so they weren’t really cranking out any juice.

The road can be mesmerizing, and the sun, blinding…here is a shot from the rolling countryside of New Mexico.

A beautiful oak tree in Texas…

Texas, probably the widest state in the Union, is over 800 miles wide and took us over 12 hours to drive through (that’s why there are so many photos from Texas). I-10 drives right through San Antonio so…we had to check out the Alamo. Not very amusing per say, especially when you consider the real history of the Alamo and the annexation of Texas, but a Texas Ranger was kind enough to pose for our photo-op. We arrived here Christmas morning around 8am after driving all the way from Phoenix, AZ from the previous day.

Happily, we found that not EVERYTHING in Texas is Big…these houses are constructed from over 95% local, recycled materials!

Thank your lucky stars you live in San Francisco (assuming you do) as we only have 1 power plant, and no refineries. This is a common sight in the Texas skyline.

Finally, we made it to New Orleans around 7pm. The Bayou, still a beautiful sight amidst the devastation we will witness in the coming days.

This Saturday morning, December 23rd we (Tori, Davin, Sam & Jerome) are departing on a 33+ hour drive to the 9th Ward in New Orleans, LA. We are going to volunteer for Common Ground Collective’s relief efforts in the gulf coast region. We will be keeping an online journal (ok, I’ll say it…a BLOG!) of our trip with photos, stories, and more. We will also be videotaping much of our experience and hope to get first hand accounts of how little has been accomplished for residents of the 9th Ward. Here are some photos we borrowed from Common Ground’s website, all future photos will be taken by ECOSF.