As a Habitat board member and pretty involved in the Musicians Village and other work being done by Habitat, I’m pretty invested on this whole issue. So I have written Ms. Ramsey and Mr. Rawls and advised them that at least one of these “zingers” is oddly inaccurate … the big one you quote, above, that claims that a promise of “only musicians” was “certainly the tone of the initial message, so much so that none of the stories written about the Musicians’ Village printed in New Orleans mentioned that the village would not be reserved strictly for musicians.”

You’d think that a statement like this would be supportable. Hmmm. Then what about these sources:

Times-Picayune, front page of Metro, Jan. 6, 2006 (before Habitat even owned the land, much less had began raising money in earnest):
“Some of the musicians who live in the village will donate their time to young students who are interested in learning New Orleans music in the New Orleans way, Branford Marsalis has said. _The musicians village will be inhabited by nonmusicians as well, Pate said. The mix has not been determined._”

And this, in Gambit on April 25, 2006:
“_Although non-musicians are eligible to live in Musicians Village_, Habitat New Orleans is targeting most of its outreach at that community via the Musicians Hurricane Relief Fund, the Tipitina’s Foundation and Habitat affiliates in areas that took in large numbers of evacuees.”

Both articles “printed in New Orleans” make it pretty clear, seems to me, and set the record straight from the start. And then there are the other articles that you write about. I think that your take on them is dead on. The good news is that they haven’t deterred Habitat from welcoming musicians, helping them clean up their credit, and empowering them to transform their lives. It’s happening, and ultimately the Musicians Village will be teeming with musicians and their families.

Thanks again for your support, Jeff.

– Andy