A Plan Without People
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St James land use plan would wipe out black communities
Exploratory Map
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Investigative research and writing, map design, to generate public awareness
By 2018, residents and advocates were overwhelmed by the sheer number and scale of industrial proposals in St James. Formosa Plastics, South Louisiana Methanol, Petroplex, Koch Methanol, Wanhua, SynGas… it was an avalanche. The decision was made by a group of advocates to dig deeper into the public planning documents that set up the framework for such a torrent of activity and land speculation. The report research required detailed investigation into public records, meeting minutes, draft master plan documents, property records, resident interviews, data and statistics, in addition to field work to document the landscape before it was about to be permanently disfigured. As problems multiplied, and the consequences of the flawed plan became more and more apparent, the goal became to publish the report and draw significant media attention to the parish, in order to call for a halt to the assault on majority black areas of the parish.
Report leads to groundbreaking civil rights lawsuit
The impact of the Plan Without People report was more profound than we could have imagined, generating significant media attention, as it helped spur a wider conversation in legal circles around the legality of the parish government’s land use decisions. The legal team at Center for Constitutional Rights took the momentum, compiling a major civil rights complaint against the parish council and planning commission, on behalf of multiple plaintiffs. The parish has exhausted nearly all of their options to dismiss the suit, with the Supreme Court in 2025 sending it back to District Court in Louisiana, who have previously opined that the claims hold merit. Multiple major industrial proposals and expansions have been placed on hold while the final outcome of the lawsuit shakes out.
