Parish Plans to Rebuild Barricade to Black Drivers From New Orleans

The city has bulldozed barriers dividing a mostly black New Orleans neighborhood from a predominantly white suburb, but a leader of the suburban government said the barricade will be rebuilt today.

The Jefferson Parish Council voted to erect the barriers at the request of suburban residents who said they believe that the New Orleans residents were driving into their neighborhood after dark, burglarizing homes and assaulting people.

Black city residents called the barriers--strips of steel attached to thick wooden posts--”the Berlin Wall.”

Bob Evans, chairman of the Jefferson Parish Council, said Sunday that the city had no right to tear down the barricades since they were built on the Jefferson side of the border with New Orleans, which is in Orleans Parish.

“He (Evans) can’t lock my people in,” said Mayor Sidney Barthelemy, who ordered city work crews to tear down the barriers Saturday.

“We are going to have to go to court,” Barthelemy said in a telephone interview. “He can’t block a state highway.”

Although Barthelemy said he believes that racism was a factor in the decision to erect the barriers, supporters of the Jefferson Parish action denied that.

“It’s not a racial issue. It’s a crime issue,” said Paul Rogers, a black social worker who lives on Monticello Avenue in Jefferson Parish, near where the barriers were erected. Rogers said he supports the barriers because he has witnessed several thefts, his home has been vandalized and his daughter has been taunted by blacks from the New Orleans side.