Demolition begins to clear homes from New Orleans tainted Gordon Plaza [Video]

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A ribbon was cut Wednesday (Oct. 30) to signal the start of construction on a solar farm to replace homes in the Ninth Ward’s tainted Gordon Plaza.

Several swings of a backhoe brought the first home down as demolition began. It was a bittersweet moment for people watching their former neighborhood torn down.

“It is our responsibility to acknowledge this long-standing fight, and the extremely powerful advocacy,” said Michael Regan, administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency. “Advocacy who has carried this community through some of the toughest circumstances imaginable.”

City, state and federal leaders, including New Orleans City Council president Helena Moreno, worked to get dozens of families moved from Gordon Plaza into new homes of their choice. Families in the early 1990s noticed they were getting sick and that the land their homes were build upon was poisoned from an old landfill.

“This was …