HumidCity

A final view of the oldest Baptist church in the South as it peeks forlornly through a cloud of brick dust. Photo by Monte Reed for Humid City.

Since Maitri has been covering this for the past few days since the fire I will be referenceing her a lot as we explore the situation. I will also be uploading a large amount of video and pictures we took today. Anyway, here is an excerpt from her latest post on Metroblogging New Orleans which descibes the way the demolition crew brushed off our councilwoman Stacey Head (who was there in a supergirl t-shirt)

Metroblogging New Orleans: Coliseum Place Baptist Church: The Saga Continues

At this point, a very large and gruff man, who identified himself only as a city official, told everyone involved, including Stacy Head, to back off because he had been paid, the Curtises had paid Gioe’s for the demolition and there was nothing any of us could do about it. The demolition continued. Whomever said yesterday that the walls and tower would require “just a tap” to cave in is an ignorant liar. Each successive wrecking-ball blow, some applied to the same spot several times over given how well the brick held up, felt like a punch to my solar plexus. I am so proud of how well the tower held up to the end.

A video interview with John Boyd, a member of the Coliseum Place Baptist Church since 1961. Watch and learn.

This morning I received a call from my long time photographer/videographer, Monte Reed. He told me that there was a demolition team at the Coliseum Place Baptist Church and that Stacey Head among others was there to attempt to block them. In a ceffeine deprived state I made haste to the scene where I ran into Maitri and Seymore from Third Battle of New Orleans. (Check their blogs for moree on this subject, we are collaborating on getting this info some attention) Since Maitri has been covering this since the fire I thought she deserved a few words to kick off our new podcast series.