A proposal by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to demolish four public housing complexes in New Orleans has set off a fierce battle over issues of race, class, and equality. Nicolai Ouroussof sees a huge Washington-style mistake about to insert itself into already chaotic post-Katrina New Orleans. “In its rush to demolish the apartment complexes — and replace them with the kind of generic mixed-income suburban community so favored by Washington bureaucrats — the agency demonstrates great insensitivity to both the displaced tenants and the urban fabric of this city.”