Dive Brief:
- New Orleans will put a Confederate monument removal project out for public bid after two contractors in various levels of negotiations with the city publicly disavowed their involvement in the project, the Times-Picayune reported.
- The first general contractor, H&O Investments, withdrew after reporting it received death threats from those opposed to the project, while ALL Crane, which was reportedly in early negotiations to perform the work, issued a public statement saying it would not be involved.
- The city said it is not spending taxpayer money on the removal but is instead administering a private donation of $170,000.
Dive Insight:
The New Orleans City Council voted in December to declare the monuments to Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T. Beauregard and the Battle of Liberty Place public nuisances, allowing for their removal from public spaces. CNN called the move "one of the strongest gestures yet by an American city to remove symbols of Confederate history." Several groups filed a federal lawsuit against the city in an attempt to block the removal, but a judge ruled against them.
City officials said the monuments will be stored in a city-owned warehouse after their removal until they can be relocated to a private park or museum.
Opponents to the removal claim Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration made it sound like an experienced contractor like ALL Crane was "retained" by the city just to assuage fears about damage to the monuments during their removal and transport, the Times-Picayune reported. As it turns out, they said, ALL Crane never officially committed to doing the project.