Holy Ground Church Razed: Reverend Adams Fights for Justice

by Kate Marvin
Photography by Mavis Yorks
Reverend Louis Adams is one of the many New Orleans residents struggling to rebuild his life and his community in New Orleans. Despite months of fighting through a deluge of red tape, he is strong, and he is determined.

Before Hurricane Katrina, the Reverend ran Holy Ground, a church on Lizardi Street in the Lower Ninth Ward. Prior to the storm, Holy Ground was feeding over 100 people a week. The Reverend had plans to expand the church’s community outreach programs to include services for single parents and people with drug and alcohol abuse problems. He had spent over $60,000 dollars in renovations before the storm.

Perhaps this is why the church suffered only minor damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “It was in great shape,” says Alex Sheldon, one of the many Common Ground volunteers that gutted and mold remediated Holy Ground Church.

In the Fall of 2005, Reverend Adams’s daughter told him Holy Ground was to be demolished. She had found this information on the internet by searching the church’s address. Reverend Adams was surprised, as he had never received a letter from the city, informing him that his property had been condemned. “I realized I could contest this,” he says.
In the following months, Reverend Adams met with City Council a number of times with proof in hand that he had met the city’s requirement and that his church was stable and repairable. The lawn was mowed, and his church was gutted, mold remediated, and boarded up. The Reverend had proof of ownership and pictures of the very minor damage to the slate siding on one end of his church.

Upon the Reverend’s first meeting at City Hall, the city’s assessment was dropped from 50 to 49, saving the property. The Reverend met subsequently with Councilmember Cynthia Willard-Lewis, who wrote a statement confirming that the city had miscalculated the damage to Holy Ground Church. She did not sign her name to this statement.

The Reverend met with Johnny Odom, who issued permits at City Hall at the time, to discuss the fate of his church. He asked for a permit to repair Holy Ground. “[Odom] was the only person who could give permission to repair or demolish,” says Reverend Adams. Odom chose to demolish.

Odom rejected the Reverend’s request for a permit and refused to approve the updated assessment despite Councilmember Willard-Lewis’s clearly written evaluation of the property.

In February 2007, the Reverend spoke before City Council, hoping to appeal to Odom and prevent his property from being demolished. Odom left the meeting ten minutes before the Reverend was to speak and did not return.

In October 2007, Reverend Adams obtained an appointment to discuss the demolition of his house. An employee from Odom’s office asked the Reverend to meet him at Holy Ground. No one from City Hall showed up for the meeting. Two days later, the Reverend Adams arrived at 2223 Deslonde Street and found an empty lot. Holy Ground had been demolished.

Reverend Adams has been fighting. He has fought for his church, for his congregation, and for his community. He has fought the city’s ambivalence, the apathy of this so-called “support -system.” And he will keep fighting.

“We have a home, food, shelter,” he says, “I’m comfortable physically, but spiritually I’m in discomfort. You see so many people who are hungry, who can’t get a decent meal, a cool drink of water.”

The Reverend is determined to rebuild his church and continue to serve his community. When asked if he will continue his endeavors to launch community service programs, Reverend Adams replied, “More than ever!” If the Reverend obtains funding to rebuild his church, not only does he plan to provide counseling for single mothers and people with substance abuse problems, but also to provide services for the homeless, people on fixed incomes and people in their seventies and eighties who want to come home.

“You can build all the homes you want,” he says, “but if you don’t have a church, a place for fellowship, it’s not going to work.”