Re: "Hospitals a classic blunder," Other Opinions, April 29.

Roberta Gratz's column discusses Jane Jacobs, the author who advocated for the natural growth of urbanism, and Robert Moses, the highway czar who advocated for urban renewal and massively scaled transportation infrastructure.

Ms. Gratz points out that the Moses/Jacobs dichotomy is still at play in New Orleans with the proposed hospital projects.

Here's how I see that dichotomy: In the Jane Jacobs corner is the draft of the city's master plan that is on the verge of becoming law. This master plan advocates for historic preservation, sustainability and pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. In the Robert Moses corner is the LSU/VA hospital plan. The combined development of the two hospitals is perhaps the largest development in New Orleans since the construction of the Louisiana Superdome, yet these two projects, whose site was selected by politicians rather than planners, has been exempt from the scrutiny of the planners authoring the master plan.

What is ironic is that the same city administrations are advocating for both the master plan and the hospital projects despite the obvious conflicts between them. The end result will be that the master plan will have very little credibility.

If a large project that has the backing of politicians can avoid the master planning process, such as the LSU and VA hospitals, then why not any other politically connected project? The hospitals projects, without needing to conform to the master plan, will be just as proposed: a large, suburban-style medical complex, surrounded by acres of surface parking lots, plopped down in the middle of town.

Other cities struggle to create pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and look to New Orleans' Vieux Carre and Lower Garden District neighborhoods for guidance and inspiration.

Yet our politicians are willing to trade this asset for what every other city has rejected.

Michael Rouchell

Architect
New Orleans