The following letter dated October 27, 2003, explains to Mayor Nagin that theCamp and Julia Coalition to Close OZwill not wait any longer for his leadership in closing or moving the Ozanam Inn.

Honorable C. Ray Nagin, Mayor, City of New Orleans
Mayor's Office, City Hall, Room 2E04
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112

Dear Mayor:

At a March meeting in 2003 at the CAC, you asked us to stop sending e-mails notifying Father Knoth and Archbishop Hughes of the insufferable conditions that we encounter every day in our neighborhood. You called it a cooling-off period. We agreed and stopped the e-mails, giving you time to organize support for moving the Ozanam Inn. Winter is near and nothing has changed!

Father Knoth (who later resigned because of sexual misconduct allegations) ignored our pleas to keep his students out of our park (Lafayette Park) and not to lure criminal deviants into our neighborhood with free food. The Archbishop also ignores his responsibilities and allows our neighborhood to be preyed upon by the 750 deviants the Ozanam Inn assembles in our neighborhood every day at their soup kitchen. They come from miles around for free food, to buy and sell drugs, to sit idly in the sun on the benches in Ozanam Inn's side yard, to panhandle citizens and visitors on our sidewalks, to threaten us, and to urinate and defecate on our porches, front steps, and sidewalks.

The Ozanam Inn enables these criminal deviants, giving them a place to hide, use and sell drugs. The Ozanam Inn actively destroys our quality of life in our neighborhood. The behavior of these Ozanam Inn sponsored deviants is totally unacceptable and should not be tolerated, much less enabled and encouraged.

The cooling-off period is over. We will no longer tolerate abuse by Ozanam Inn sponsored criminal deviants.

You recall the recent arrest (10/10/03) of the Ozanam Inn client found passed out a couple of blocks away with $50,000.00 worth of drugs in his back pack. We have told you repeatedly of the indignities that we continue to suffer. Below is a recitation of the latest incident:

• At about 2:20 p.m., Monday (Columbus Day), October 13, 2003, a UNO student was working on a school project. Part of that project involved photographs of buildings in this area. She set up her camera on a tripod on the River side of Camp Street, in the middle of the 800 block, a few feet from my front door.

• As she attempted to photograph the Ozanam Inn and vacant buildings next door, an angry African-American male emerged from the gate at the Ozanam Inn. Immediately, he began to attack and threaten her, both orally and physically.

• He demanded that she cease taking pictures of these buildings immediately, because he did not want his picture taken. After subjecting this young, African-American female student to verbal abuse, including incredibly vile obscenities, and threats of physical harm, he attempted to take her camera and destroy it.

• At this point (10/13/03, 2:27 p.m.) my wife called the police and asked for help that never arrived. The UNO student retreated.

On December 3, 2003, a tourist and convention attendee named Thomas Briewick was robbed and murdered at 528 Baronne Street, four blocks from the Ozanam Inn. On December 5,2003, an Ozaman Inn regular, Lester "Shorty" Harris, was arrested and charged with Mr. Briewich's murder.

In spite of his lengthy criminal record, including convictions for cocaine possession, carrying a concealed weapon, simple escape, and an arrests for the robbery and assault of a tourist, "Shorty" was always welcome to eat and hang out at the OZ.

As we all know, the innocent homeless and the working poor need much more than a soup kitchen. Alternatively, criminals require incarceration, not Church sponsored meals and a place to hide, hang out, and commit crimes.

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Now, here's another Ozanam Inn murderer, Tim Henson, 44 years old. He was a regular who ate and hung out at OZ. He was usually seen there with a caucasian male and caucasian female friend. On November 6, 2003 he confessed to the murder on September 2, 2003 of Kanako Ohyama, a young female visitor from Japan. Tim had a lenghty criminal record for Kidnapping, Rape, and Escape, but was always welcome to eat and hang out at the OZ.

If Oz acted responsibly, using any kind of records or background check, perhaps more tourists would be alive today. Oz's soup kitchen lures criminals into our neighborhood. OZ enables, feeds and supports them, giving them a place to hide out while planning and committing serious crimes.

OZ is killing our neighborhood!
We demand the immediate closure or relocation of the Ozanam Inn.

The business owners and residents of this neighborhood wish to meet with you to hear your plans to alleviate the severe problems we suffer daily. We will share with you our plans to shut down the Ozanam Inn.

Thank you for your attention. We look forward to your quick response.

Sincerely,

Louis E. "Lee" Madere, Jr.